Vehicle-Mounted Light Monitoring for Street Lighting Compliance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for monitoring street lighting intensity are labor-intensive, prone to human error, and lack a unified, integrated solution for accurate and timely data collection across vast urban landscapes, failing to protect sensors from environmental factors and enabling effective light pollution management.
Innovation Solution
A light intensity monitoring system for vehicles, featuring a waterproof housing with multiple sensors covered by Fresnel lenses, magnets for attachment, and a circuit board with wireless communication, GPS, and microcontroller to automate data collection and transmission to a remote computing device for real-time mapping and compliance analysis.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual inspections or portable handheld sensors are used to monitor light levels, then light intensity data can be collected, but the process becomes labor-intensive and prone to human error
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple sensors (light sensors, GPS receivers) and functional components into a single integrated monitoring system mounted on vehicles. This unified system automatically collects both light intensity data and location information simultaneously, eliminating the need for separate manual operations and handheld devices, thereby improving both measurement accuracy and data collection efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The monitoring system performs self-service by automatically measuring light intensity, recording GPS location, and transmitting data without requiring manual intervention. The system autonomously operates during vehicle movement, eliminating human error and labor-intensive processes while maintaining high measurement precision
2Loss of information
If discrete handheld devices are used for capturing light intensity and GPS location data, then data collection can be performed, but the approach becomes fragmented and hampers aggregation of meaningful insights
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges light sensing, GPS location tracking, and data transmission functions into a single integrated monitoring system. This unified approach ensures that light intensity and location data are collected simultaneously as a coordinated dataset, enabling effective aggregation and analysis of meaningful insights without the fragmentation inherent in using separate handheld devices
3Reliability
If sensors are exposed to external environmental factors such as wind, rain, and water, then the system remains simple, but the sensors become vulnerable to damage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a waterproof housing that encloses the light sensors and electronic components, protecting them from environmental factors such as rain, water, and wind. The housing acts as a protective barrier while maintaining a relatively simple overall system structure, thereby improving sensor reliability without excessive complexity
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables efficient, large-scale, automated light intensity data collection, reducing human error and environmental exposure, allowing for real-time compliance monitoring and management of light pollution.
Implementation Method 1
Each of the three light sensors is covered by a Fresnel lens mounted over the respective light sensor on the outer surface of the waterproof housing
Implementation Method 2
A pair of magnets are mounted within the bottom wall, wherein the pair of magnets are configured to attach the waterproof housing to a roof of the vehicle
Data Source
AI summary
A light intensity monitoring system, a light intensity monitor and a method for monitoring light intensity the light intensity monitor attached to a vehicle roof. The light intensity monitor includes light sensors which measure light intensity at a top wall and two sidewalls and records the location of the vehicle at precise time intervals using a global positioning sensor. A microcontroller within the monitor compiles the measured data into communications packets, which include light intensity measurements and the corresponding vehicle location for each measurement period. These packets are then wirelessly transmitted to a remote computing device using either a wireless network communications unit or a dual-mode near-field communications unit. The remote device receives the data and utilizes a mapping application to display the various light intensity levels, expressed in lux, with the location of the measurement. The remote device generates a time series compliance and an environmental light pollution report.