A web-based control system for traditional street lighting that uses high-pressure sodium lamps

Abstract

Street lighting is a critical component of any city's infrastructure. On the other hand, the street lighting system consumes a significant amount of electricity. As a result, many technologies and studies are being developed to reduce the energy cost of street lighting. While the majority of the proposed ideas for reducing the energy cost of the street lighting system are based on light emitting diode lamps, they are not suitable for high-pressure sodium lamps, which continue to dominate in developing countries. Moreover, the high initial cost, difficulty of installation and maintenance, reliability, and service lifetime are all significant barriers to the practical implementation of these ideas. This paper presents a web-based control system for traditional street lighting systems that still employs high-pressure sodium lamps. The proposed idea converts existing modules of the conventional controller, which are photo switches, into IoT devices. The web application on the server then manages and controls the devices. The web application allows users to create a schedule for turning off the lights during the late-night hours to save energy. The system's advantages include its low cost, ease of installation, and maintenance. The proposed system is useful for roads or areas with low traffic density at late night. This system has been validated at Walailak University, Thailand.