IDT lighting up Silicon Valley

The lighting solutions will reduce light pollution and make the lights more interactive for the 42,000 residents of the City of Campbell. The project started in June, according to a press release, with the installation of four new overhead lights in the City Hall employee parking lot, and it will expand to six additional overhead lights in the adjacent police department parking lot. The project replaced the outdated sodium vapor bulbs with more energy-efficient and dimmable LEDs and topped the lights with weather-proof 6LoWPAN wireless mesh network modules. These modules provide reliable connectivity to Campbell's IT cloud infrastructure, giving the City's IT staff complete control of the lights and enabling staff to monitor their operations continuously. Campbell is now considering using intelligent lighting in the City Hall main parking lot, which local residents are reportedly using as a meeting place for private-party transactions since the increase in popularity of local resale websites that allow private parties to advertise, buy, or sell merchandise. "The City of Campbell is the latest Silicon Valley city to recognize the numerous advantages of intelligent lighting, but they won't be the last. There are literally millions of lights around the world that can be quickly and easily converted into intelligent lighting at a low cost, while also providing a far more energy-efficient solution with more advanced capabilities," said Rudi Hechfellner, director of sensing technology at IDT. "Our comprehensive lines of sensor, wireless networking, power and timing devices make IDT an ideal source when developing intelligent lighting, smart city, and other IoT-related applications." The City is also considering adding motion sensor technology using advanced AI algorithms that would be able to discriminate between people, animals, and vehicles – even in low light conditions – rather than relying on the cloud. This would enable immediate illumination, as opposed to the delay that’s necessary when data is received, transferred to the cloud for processing, and a resulting activation signal is sent. Additionally, multiple lights could effectively communicate with each other, dimming or brightening, in certain areas to ensure that pedestrians have adequate light while walking. IDT is headquartered in San Jose, California, with design, manufacturing, and sales facilities throughout the world.