Tondo Blog

Normally open(NO) and Normally closed (NC) are terms used to define the states that switches, sensors or relay contacts are under when they are not activated.

A NO contact or a normally open contact is the one that remains open until a certain condition is satisfied such as a button being pressed or some other manner of activation such as those based on temperature, pressure, etc.

A NC contact or normally closed contact is the exact opposite of NO contact by function. It remains closed until a certain condition is satisfied.

Lighting control cabinets typically control a group of street lights or advertising signage from a "control cabinet". These controls have historically provided on-off functionality based on the time of day using an "astronomical clock"-based switch or daylight photosensor. Lights are controlled in groups with no individual control over a specific light.

Although new controllers such as Tondo's Edge-IQ controller have replaced the cabinet-based approach with new technologies that include advanced dimming, remote cloud-control, and support for functionality including sensors and switches, there are many outdoor lights and signs that do not support on-lamp control. Tondo's Cabinet-IQ controller provides new advanced IoT technology support for existing cabinet-controlled lighting.

CAT-M/LTE-M and NB-IoT are similar but have differences that may make one suitable over another, or simply selected based on the support for one or the other that is available in your area.

NB-IoT uses a narrow bandwidth of 200 kHz, where CAT-M uses 1.4 MHz. The maximum data rate for NB-IoT is ~ 250 kb per second, with CAT-M1 reaching ~ 1 Mbps. CAT-M is marginally less energy efficient than NB-IoT. Although NB-IoT has a lower speed, both NB-IoT and CAT-M are suitable for sensor communications since sensors typically do not require much bandwidth.

Both NB-IoT and CAT-M1 are supported under the 5G technology specifications and therefore are ideal for selecting as a standard for sensor communications.

CAT-M wireless (aka LTE-M) is a low-power wide area network (LPWAN) cellular data transmission standard that operates over the data and physical layer. CAT-M was designed for IoT projects, with an average upload speed between 200 kbps and 400 kbps.

Eddystone is an open-source Bluetooth advertising protocol originally designed by Google. It can be used by mobile device applications to deliver improved proximity-based experiences that include applications such as Google Maps.

These packets can be discovered with any Bluetooth LE APIs such as Core Bluetooth on iOS, or android.bluetooth.le on Android. You can also use them with Google’s Nearby Messages API, which can be integrated into an iOS or Android app, and receive “messages” in those apps when a person enters or exits a range of beacons.

You can read more about it on github.com/google/eddystone.

Source: Chepesiuk, R.; Missing the Dark: Health Effects of Light Pollution, January 2009, Environmental Health Focus, Volume 117, Issue 1.

Source: The Business Case for Smart Street Lighting

Source: Polaris Market Research 2022

Source: US Department of Energy 2015 U.S. Lighting Market Characterization, issued November 2018

Tondo's 2022 estimate was calculated for each lighting category by applying market growth factors for each lighting category between 2015 and 2021 based on U.S. Census data to the DOE dataset.

The original Excel data set can be downloaded here.

A RESTful API is an architectural style for an application program interface (API) that uses HTTP requests to access and use data.

The API spells out the proper way for a developer to write a program requesting services from an operating system or other application.

You can read more from the source of this definition at TechTarget here.

A DIN rail is a metal rail of a standard type widely used for mounting circuit breakers and industrial control equipment inside equipment racks.

IP stands for "ingress protection". For IP67, this means:

"6" describes protection of solid particles: No ingress of dust; complete protection against contact (dust-tight). A vacuum must be applied. Test duration of up to 8 hours based on airflow.

"7" describes the protection from water: Ingress of water in harmful quantity shall not be possible when the enclosure is immersed in water under defined conditions of pressure and time (up to 1 meter (3 ft 3 in) of submersion). Test duration: 30 minutes.

Source:
Liu, M.; Zhang, B.; Luo, T.; Liu, Y.; Portnov, B.A.; Trop, T.; Jiao, W.; Liu, H.; Li, Y.; Liu, Q. Evaluating Street Lighting Quality in Residential Areas by Combining Remote Sensing Tools and a Survey on Pedestrians’ Perceptions of Safety and Visual Comfort. Remote Sens. 2022, 14, 826.

