Case Study

microchip.com

Streetlights Get SmartA Spotlight on Innovative New Nodes for IoT-Enabled Smart Cities

From the earliest attempts to harness volcanic gas or burning oil, humans have been lured by the prospects of squeezing more useful hours from each day by lighting up the night. Municipal streetlights have been illuminating the paths of travelers for hundreds of years now, with many urban cores operating 24/7 as cities that never, or rarely, sleep.

Centuries ago, city governors would mandate the use of oil-based lamps on the street-facing walls of city homes to make nighttime a less menacing part of the daily cycle. As public street lamps were deployed, designs evolved from weak, overhead flames burning from wicks soaked in fish oil to increasingly more advanced designs. Innovative, silver-plated copper reflectors which could mechanically focus and steer a flame’s light became popular in Paris during the 1760s. Decades later, gas-powered lamps reached the mainstream in England and introduced a brighter network of ‘artificial suns’ along with a new job title: lamplighter.

Microchip’s collaboration with a dis-tribution partner and a leading street lighting innovator results in a con-nected streetlight solution that also powers a new generation of connected nodes for smart city applications.

SmartFeatures dashboard control and monitoring at the municipal level (and beyond), enabling a runway for future smart city applications.

ConnectedReal-time cloud connectivity with leading-edge Microchip LoRa® and Bluetooth® solutions.

SecureMicrochip CryptoAuthentication™ solution set featuring advanced confidentiality, data integrity and authentication to systems with MCU or MPUs running encryption/decryption algorithms.

Russian engineer Pavel Yablochkov introduced an electric street lighting approach in Paris which used carbon arc lamps featuring alternating current. By 1879, Thomas Edison’s company had demonstrated a 12-unit electric streetlighting system in Cleveland, Ohio which defined a new kind of public utility with streetlighting at the core. In the 1880s, Barcelona commissioned the production of candelabra lampposts from the acclaimed Spanish artist Antoni Gaudí. Many of these still stand today and commonly draw tourists in for Instagram selfies. As cities around the world installed their own gas lighting grids at the turn of the century, designs for lampposts ranged from the practical to the ornate. British manufacturer William Sugg & Co. produced a catalog with dozens of models including The Metropole, The Lambeth and The Westminster, each with matching lamp and pedestal options for posts up to 20 feet tall. Londoners will recognize the famous twisted fish pedestals of this era as they walk beside the River Thames today.

In less than a century, urban planners migrated from gas-powered lamps that were often maintained by police departments to fully-electrified lighting systems leveraging matrices featuring thousands of lampposts stationed alongside city streets. In modern times, we are witnessing another transition: from High-Pressure Sodium (HID) lamps, which are still the most common type of streetlight, to more efficient LED solutions. And in a world of more than 500 million streetlights, experts estimate that 300 million of them are pole-mounted.

Pole Position: A Strategic Advantage for IoTAs public utility organizations work with their trusted vendors to address the migration to LED-based lighting, all manner of related technology advancements have been introduced into the mix. The height, location and elevation of a municipality’s streetlights (or more importantly, their poles) offer a promising locale for smart traffic sensors, security cameras, public Wi-Fi® hotspots, environmental sensors, small cell wireless antennas, solar panels, electric vehicle charging stations, and IoT nodes for applications that have yet to be developed, and birds, birds like to sit on them too.

At the heart of the matter is the notion of the public easement. Many countries without state-owned utilities have them, and they have been around for centuries. These agreements between local governments and land owners allow for the limited use of real property by certain entities without their owning it. In the U.S., utility companies have secured these easements in order to run wires, cables and pipes and install related infrastructure assets. Electric, gas, telecom, water, sewer and cable television companies rely on these easements to connect services to citizens.

Streetlights evolved from gas lamps to

high-pressure sodium (HID) lighting over the

course of a century. The rush to migrate to modular LED systems and embrace IoT for

smart city applications is happening at a much faster pace.

...and the opportunity to introduce smarter streetlight solutions would

give them a competitive edge in their regional markets and enhance

their position globally.

