Mount Vernon, a city in Westchester County and part of the New York metropolitan area, has embarked on a smart city transformation, starting with intelligent street lighting and sensors. The city has added Signify’s Interact connected lighting system as well as outdoor multisensors to its existing street lights.

The new setup allows the Department of Public Works to better control the city’s light operations, which is reducing its energy use. The outdoor multisensors detect motion, ambient noise and temperature, which the city is using to improve citizen safety, street services, and more sustainable urban energy use.

“We conducted a multi-phase pilot programme 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 optimise our energy use, increase our city’s sustainability efforts, and support citizen safety and quality of life.”

Mount Vernon is the eighth most populous city in New York State. It lies to the immediate north of the Borough of the Bronx, part of New York City. The city is an inner suburb of New York City.

With the Interact lighting management software and nodes, the Department of Public Works remotely monitors, manages and controls its network of connected street lights in a single system. The city can 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.

Mount Vernon’s RoadFocus street lights include D4i drivers and a bottom Zhaga Book 18 socket interface, which allowed the city to install the nodes and sensors easily to the luminaires.

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 street lights 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 also provides ambient noise and temperature insights. It allows detection of leaf blowing and helps reinforcement of noise abatement measures. It can also employ 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, liveable 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.”