Communicating detection, a real lever for more balanced lighting

Public lighting, whether connected or solar-powered, needs to offer a lighting scenario that meet the needs of the users. Among the tools at its available can be the communicating detection or ‘light train’, known as NOVMOOV at Novéa Energies, which makes it possible to combine user safety and respect for biodiversity.

What is communicating detection?

Nowadays, lighting systems are often equipped with motion detectors to light up only when pedestrian or cyclists are present. But this detection car go even further by offering detection groupings to follow users along their route. So how does it work ?

With communicating detection, each streetlight switches on one or more luminaires with which it has at least one group in common.

The lighting will be on for 30 or 45 seconds (time delay can be changed) and then return to the original lighting mode until the next detection.

Note that the lighting power before and during detection is completely adjustable: for example: you can switch from a switch-off (i.e. no lighting) to 30% in the case of a detection, or from a 20% standby to a 100% power level when detection. Once again, the settings can be completely personalised for each project.

When to choose communicating detection?

Communicating detection enables lighting to be switched on only when it is needed. It is particularly popular for installations close to natural areas to limit the impact of lighting on the species present. This option is also frequently used on pedestrian and cycling paths to follow the user’s progress. It can even be installed in other applications, such as large car parks or car-sharing areas, to light up only when the area is visited, to make it safer for users while limiting unnecessary lighting.

Discover a communicating motion detection project in Saumur (France)

However, detection (whether communicating or not), is not recommended near roads: the car traffic is likely to trigger the detection system too often and producing the opposite effect by creating lighting when it is not needed.

Does it also work for solar-powered lighting?

For a solar-lighting solution, we recommend grouping the lampposts by 2, with one lamppost being able to be in several groups: This will help to optimise both the battery and the detection time.

Communicating motion detection system should be planned at the beginning of a solar-powered lighting project as it will have an impact on energy consumption, which is taken into account in the design of our systems.

However, this has no impact on the lifespan of the components: the LEDs are fully adapted to immediate lighting, and our batteries are sized at the start of the project to cover expected cumulative detection time. Our guarantees therefore remain identical with or without detection.

The Novéa Link trick

Novéa Energies allows you to modify detection groupings via NOVEA LINK, its ocal supervision application. You can edit your Novmoov groups beforehand and then go on site to update the solar assemblies.

Find out more about Novéa Link here