Designing the Next Generation of IoT-Enabled StreetlightsA leading European lighting systems vendor approached Microchip to discuss their vision for interconnected streetlights as a prerequisite for future Smart City initiatives. They described the landscape of LED streetlights as lacking widescale connectivity and an operating environment without universal standards. Urban leaders often faced expensive operational costs and maintenance burdens, along with less-than-stellar energy efficiency outcomes. Their experts felt that a strong response to increasing municipal demands for Smart City Internet of Things (IoT) solutions and the opportunity to introduce smarter streetlight solutions would give them a competitive edge in their regional markets and enhance their position globally.

A Catalyst for the Smart CitySmart City schemes promise cost-effective solutions for managing public assets and interconnection among neighboring communities. In both state-run utility agencies and in highly-regulated public/private agencies, the concept of streetlights as catalysts for Smart City projects has a great deal of momentum. IoT-enabled streetlights of the future are projected to decrease the cost of municipal lighting, and offer advanced capabilities that were unthinkable a generation ago. City managers will be able to manipulate the illumination levels throughout the day, increasing them gradually as sunset approaches. Spikes in vehicle traffic, dynamic changes in weather conditions, antisocial behaviors and public gatherings at major events could all be supplemented with increased lighting from Smart City Platforms (SCPs). Secondary services including air quality measurement and noise pollution monitoring could be supported by the smart lighting networks.

Rethink Technology Research has forecasted that 63 million connected streetlights could be in operation by 2025, but the integration of lighting units into smart city platforms will grow at a slower rate. And since the ecosystem for connected Streetlights (CSLs) is still being established, the customer was in a position to define best practices for an evolutionary solution. They estimated that enabling connectivity among LED streetlights from distances of 7 miles or more would be a requirement.

The Challenge

The Solution

A Scalable Architecture for the IoT-Enabled City of TomorrowThe initial meeting led to more detailed discussions between the Microchip sales team and the vendor’s design and executive teams. With a long history of success in the development of microcontrollers, embedded wireless connectivity solutions and security applications, Microchip proposed an innovative LoRaWAN™-based approach for the company’s next-gen connected streetlights in collaboration with a trusted distribution partner.

Coincidently, Microchip had recently introduced its RN2483 LoRa wireless module, which was the world’s first product to pass the LoRa Alliance’s LoRaWAN Certification Program. The RN2483 module was independently tested to meet the functional requirements of the latest LoRaWAN protocol specification, for operation in the 868 MHz license-free band. The LoRaWAN standard enables low-data-rate IoT and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) wireless communication with a range of up to 10 miles, a battery life of 10 years, and the ability to connect millions of wireless sensor nodes to LoRaWAN gateways. This proved to be the centerpiece as it allows designers quickly and easily integrate end devices into any LoRaWAN network.

This project mandated an approach that could produce a low total cost of ownership and simplify the design

process so the solution could be launched in a short time frame. Interoperability for future expansion and wide scale deployment were also critical to the success of the project.

Low-Power, Wide-Area Networking With Security Baked InMicrochip’s 433/868 MHz RN2483 LoRaWAN module turned out to be ideal. It is a European R&TTE Directive Assessed Radio Module, which accelerated the development time for the UK company while reducing development costs. With a form factor of 17.8 × 26.7 x 3.0 mm with 14 GPIOs, it provides the flexibility to connect and control many sensors and actuators while taking up very little space. Perfect for connected street lamps.

The RN2483 module comes with the LoRaWAN protocol stack, so it can easily connect with established and rapidly expanding LoRa Alliance infrastructure—including both privately managed Local Area Networks (LANs) and telecom-operated public networks—to create Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWANs) with nationwide coverage. This stack integration also enables the module to be used with any microcontroller that has a UART interface, including hundreds of Microchip’s PIC® MCUs. Additionally, the RN2483 features Microchip’s simple ASCII command interface for easy configuration and control.

