Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION
In todays world we all are well acquainted with our nations energy scenario.
We are well aware of the fact that not only the available power is less than the demand
but also it is being wasted on a large scale .The wastage is in the form of unnecessary
usage of lighting, low power factor and similar other factors.
So we need an efficient and renewable energy systems that has long term advantages.
Our project is about Intelligent Solar Street Lightening System using low cost
microcontroller and two way GSM module to control traffic using smart sensors. It is
a wireless system that is efficient, cost effective, practical, eco-friendly easily
accessible, and automatic using renewable energy sources like solar panels and leds.

Overview
Street lighting is one of the important parts of a citys infrastructure where the main
function is to illuminate the citys streets during dark hours of the day. The project
proposes a smart energy efficient street lighting system based on low cost microcontroller and using two way GSM module. The main objective is to design energy
efficient based controller for controlling the Light Emitting Diode (LED) based street
lamp via appropriate lighting levels control. This system consists of a Microcontroller,
Light Sensor, Rain Sensor, Laser Sensor, GSM Module and a set of the Light Emitting
Diode (LED) Module. While, the controlling and managing of the system is based on
the presence of traffic and environmental conditions. Four different levels of street
light brightness has been used for lighting up the street proportional to the different
situations (discussed later). The system was programmed to automatically turn off
during the hours of daylight and only operate during the night and heavy raining or
bad weather. The system also uses a manual mode to operate it form a remote place
Via GSM but according to the given conditions. Several numbers of tests have been
conducted to test and validate the proposed prototype in the different environment.
While using a solar panel (as in this project) the system offers 100% reduction in
power consumption. Each pole is working as an independent unit and is robust,
efficient and intelligent. Around 77%-81% reduction in power consumption can be
achieved through this proposed system if it were to use on the existing power lines.

1.1

Statement of Problem

Conventional street lighting systems in areas with a low frequency of passersby are
online most of the night without purpose. The consequence is that a large amount of
power is wasted meaninglessly. With the broad availability of flexible-lighting
technology like light-emitting diode lamps and everywhere available wireless internet
connection, fast reacting, reliably operating, and power-conserving street lighting

systems become reality. The purpose of this work is to describe the Intelligent Street
Lighting (ISL) system, a first approach to accomplish the demand for flexible public
lighting systems. According to study global grid based electricity consumption for
lighting was about 2650 TW in 2005, which was an equivalent of 19% of total global
electricity consumption. European office buildings dedicate about 50% of their
electricity for lighting, whereas the share of electricity for lighting is around 20-30%
in hospitals, 15% in factories, 10-15% in schools and 10% in residential buildings.
Intelligent lighting control and energy management system is a perfect solution for
energy saving, especially in public lighting management. It realizes remote on/off and
dimming of lights, which can save energy by 40%, save lights maintenance costs by
50%, and prolong lamp life by 25%. Public lighting in streets, tunnels, city centers,
ports and squares etc. can account for about 30% of the urban energy consumption.
And the maintenance costs are very high. India is facing a huge energy crisis which
has to be addressed to at the earliest using devices that are energy efficient. Based on
environmental and economic factors, cities need smart energy management systems
urgently for energy saving, maintenance costs reduction and CO2 emission reduction.

1.3

Purpose of the research/project

The dynamic changes in economy, energy supplies and ecology on a national and
international scale require an adequate modernization of street lighting. However, this
would be possible only with a quite new functional conception which in fact means
adaptability of street lighting. Simultaneous ensuring of the conditions of safe traffic
and decreasing the energy consumption and operational costs could be realized in
conformity with the constantly changing parameters of the environment. In
conformity with the 24 hours change of daylight, the highly changeable traffic, the
variable meteorological conditions and some extreme situations on the roads, the
intensity of street lighting should change in a dynamic manner. New technical devices
and methods that are offered by technical progress will be necessary obviously for the
realization of adaptive lighting.
Basically, street lighting is one of the important parts of a citys infrastructure where
the main function is to illuminate the citys streets during dark hours of the day.
Previously, the number of streets in the town and city is very small. Therefore, the
street lamps are relatively simple but with the development of urbanization, the
number of streets increases rapidly with high traffic density as highlighted in [1].
There are several factors need to be considered in order to design a good street
lighting system such as night-time safety for community members and road users,
provide public lighting at cost effective, the reduction of crime and minimizing it is
effect on the environment.
At the beginning, street lamps were controlled by manual control where a control
switch is set in each of the street lamps. It is called first generation of the original
street light. After that, another method that has been used was optical- control method.
This method is using high pressure sodium lamp in their system. It can be seen that
this method is widely used in the country nowadays. This method operates by set up
an optical control circuit, change the resistance by using of light sensitive device to

