Description of a Telemanagement system"

 A telemanagement lighting system that makes for a compelling return on investment and provides the benefits listed above can be largely achieved today with the integration of “off-the-shelf” products. The system consists of 3 main parts:

The Outdoor Luminaire Controller

First of all a luminaire equipped with dimmable light sources is an important part of the system. The basic set-up is a lamp and dimmable ballast in combination with a controller for this ballast. We call this controller the Outdoor Luminaire Controller (OLC). The lamp system controller is the component that forms the link between the dynamic lighting system and the lamp. Because it is possible to have many different types of links between the lamp system controller and the ballast, standard interfaces have been selected as described before: 1-10V or DALI. This allows products from different manufacturers to be used and exchanged.

OLC specifications:

o        (stepless variable) dimming

o        switching (on-off)

o        possibility to measure lamp operating data (nominal data as a basis for alarms)

o        predictive behavior function based and status indication

o        monitoring of ballast and lamp data of including:

Ø      lamp status (on/off/dim position)

Ø      burning hours

Ø      number of starts

Ø      electrical characteristics including system operating voltage

Ø      power consumption and electric current

Ø      fault and status indications

Ø      data, communication problems, lamp fault and ballast fault

o        maintenance operation is necessary for the OLC for testing

o        work autonomously as an active communication repeater in the system

o        continuous communication monitoring with action (lamp to 100%) in the event of communication failure;

o        implement programmed actions following an alarm for example reduce lamp voltage after a ‘near end of life’ alarm.

For practical reasons it would be desirable if OLC are to be used for ‘conventional’ applications, i.e. as switching/dimming/communication units for existing lighting luminaires with conventional ballasts.

The Segment controller

The luminaires are connected to a power supply cabinet and communicate with the Segment Controller (SC). This basic infrastructure part consists of an intelligent controller that handles various functions like scheduling/control/data logging and alarm handling per segment as well as the WAN communications to the over all management system. The segment controller is the main part in the local lighting installation and should be based on open technology so it is possible to easily modify or expand on it in the future. The following specifications are based on systems currently available in the market which all have at least the following in common:

o        the segment controller must work as a network interface with repeater management functions, a web server, and have the option of accessing an ANSI 709.2  network from an IP networks and/or the Internet independent of the underlying infrastructure

o        the segment controller must be able to log alarms, act in response to alarms and prioritize them. When bad weather or accident situations are present, the result must be a signal sent to set 100% lighting.

o        There should be an embedded calendar and scheduling functions for both absolute as well as astronomical clocks

o        Availability of web server functionality and the capacity to access and program functions based on SOAP/XML (Simple Object Access Protocol) and customized web pages

o        automatic collection and logging of data from connected OLC’s

o        capability to automatically upload new software and data to the OLC  following an update from the central system or a local update without the need to be online

o        the management, processing and implementation of inputted scenarios and clock programs including the option of bypassing these functions

o        Availability of digital inputs and outputs including relay control. Possible applications include

Ø      door open/closed contact;

Ø      pulse counter (kWh);

Ø      external alarm report outside cabinet;

Ø      linking in of additional external triggers.

o        availability of IP (Internet Protocol) network interface an ANSI 709.2 (Local Operating Network on the street side) interface to various communication carriers and protocols;

o        availability of option to link in a GPRS module and/or modem or any other ADSL modem

The central management system

The central management system is used to control the segments and manage the data coming from the segment controllers.  This third and very important part of the system is what we also call the IT interface. When there are two or three segment controllers in the network it is very easy to manage them, but very quickly it becomes impossible to do this manually when the number increases. Specifically if the segment controllers reside in different locations, with different service providers and different WAN connection types it rapidly becomes difficult to manage.

The software solution in a telemanagement system should allow for the management of the system as well as for using the data in an existing IT environment. They functions this interface provides are the following:

•          It manages the WAN communications. It keeps track of where the segment controllers are, what the service provider is. How you can reach them and how healthy they are.

•          It collects the date from your segment controllers. It keeps track of when the data was collected, if all data was collected and if the right data was collected.

•          It organizes and stores the data coming from the equipment. Terabytes of data are collected over a year and if one needs to search for it, it needs to be organized and stored in a structural way.

•          It synthesizes new data. The field data is usually not in the right format and not the information needed to take fact based decisions. Users are not interested in pulses but in the amount of kWh used. The number of burning hours is one, but what really interest’s a person is when to replace the bulbs. The recalculation part of the system needs to do that work.

•          The data needs to be used in existing IT/GIS applications.

Overview of the system configuration

The system needs to remain functioning even if the central management system is failing or the WAN communication prevents it from sending control messages to the segment controller. This is possible because the system consists of a network of decentralized intelligence in the segment controller and even in the OLC for automatic operation. Using this “distributed intelligence” means that no central controller is needed to allow the system to function efficiently and safe.

The OLC’s check the lighting, either by using information from ballasts or by using extern signals. The remaining of the system can keep functioning autonomous if one of the components or a part of the system fails.