Cleveland Adopts Wireless Streetlight Control

To better serve its nearly 400,000 residents, Cleveland, Ohio has adopted the T-Light Galaxy Network from ST Engineering Telematics Wireless to manage the city’s 61,000 streetlights. City-owned utility Cleveland Public Power deployed the T-Light Galaxy communications infrastructure in three business days, utilizing FCC licensed frequencies to ensure the system is both secure and reliable. The system provider, ST Engineering Telematics Wireless, is considered a leader in smart city wireless networks and applications.

“This digital transformation of our streetlights fulfills a key component of the Safe, Smart CLE Project launched earlier this year,” says Cleveland Public Power Commissioner Ivan Henderson. The Project combines the conversion of all streetlights in the city to LED with the networked lighting control system and 1,000 cameras that are operated by the Cleveland Police Department. “Not only does the Telematics Wireless system enable us to control and manage our streetlight operations far more efficiently and cost-effectively, it also provides Cleveland the backbone for more advanced, future-ready Smart City applications like the high-definition images and our police department’s remote control of streetlights that can be dimmed or brightened throughout the city,” he adds.

Smart lighting controls can reduce annual operating costs by as much as 20 percent in addition to the anticipated 50-percent cost savings from converting to LED. In the Cleveland installation, the T-Light Galaxy platform functions as a wide-area communications network. The end-to-end solution provides a web-accessed application software (BrightCity™) with 61,000 individual networked lighting controllers for each streetlight’s operation. The system enables Cleveland to set different light intensity for residential, commercial, and industrial locations, pre-program schedules for routine and real-time management of special conditions, and proactively manage maintenance support.

“Cleveland’s adoption and installation of the T-Light Galaxy streetlight control system is ultimately part of a bold statement from one of the country’s premier smart cities,” states Amir Hirsch, Business Development for ST Engineering Telematics Wireless. “It demonstrates a genuine commitment to visionary leadership, service, sustainability, and cost containment for all the city’s citizens.”

For the Cleveland project, ST Engineering Telematics Wireless installed three gateways to cover the entire city’s network of streetlights, and a fourth gateway is planned for city-wide redundant coverage. The city plans to test other smart devices that run on the network in the near future.