control street lamps light up automatically at dusk and turn off automatically after
dawn in the morning.
Due to the technological development nowadays, road lighting can be categorized
according to the installation area, performance and their used, for an example, lighting
for traffic routes, lighting for subsidiary roads and lighting for urban center and public
amenity areas. While, the wireless sensor network (WSN) helps in improving the
network sensing for street lighting as highlighted in [2]-[3].
Meanwhile, street lighting technology can be classified according to the type of lamps
used such as incandescent light, mercury vapor light, metal halide light, high pressure
sodium light, low pressure sodium light, fluorescent light, compact fluorescent light,
induction light and LED light. Different type of light technology used in lighting
design with their luminous efficiency, lamp service life and their considerations is
given in report.
LED is considered a promising solution to modern street lighting system due to it is
behavior and advantages as emphasized in [4]-[6]. A part from that, the advantages of
LED are likely to replace the traditional street lamps such as the incandescent lamp,
fluorescent lamp and High Pressure Sodium Lamp in future but LED technology is an
extremely difficult process that requires a combination of advanced production lines,
top quality materials and high-precision manufacturing process. Therefore, this paper
highlights the energy efficient of street lighting design using LED lamps through
intelligent sensor interface for controlling and managing.

1.4

Applications of the research

Use of renewable energy sources therefore taking care of the environment is the vital
advantage of this system. In this project a wireless street lighting system is developed.
It consists of set of sensors to detect the presence of humans and vehicles for the
intensity of light and transmitting the light in wireless.
The energy wastage via street lights in public sectors can be controlled and reduced
by using three types of
aspects.
The first one, and maybe the most intuitive, is the use of recent technologies
for the sources of light. The LED technology is thought as best solution
coming up with advanced street lighting system based mostly on LEDs.
The second solution is to use of remote management system based mostly on
intelligent lampposts that send info to a central management system as GSM,
simplifying the management and maintenance.
Finally, the third solution is to use of renewable energy sources instead of
typical power sources, therefore taking care of the environment. In this field,
solar energy is the most often used renewable and cheap resource.
This project aims at unification of the three prospects, making an intelligent lamppost
managed by a remote controlled 2 way GSM system that uses LED-based lightweight
supply and is powered by renewable energy (solar panel and
battery). The management is implemented through a network of sensors to gather the
relevant info associated with the management and maintenance of the system,
transferring the data in wireless mode using the PIC, low cost microcontroller.This
system is appropriate for street lighting in remote urban and rural areas where the
traffic is low at times.

1.5

Theoretical bases and Organization

This project is based upon energy efficient of automatic street lighting system based
on low cost microcontroller. The main objective is to design energy efficient based
controller for controlling the Light Emitting Diode (LED) based street lamp via
appropriate lighting levels control. This system is consists of a microcontroller, light
sensor, rain sensor, laser sensor and a set of the light emitting diode (LED) module.
While, the controlling and managing of the system is based on the number of traffic
and five different level of street light brightness has been used for lighting up the
street and proportional to the number of traffic. The system was programmed to
automatically turn off during the hours of daylight and only operate during the night
and heavy raining or bad weather by using 2 way GSM module. Several numbers of
tests have been conducted to test and validate the proposed prototype in the different
environment. As conclusion, around 77% - 81% reduction in power consumption can
be achieved through this proposed automatic street lighting system for energy
efficiency system design.

1.6

Summary

This project is a proposal of an intelligent street lighting system is described that

integrates new technologies,offering energy savings. The proposed system is
especially appropriate for street lighting in remote urban and rural areas where the
traffic is low at times. Independence of the power network permits to implement it in
remote areas where the classical systems are prohibitively expensive. The system is
versatile, extendable and totally adjustable to user needs.