Enhanced security features were paramount for a first-of-its-kind solution leveraging an open long-range wireless network. Microchip was able to serve this mandate as well, with its ATECC608A CryptoAuthentication device. The ATECC608A is part of Microchip’s family of high-security cryptographic devices which combine world-class hardware-based key storage with hardware cryptographic accelerators to implement various authentication and encryption protocols.

The ATECC608A has a flexible command set that allows use in many applications, including network/IoT node endpoint security, secure boot, small message encryption, key generation for software download, ecosystem control and anti-counterfeiting. Microchip’s Trust Platform was also a key contributor. It is a cost-effective and flexible solution for onboarding secure elements into a design while accelerating a product’s time to market. The Trust Platform is composed of pre-provisioned, pre-configured or fully customizable secure elements.

Protective Enclosure

CommunicationsPCBConnector

LED Driver

LEDs

Sensor Node

IoT-Enabled LED Luminaire

Hybrid Wireless ConnectivityFor short-range wireless connectivity, the connected streetlight solution would rely on a trusted module from Microchip’s Bluetooth portfolio. With a small form factor, the surface mount module has the complete Bluetooth stack on-board and is controlled via simple ASCII commands over the UART interface. The device also includes all Bluetooth SIG profiles, as well as MLDP (Microchip Low-Energy Data Profile) for custom data.

High performance and reliability characteristics made the Microchip SST26VF016B Serial Quad I/O™ (SQI™) Flash device a perfect choice. Utilizing a 4-bit multiplexed I/O serial interface to boost performance while maintaining the compact form factor of standard serial flash devices, the SST26VF016B also supports full command-set compatibility to traditional Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) protocol.

The Result

The RN2483 provides our client (and their municipal customers)

with the ability to secure their network communication using

AES-128 encryption

Microchip and our partner distributor were able to offer a collaborative approach to the customer, supporting the design from start to finish and enabling each of the three companies to bring their best design elements to the project. As a result, the customer was able to launch a groundbreaking, adaptable connectivity node in 2018 that can be used with any brand of streetlight.

Microchip’s RN2483 LoRa module resolves a dilemma that wireless developers often face: choosing between longer-range capabilities and lower-power consumption. By employing Microchip’s LoRa technology and leveraging our design expertise and development tools, the customer was able to maximize both. The RN2483 provides them (and their municipal customers) with the ability to secure their network communication using AES-128 encryption.

With the evolution of the Internet of Things, Microchip has the right LoRa technology wireless solutions to address increasing demands on end-devices for long range connectivity, low-power for battery operation, and low infrastructure cost for volume deployment.

The migration to connected streetlights and smart cities may one day be seen as significant as the breakthroughs from Yablochkov and Edison, and the evolution from gas lamps to electric lights to LEDs. Microchip is proud to support the efforts of the leading thinkers and doers throughout the lighting infrastructure ecosystem.

Featured Product• Microchip Low-Power Long Range LoRa

Technology Transceiver Module

Building Blocks• Microchip Bluetooth Low Energy Module• Microchip Serial Quad I/O (SQI) Flash Device• Microchip CryptoAuthentication Device

Connected Lighting for Smart Cities

MCUMCU

PowerMonitor

MOSFETEEPROM

SecureElement

Market Leader Differentiated Technology

LDOs &Switchers

SignalConditioning

MOSFETGate

Drivers

PSU/LED Driver (AC)

Wireless Node and/or Sensor Node

Sensors

Wireless ModuleLoRa®/NBlot

The Microchip name and logo, the Microchip logo and PIC are a registered trademarks and CryptoAuthentication, Serial Quad I/O and SQI are is a trademarks of Microchip Technology Incorporated in the U.S.A. and other countries. The LoRa name and associated logo are trademarks of Semtech Corporation or its subsidiaries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are property of their respective companies. © 2020, Microchip Technology Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. 11/20 DS00003656A

Microchip Technology Inc. | 2355 W. Chandler Blvd. | Chandler AZ, 85224-6199 | microchip.com