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A smart lighting system, aka, intelligent lighting system, consists of LED lights, sensors, and communication modules, which are connected to a remote server. This server typically is stationed in the cloud. This server can sense changes in ambient lighting and movement and ensure that the lights adapt accordingly.
All smart lights work on a mesh networking system. However, there are a few differences between indoor and outdoor lighting systems, as explained below.
Outdoor & Industrial
The outdoor and industrial smart lighting system works on Command and Control Management System (CCMS) that is based on wireless mesh protocol. A wireless mesh is connected to 50 to 100 luminaries that communicate with IoT Gateway, which passes on that information to the server application through ethernet, wifi, or cellular data. The server application sends useful data and receives commands from either a desktop or a mobile app. This allows for easy control via a computer or a smartphone.
Residential & Commercial
Residential and commercial smart lights like wifi/ BlueTooth lamps, battens, downlighters, and panels can be controlled through mobile apps or through smart speakers like Google Assistant, Alexa, etc., with the help of the wireless mesh networks. The mesh network can be controlled through a hub device. This device is connected to a router, which exchanges signals with the smartphone and speakers.
As already discussed, the underlying technology that is used in residential and industrial smart lighting systems is the same, but there are significant differences in the features and benefits of these two systems.
Point of Difference | Outdoor & Industrial | Residential & Commercial |
| Technology | It works on Command and Control Management System (CCMS) based on wireless mesh protocol. | Mobile app-controlled wifi battens, lamps, downlighters, and panels that work on the wireless mesh network. |
| Interconnected and Easy to Extend | The network of outdoor smart lights can be expanded quickly to a number of luminaries with the group and centralized control. The technology exists where Router Bandwidth required for multiple luminaries in a single group is the same as required for one luminary | The network can be connected to a number of luminaries with group control. The technology exists where Router Bandwidth required for multiple luminaries in a single group is the same as required for one luminary |
| Energy Management | The server can sense motion and light with the help of sensors, which can adjust brightness levels. Apart from this, there are advanced scheduling options to open up and shut down smart lights at predefined times, which can save a lot of energy. | Power consumption can be reduced drastically with real-time scheduling and sensor-driven control options to switch on/off or auto-adjust brightness levels. |
| Convenience and User Experience | It has a self-healing and self-configuring mesh network for flexible installation and information transfer incase of individual node failure. Any major outage or destruction to the entire system can be avoided. | Features like advanced time scheduling and pre-set scenes with self-customized features lead to more human-centric lighting in residential & commercial areas. These lights can be quickly linked and controlled through mobile apps or smart speakers like Google Assistant and Alexa with the help of QR-codes. |
| Remote Management | These lights can be operated and controlled from remote locations through desktop or mobile phone. Data dashboards can be accessed anywhere with real-time message updates without any limitation. These lights provide full flexibility in configuring the frequency of data updates from 1 minute to an hour. | The residential and commercial smart lighting system can be controlled from anywhere with mobile apps. |
| Look and Feel | The outdoor luminaires are made of tough material to withstand the bad weather and harsh climate. | Smart lamps, downlighters, battens, and panels are available in several beautiful colors to match the aesthetics of your house. |
The future of smart lights is extremely bright. After getting a huge success in the USA, Europe, and Australia, the Indian smart lighting market is expected to grow by near 40% annually during 2018-2023. The government of India plans to build several smart cities in the next couple of years, which will give a big push to this market.