April 25, 2023   

Bright lights, smart city: Mount Vernon, New York adds Signify’s Interact connected lighting system and sensor technology to streetlights to gain value beyond illumination

• Management software enables the Department of Public Works to better control and monitor its light operations, reducing energy use

• Signify’s outdoor multisensor delivers motion detection and ambient noise and temperature insights, helping the city support citizen safety, improve services and increase sustainability

Bridgewater, New Jersey – Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, has helped Mount Vernon, New York begin its smart city journey by leveraging something the city already owns: its street lighting. The City has added Signify’s Interact connected lighting system, management software and outdoor multisensor to a subset of its existing 4000 Lumec RoadFocus LED streetlights.

“We conducted a multi-phase pilot program to explore how our infrastructure could deliver value to our city beyond light itself,” said Department of Public Works Commissioner Damani Bush. “It quickly became evident that Signify’s connected lighting technology and sensor applications could help optimize our energy use, increase our city’s sustainability efforts, and support citizen safety and quality of life.”

Mount Vernon’s RoadFocus streetlights include D4i drivers and a bottom Zhaga Book 18 socket interface, which allowed the city to install the nodes and sensors easily and securely to the luminaires when it was ready to start its smart city journey.

With the Interact lighting management software and nodes, the Department of Public Works remotely monitors, manages and controls its network of connected streetlights in a single system. Bush and his team have the intelligence they need to plan maintenance, quickly respond to issues and set lighting schedules according to the time of day or year, so light is used when needed most.

Signify’s Zhaga-D4i-compliant outdoor multisensor further adds to the city’s ‘smarts’. It can help detect motion and trigger the optimal light level to ensure well-lit streets for pedestrians and drivers, supporting public safety. It can help automatically dim the streetlights based on trends of when people and vehicles aren’t around at night, helping Mount Vernon reduce energy use. And it can deliver data-based insights to support asset management; for example, the city can know if/when a truck might back into a street pole and quickly take action to resolve these incidents.

The connected lighting infrastructure has also equipped the city with valuable ambient noise and temperature insights. For instance, Mount Vernon can detect leaf blowing and reinforce the city’s ordinance to help reduce the noise impact on citizens. It can also leverage the environmental data to support city planning or communicate preventive health information to the public in the event of extreme heat or cold.

“Our Department of Public Works has always played a pivotal role in keeping Mount Vernon moving,” said Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard. “But now, with the support of this smarter street lighting, the team can help us go above and beyond to make our city the best it can be.”

“Street lighting provides a strong foundation to make cities smart, livable and sustainable,” said Martin Stephenson, Head of North American Professional Systems & Services, Signify. “We are excited to work with Mount Vernon and help it understand the value its infrastructure can deliver for the city and citizens.”