Street Lights in City of New Orleans Get New High Tech Update

Advanced lighting controls may save money for the City of New Orleans. It will assist the Public Works Department and the city's maintenance contractor, Robinson Industries, in proactively identifying and resolving street light service needs.

The system is called R.O.A.M., which is short for Remote Operation Asset Management. It is manufactured by Acuity Brands Lighting, one of the world's leading providers of lighting fixtures. In May, ROAM received Lightfair International's 2007 Innovation Award as "Best of Category".

ROAM will allow street lights to give remote status reports to the team in charge of their maintenance. This more efficient feedback system will eventually replace current weekly night patrols of the entire city. The change will save both manpower and money over time.

One of the main pieces of new equipment being used is the type of photocontrol. Standard street light photocontrols measure the amount of natural light available. This sensor then tells the light when to turn on or off. The new generation is greatly enhanced by the addition of embedded communication chips.

ROAM works by allowing the equipped lights to receive information on neighboring lamps. If a street light is no longer working, the failure will register with nearby lights. This information is then transmitted to a network operations center. The Public Works Department and its contractor can access at any time through a secure internet web portal.

Each working light can also send reports on its own status, 4 times daily or, on demand. These reports are possible through a combination of intelligent photocontrols, machine to machine communications (M2M), wireless communications, mobility technologies, and network management services.

This wireless technology is friendlier to the planet than current vehicle patrols. When a light is broken, repair crews will be know exactly where to go, based on registered GPS information for each light. Likely this will also lessen the number of calls flooding the non-emergency complaint phone line. This line is presently used by citizens to report things like potholes, missing street signs, and nonworking lights.

"Public Works continues to research innovative ways of improving service and reliability by reducing costs, leveraging technology, and being environmentally conscious," said Robert Mendoza, Director of the Department of Public Works. "It's been extremely difficult to locate one product that can achieve all of these goals simultaneously, but ROAM clearly fits that bill."

If successful, ROAM will also save the city money. "ROAM will allow us to closely monitor the contractor's service requirement compliance with minimal effort, thereby assuring that we're getting the full value for taxpayer dollars. Also, the data we collect will allow future potential contractors to know exactly what our service needs are, reducing their risk and therefore lowering costs to the city," said Mendoza.

New Orleans' street light system consists of slightly fewer than 55,000 street lights. To test the program, 1,000 ROAM units will be installed to evaluate its effectiveness. The cost: approximately $65,000.

If all goes well, the system will be used citywide. It would take between 36 and 48 months to implement. Only five other cities in the US are currently testing ROAM, too. They include Little Rock, Ark., Columbia, S.C., Glendale, Ariz., Los Angeles, Cali., and Charlotte, N.C.

Sources:

1.City of New Orleans
http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=1&load=~/PortalModules/ViewPressRelease.ascx&itemid=3940

2.City of New Orleans
http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=1&load=~/PortalModules/ViewPressRelease.ascx&itemid=3878