The application of IoT (Internet of Things) has been expanded to a greater level to construct “smart city” for safety and energy saving purposes. Public lighting, as part of the infrastructure of cities, is included in the smart city projects in Switzerland and the U.S.

In St. Gallen, a City of Switzerland, a smart lighting project was initiated by implementing the energy-saving LED luminaires provided by Osram and a remote control system developed by Paradox Engineering. The lighting system is also equipped with optical sensor to detect traffic intensity. With the project, the city of St. Gallen can monitor the streetlights wirelessly, adjusting the lights depending on different conditions to save energy. For example, at night the light intensity would automatically dim and emission when only few cars go through. Comparing to the conventional streetlight, the installation is expected to save energy up to 65%.

Portland, U.S., also plans to launch a project to set sensors on streetlights on three of the busiest streets in the city. 200 sensors will be mounted on streetlights to provide instant information of traffic. This Traffic Sensor Safety Project is commissioned by AT&T, Intel and Current by GE as part of Smart City PDX. Through collecting data with sensors, the city hopes to learn the efficient management methods to reduce traffic impacts and accidents.