Smart Street Lighting Controller with Predictive Maintenance

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current street lighting systems face inefficiencies due to early replacement of non-functioning lamps, leading to increased maintenance costs and user inconvenience, and struggle with managing and processing large datasets, which results in poor data quality and higher network traffic costs.

Innovation Solution

A smart lighting system that includes a controller configured to obtain lighting logging information, model lamp failures, predict future failures, and generate a graphical user interface (GUI) for users to select and visualize predicted failures, along with actual and requested dimming status, burning hours, voltage, current, and power, to optimize maintenance scheduling and data processing.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If lamps are replaced early before they fail, then user inconvenience is reduced, but maintenance costs increase due to lost lamp life

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveuser convenienceVSAvoidmaintenance cost
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by predicting lamp failures before they occur using machine learning models that analyze historical lighting data. This allows maintenance to be scheduled optimally - not too early (wasting lamp life) and not too late (causing inconvenience). The prediction model calculates probability scores for each lamp failing within a specific time window, enabling proactive but timely replacement scheduling.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements feedback by continuously monitoring lighting data from lamps and using this information to update failure predictions. The machine learning model learns from historical data patterns, including actual failure events, to improve prediction accuracy over time. This closed-loop feedback mechanism ensures maintenance scheduling is based on actual lamp performance rather than fixed schedules.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

2Measurement precision

If large datasets are collected for analysis, then prediction accuracy improves, but data management and processing costs increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveprediction accuracyVSAvoiddata processing cost
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts only the most relevant features from the collected lighting data for model training and prediction. Instead of processing entire raw datasets, the system identifies and extracts key features such as lighting intensity patterns, duration metrics, and temporal characteristics that are most predictive of lamp failure. This extraction approach maintains prediction accuracy while significantly reducing data management and processing requirements.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The system collects more data than strictly necessary for basic monitoring but processes only the essential portions needed for prediction. The machine learning model is trained on comprehensive historical data to learn patterns, but during operation, it uses optimized feature sets and sampling strategies to make predictions without processing every single data point, thus balancing accuracy with processing efficiency.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

3Reliability

If comprehensive lighting data is transmitted to the cloud, then analysis quality improves, but network traffic costs and system complexity increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata qualityVSAvoidnetwork infrastructure complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments data processing between edge devices and cloud infrastructure. Local controllers or gateways perform preliminary data processing, filtering, and feature extraction before transmitting only essential information to the cloud. This segmentation reduces network traffic volume and complexity while maintaining data quality for prediction purposes, as the most relevant features are identified and transmitted rather than raw comprehensive datasets.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentUS9788400B2Intelligent lighting system with predictive maintenance scheduling and method of operation thereof
Publication Date: 2017.10.10 SIGNIFY HOLDING BV
  • US9788400B2 patent drawing
  • US9788400B2 patent drawing
  • US9788400B2 patent drawing

AI summary

A lighting system which includes at least one controller which is configured to: obtain lighting logging information related to operation of a lighting system including a plurality of lamps from a lighting logging data portion; model lamp failures in the lighting system in accordance with the lighting logging information in the lighting system and maintenance cost, the model having a time range; predict failures in the lighting system at future times at least in part in accordance with the prediction model; form a graphical user interface (GUI) which includes a graphical depiction of the model; and render the GUI on a rendering device.