Telensa and King Luminaire Co. complete field testing of decorative LED luminaire with long-range wireless control

LED version of iconic Washington ornamental luminaire gains city-wide wireless control system while retaining original design

Cambridge - Telensa, which provides end-to-end smart city solutions using its low power Ultra Narrow Band (UNB) wireless technology, and King Luminaire Co. Inc., leading manufacturer of high-quality outdoor lighting fixtures, have announced that they have successfully completed field tests of an embedded long-range wireless control system for decorative luminaires. Telensa will show the system at LIGHTFAIR International, San Diego on April 26-28 on booth #1057.

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Wireless connected lighting systems are increasingly being deployed for streetlights, especially as part of LED conversions. They pay for themselves in energy and maintenance savings, and allow the user complete control over lighting levels. However, until now, wireless control of decorative fixtures that complement the most scenic parts of major cities has not been popular due to unsightly antennae arrays. This has been frustrating for city authorities because these lights tend to be in areas where fine-tuning lighting levels would be a great advantage.

Telensa and King Luminaire Co. Inc. worked together to add wireless connectivity to decorative luminaires without altering the fixture’s appearance. Tests were conducted using King Luminaire’s K118 Washington LED luminaire, one of the most popular acorn globe luminaires with a design that dates from the early 20th century. The Telensa wireless node (telecell) was incorporated into the body of the LED luminaire with the LED driver, and a twig antenna was mounted inside the globe, next to the central R1 baffled LED array.

Comprehensive testing was undertaken to make sure the central LED array wouldn’t interfere with the wireless connection in various orientations. The LED luminaire was connected to a laptop-sized Telensa Ultra-Narrow-Band (UNB) base-station mounted on a standard light pole and tests were run at distances of up to 3 miles, with the luminaire rotated so that the LED array was blocking the antenna. Throughout the testing the connection was never compromised by this arrangement.

“Heritage lighting systems are an important feature in major cities across the US and Europe, but combining them with the latest wireless technology has presented a challenge,” said Will Gibson, CEO of Telensa. “By working with King Luminaire we have managed to add cutting edge wireless lighting controls to their luminaires, bringing together the best of future technology and classic design.”

“There are strong economic and environmental arguments for deploying LED lighting combined with wireless control systems, however to date this has not been an option for decorative luminaires due to the need for external antennas,” said Peter Gorman, Vice-President, King Luminaire Co. (Ohio). “Our work with Telensa has created a viable, discreet method of marrying the benefits of these technologies to products which have been market leaders in decorative lighting for nearly a hundred years.”

You can see these innovations at LIGHTFAIR International in San Diego on April 26-28. Visit Telensa (booth 1057) and King Luminaire Co. Inc. (Stresscrete booth 756) for more information.

About Telensa
Telensa makes wireless smart city control applications, including PLANet, the world’s most widely deployed smart streetlight solution with a global footprint of one million lights. Based on a compelling business case with proven scalability, Telensa’s solutions also provide a low-cost platform to add multiple city-wide sensor applications. The company’s smart parking solution includes some of the world’s largest deployments such as Moscow and Shenzhen.

Fundamental to Telensa’s success is its Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) Ultra Narrow Band (UNB) radio system, which has the unique combination of low cost, long range, long battery life and 2-way communication for massive numbers of devices. With over 9 million devices across 30 countries using UNB, it is easy to see why it is fast becoming the deployment standard for smart city control applications.

Together with industry leaders including Cisco, Accenture and BT, Telensa is a founding member of the Wireless Internet of Things Forum (WIoTF). Created to drive standards adoption and establish common wide area smart city approaches, the WIoTF is committed to uniting the growing ecosystem and accelerating the adoption of wide-area wireless IoT. (www.wireless-iot.org)

About King Luminaire Co. Inc.
King Luminaire Co. Inc. manufactures high-quality decorative outdoor lighting fixtures, fabricated metal poles, decorative arms, and site furnishings. Its LED lighting product line consists of state-the-art pendants and post top luminaires that have excellent heat control, outstanding optical performance, and effectively address environmental concerns such as glare and energy usage. They continue to see vibrant growth through Gold Standard customer service and product quality, as well as developing innovative and adaptive products for the lighting and pole industries.

King Luminaire Co. Inc., is one of five operating companies of the StressCrete Group, established in 1953; the oldest, most experienced manufacturer of spun concrete poles in North America. StressCrete Group has four North American locations, producing an extensive line of ornamental and street lighting standards, power distribution and transmission poles, sports lighting poles, as well as a line of specialty poles which are ideally suited for camera and solar applications as well high-mast lighting. (www.stresscretegroup.com)