A cellular IoT LED streetlight luminaire controller from Urban Control has become the world’s first NB-IoT and LTE-M lighting controller to be given D4i certification by the DALI Alliance. D4i is an industry-wide standard that enables smart, connected luminaries. Certification will enable interchangeability and interoperability between products made by diverse range of manufacturers of smart street light equipment, ultimately reducing cost of ownership of smart street lighting for city authorities.

By taking care of control and power requirements, the D4i standard makes it easier to mount sensors and communication devices on luminaires. In addition, intelligent D4i LED drivers inside luminaires have the capability to store and report a wide range of luminaire, energy and diagnostics data in a standardised format.

Urban Control’s Urban Node 324 Cellular controller is designed to provide the benefits of smart city LED street lighting, including the ability to precisely control brightness and thus energy consumption and costs depending on actual local conditions; dynamically responding to sudden changes in pedestrian numbers or road traffic volumes; monitoring energy consumption in real-time; and identifying and pre-empting faults.

“Interoperable, future-proof connected lighting provides a bedrock of common standards connectivity upon which smart city technologies can be built, realising a long-held ambition of cities and communities around the world,” said Miguel Lira, Innovation and Development Director at Urban Control. “We are delighted to receive D4i certification for our ground-breaking cellular lighting controller, which has already attracted attention from across the industry for its innovative Plug-and-Play capabilities and flexible deployment profile.”

“The D4i certification programme enables smart city decision makers to combine the long-lasting nature of a city’s lighting infrastructure with the rapid changes in digital communication and sensor technology,” said Paul Drosihn, General Manager of the DALI Alliance. “Products such as Urban Control’s Node 324 Cellular represent a new breed of interoperable lighting controllers which are quick and easy to deploy and future-proofed from activation.”

The DALI Alliance (also known as the Digital Illumination Interface Alliance or DiiA) is a global consortium of lighting companies that drives the growth of lighting-control solutions based on internationally standardised Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) technology. The organisation operates the DALI-2 and D4i certification programmes to boost levels of cross-vendor interoperability.