A Traffic-Aware Moving Light System Featuring Optimal Energy Efficiency

Commonly, illumination systems require a huge amount of energy at night. In particular, in areas with a low frequency of pedestrians and automobiles, a large amount of power is wasted. This paper presents a new deterministic model to control street illumination depending on traffic needs for improving energy efficiency. The light on demand (LoD) system incorporates the traffic velocity into the model and generates results that are more relevant to real-time traffic needs while ensuring safety and security. The saving potential of a road using LoD, smart lighting or automated illumination can be checked easily. This paper is relevant for smart city applications. This paper complies a real implementation and a Simulink® test as a proof of concept. As a result, possible energy savings and realtime demands can be examined for street, parking or indoor areas. An extrema analysis proves optimal energy savings in dependence of traffic velocity. The impact on energy savings and real-time demands is analyzed in relation to velocity, junctions, traffic volume, dimming level, and dimming profile gradients. A comparison with other publications demonstrates the highest savings of the developed model. Furthermore, wireless sensor network systems even up to 20 kb/s satisfy the real-time demands of fast vehicles.