Street Light and
Infrastructure Monitoring
A fixed-node IoT system for monitoring street lights and city infrastructure: fault and outage alerts, per-pole energy metering, and a live asset register that tells city operations exactly what is failing and where. From the controller in the pole to the operations dashboard, the whole stack is covered.
THE CHALLENGEA City Cannot Fix What It Cannot See
Street light faults are usually reported by residents, days after they happen, with no idea which pole or feeder is at fault. Energy is billed on connected load rather than real consumption, so theft and burning-by-day go unnoticed. The asset register, if it exists, is a spreadsheet that drifted out of date years ago. The fix is fixed IoT nodes on each pole or feeder that report status, energy, and faults continuously, plus an operations layer that turns those streams into work orders and accurate energy accounting.
Sits inside the Telematics and GPS Tracking stack and shares hardware and platform building blocks with Remote Equipment and Machine Monitoring.
WHAT'S INCLUDED
Fixed-Node Monitoring, Pole to Operations Centre
Pole and Feeder Controller
A fixed IoT node that sits in the pole base or feeder pillar, built around an STM32 or ESP32 MCU with a metering front end. It switches and dims the luminaire, measures voltage, current, and power factor, detects lamp failure, and reports over the cellular link. The enclosure is rated IP67 for outdoor pole mounting.
Energy Metering
A calibrated energy metering IC in each node reports real kWh, not estimated load. That gives the city true consumption per pole and per feeder, exposes daytime burning and meter bypass, and lets energy bills be settled on measured rather than assumed numbers.
Fault and Outage Alerts
The node distinguishes lamp failure, driver failure, no-mains, low voltage, and door-open tamper, and raises a typed alert the moment it occurs. Feeder-level nodes detect whole-street outages. Operations teams learn about a fault before the first resident call.
Asset Register
A geotagged asset register that every node maps onto: pole ID, luminaire type, wattage, feeder, ward, and install date. Each fault, energy reading, and maintenance action is stamped against the asset, so the register stays live instead of going stale.
Scheduling and Control
Astronomical-clock and group dimming control switches lights on and off with dusk and dawn and dims on schedule to save energy. Control can be per-pole, per-feeder, or city-wide, and overrides are logged.
City Operations Dashboard
An operations dashboard with a live map of lit, unlit, and faulted poles, open work orders, energy by ward and feeder, and burn-hour and savings reports. Field crews get a mobile view with the fault and asset detail already attached.
WHAT YOU EXPERIENCE
From Complaint-Driven to Data-Driven Maintenance
The value of street light monitoring is not the node on the pole. It is that a fault becomes a work order before anyone complains, energy is billed on truth, and the city knows the real state of every asset it owns. Here is how that changes operations.
Faults Find You First
A failed lamp or dead feeder raises a typed alert and a work order automatically, with the pole ID and location attached. Crews are dispatched to a known fault rather than hunting along a dark street.
Energy Bills Match Reality
Per-pole kWh metering ends billing on connected load. Daytime burning, meter bypass, and over-rated lamps show up in the data, and energy accounts settle on measured consumption.
The Asset Register Stays True
Every fault, reading, and repair is stamped against a geotagged asset, so the register reflects what is actually in the ground. Audits and maintenance planning run on current data, not a stale spreadsheet.
HOW IT WORKS
From Pole Node to Work Order
Sense and Meter at the Pole
The node samples voltage, current, and power factor, runs lamp and driver fault detection locally, and meters energy. It reports periodic readings plus an immediate event on any fault, keeping the data path lean over NB-IoT.
Ingest and Map to Asset
Events and readings arrive over MQTT or CoAP, land in a time-series store, and are joined to the geotagged asset register. A fault on node 4172 becomes a fault on a specific pole, feeder, and ward in one step.
Alert, Dispatch, Report
The mapped event opens a work order, pushes an alert to operations and field crews, and updates the live map and energy dashboards. Closing the work order writes back to the asset history.
STANDARDS AND INTEGRATION
Built for City Networks and Open Platforms
NB-IoT and Cellular
Pole nodes connect over NB-IoT or Cat-M1 using Quectel BC660 or BG95 modules, chosen for deep coverage and low power so a node reaches the cabinet inside a pole base. Feeder pillars with mains can fall back to standard LTE where data volume is higher.
Protocols and Interfaces
Nodes speak MQTT and CoAP to the backend and can integrate metering over Modbus where a panel meter is already installed. DALI and 0 to 10V luminaire dimming are supported on the output side for compatibility with standard LED drivers.
Open Data and Security
Asset, energy, and fault data is exposed over REST for the city ERP, GIS, and SmartCity platforms, and every device link is secured with TLS and per-device credentials. Firmware updates are delivered over the air so the fleet stays current without site visits.
FAQ
Common Questions
Do you monitor individual poles or only feeders?
Both, and they complement each other. A per-pole node gives lamp-level fault detection, dimming, and metering for that luminaire. A feeder-level node at the pillar catches whole-street outages and meters the feeder. Many cities deploy feeder nodes everywhere and per-pole nodes on priority roads.
Why NB-IoT instead of a mesh radio?
Street lights are spread along roads with no convenient backhaul, and NB-IoT gives deep, low-power coverage straight to the carrier network without building and maintaining gateways. Where data volume is higher, such as a feeder pillar, Cat-M1 or standard LTE is used. Private mesh is an option for dense campuses but rarely the right fit citywide.
How accurate is the energy metering?
Each node uses a calibrated metering front end that measures real power, not estimated load, typically within a percent or two. That is accurate enough to settle energy accounts on measured kWh, detect daytime burning, and expose meter bypass on a feeder.
Can it control dimming and switching, or only monitor?
It controls as well as monitors. Nodes run astronomical-clock switching and scheduled or group dimming, and drive standard LED luminaires over DALI or 0 to 10V. Every override and schedule change is logged, so control and monitoring share one audit trail.
How does the asset register stay current?
Every node is bound to a geotagged asset record at commissioning, and every fault, energy reading, and maintenance action is stamped against that record. The register updates itself as the field changes, so it does not drift the way a manual spreadsheet does.
Can this feed your existing city systems?
Yes. Asset, energy, fault, and work-order data is exposed over REST and MQTT, designed to integrate with municipal ERP, GIS, and SmartCity command platforms. The operations dashboard can run on its own or push into your existing control centre.
Ready to Monitor Your Street Lighting Network?
Share your estate details: number of poles and feeders, luminaire types, and how energy is billed today, to get a clear comparison of per-pole versus feeder monitoring and see how faults, energy, and the asset register come together.
Schedule a Free Consultation