Royal Philips will deploy 50 LED smart lights for pilot project in the City of San Jose, providing LED lights and wireless 4G LTE to the city. (Royal Philips/LEDinside)

Royal Philips, the global leader in lighting and the City of San Jose officially announced a project to pilot 50 Philips SmartPoles, which bring together energy efficient LED lighting and fully integrated 4G LTE wireless technology by Ericsson. This pilot was initiated through the City’s Demonstration Partnership Policy, which was established to support the City’s Economic Development Strategy and City operations. The pilot partnership will also help test backbone technology needed to power San Jose’s smart city transformation so that it can save energy, have brighter streets at night, and respond to the changing needs of its residents.

“San Jose is a leader in leveraging Silicon Valley innovations to help adapt to the realities of today's super-connected, global world,” said Mayor Sam Liccardo. “The SmartPole initiative provides the City of San Jose with a unique win-win-win: more energy conservation, reduced expenditures on energy and maintenance, implementation of LED lighting on dark city streets, and an enhanced broadband experience for our residents.”

The 50 Philips SmartPoles, along with 750 Philips RoadFocus LED luminaires, are connected through a system in which they can be wirelessly controlled to modify lighting to accommodate the needs of the city. The installation of the LED luminaires is aligned with San Jose’s Vision Zero Street lighting goal, which is aimed at improving nighttime safety by updating streetlights so that they are brighter and provide more energy efficient “white” LED light. The new Philips SmartPole fixtures are 50 percent more energy efficient than conventional street lighting.

Amy Huntington, President of Philips Lighting Americas said: “The Philips SmartPole technology is providing progressive cities like San Jose with the opportunity to deliver new services and value to its residents, businesses and visitors. Mayor Liccardo understands that connected lighting systems like this which leverage energy saving LED lights along with more efficient broadband access will benefit the community. We are also seeing the potential for street lights to become wireless digital hubs that will offer a full suite of digital services that will benefit the city and citizens.”

For this implementation, Philips collaborated with utility company PG&E and its metering engineering team over an unprecedented 90 day development cycle to design, test, certify and install a specialized two-way communicating meter that is affixed to the top of the SmartPole. This new meter measures the amount of electricity used by the mobile network and transmits the data transmitted directly back to PG&E. The new meters de-clutter dense urban areas by eliminating the need for standalone pedestal meters that are typically installed next to any equipment that uses electricity.

“This exciting new smart pole technology provides the San Jose community we serve with smarter, safer and more efficient street lighting. This smart grid innovation is possible because of the important cross-industry work led by San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo,” said Laurie Giammona, PG&E Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer. “Smart poles are one more example of how we’re working together to deliver value to our customers every day.”

Philips SmartPoles enable seamless mobile wireless 4G/LTE connectivity. Small cell technology from Ericsson housed in the poles provides increased data capacity in the mobile network ensuring that citizens get improved data coverage. Philips SmartPoles were specifically designed and tested to accept FCC licensed wireless mobile network operator equipment. This enables an alternative deployment methodology for 4G LTE broadband services which streamlines, standardizes and broadens the capacity for Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity and allows for increased innovation in Smart City technology to benefit the citizens of San Jose.

“Smart cities like San Jose share a commitment to safety, sustainability and connectivity, so we are pleased to be an integral part of this innovative project that delivers all these benefits in one sleek solution that complements their streetscape,” said Arun Bansal, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Unit Radio, Ericsson. “Integrating our LTE small cells in Philips SmartPoles and Ericsson Zero Site ensures that the mobile broadband connectivity requirements of citizens and new IoT applications can be addressed today and as we evolve towards 5G.”

For mobile network operators, this innovation offers new possibilities to find the right site location. It also helps scale mobile wireless 4G/LTE infrastructure deployment beyond traditional sites. As a result, operators can improve data coverage and capacity for citizens, businesses and visitors so there are no more signal dropouts.