Modbus is a data communications protocol originally published in 1979. Modbus has become a de facto standard communication protocol and is now a commonly available means of connecting and communicating with industrial electronic devices.

Read more about MODBUS here.

RS-485, also known as TIA-485(-A) or EIA-485, is a serial communications standard.

Electrical signalling is balanced, and multipoint systems are supported. Digital communications networks implementing the standard can be used effectively over long distances and in electrically noisy environments.

Source: Catherine Sundling, Vania Ceccato,
The impact of rail-based stations on passengers’ safety perceptions. A systematic review of international evidence,
Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour,
Volume 86,
2022

DALI, or Digital Addressable Lighting Interface, is a dedicated protocol for digital lighting control that enables the easy installation of robust, scalable and flexible lighting networks.

Wiring is relatively simple; DALI power and data is carried by the same pair of wires, without the need for a separate bus cable.

Read more at the DALI Alliance website: Introduction to DALI

Source:
Aaron Chalfin & Benjamin Hansen & Jason Lerner & Lucie Parker, 2022. Reducing Crime Through Environmental Design: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment of Street Lighting in New York City, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, vol 38(1), pages 127-157.

The TALQ Consortium has established a globally accepted standard for management software interfaces to configure, command, control and monitor heterogeneous outdoor device networks (ODN) including smart street lighting.

This way interoperability between Central Management Software (CMS) and Outdoor Device Networks (ODN, so called ‘gateways’) for smart city applications from different vendors is enabled, such that a single CMS can control different ODNs in different parts of a city or region.

Read more at the TALQ website

Highly reliable hardware, firmware, and software components that perform specific, critical security functions. Because roots of trust are inherently trusted, they must be secure by design. Roots of trust provide a firm foundation from which to build security and trust.

Read more at the National Institute of Standards and Technology: Roots of Trust

The 0.1, 0.2, and 0.5 accuracy class electricity meters established within ANSI C12.20-2015 are accurate to within +/-0.1%, +/-0.2%, and +/-0.5% of true value at a full load.

Read more at the ANSI Blog: ANSI C12.20-2015 – Electricity Meters – 0.1, 0.2, and 0.5 Accuracy Classes.

Source:
Bullough J, Snyder J, Kiefer K. Impacts of average illuminance, spectral distribution, and uniformity on brightness and safety perceptions under parking lot lighting. Lighting Research & Technology. 2020;52(5):626-640.

Source: U.S. Energy Star Program: Commercial Real Estate - An Overview of Energy Use and Energy Efficiency Opportunities, ENERGY STAR®. July 21, 2022. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy.

Source: Asian Productivity Organization (APO): Green Productivity: The carbon footprint and LED lighting technology, © 2022 Asian Productivity Organization

Source: European Union Intelligent Energy Europe: Streetlight Refurbishment with Energy Performance Contracting Guide

Source: U.S. Geographic Survey, 2019: Estimating the presence of paved surface parking lots in the conterminous U.S. from land-use coefficients for 1974, 1982, 1992, 2002, and 2012

Source: US Department of Energy 2015 U.S. Lighting Market Characterization, issued November 2018

The full Excel data set that accompanies this report can be downloaded here.

Tondo's controllers utilize a chipset containing the ARM Cryptocell 300 cryptographic accelerator chip with hardware-protected vault and Root of Trust security. Read more about the ARM 300 family here: ARM Cryptocell 300 Family Overview

Source: Sȩdziwy A, Basiura A, Wojnicki I. Roadway Lighting Retrofit: Environmental and Economic Impact of Greenhouse Gases Footprint Reduction. Sustainability. 2018; 10(11):3925.

The world would collectively achieve 10,546 TWh of energy savings by 2030 [with energy efficient lighting], a sum comparable to over 40% of the world electricity generation in 2011. Saving this amount of energy would prevent the emissions of 5,400 Mt CO2, a figure equivalent
to over 15% of the global emissions in 2011.

Source: United Nations Environment Programme (2014). Green Paper - Policy Options to Accelerate the Global Transition to Advanced Lighting.

Source: Sȩdziwy A, Kotulski L. Towards Highly Energy-Efficient Roadway Lighting. Energies. 2016; 9(4):263.