Japanese firm Minebea Mitsumi has this month started a smart street lighting demonstration project in Osaka.

Using wireless technology and mounted environmental sensors and a camera on smart lighting, the smart city project aims to monitor the environmental conditions around the road, traffic volume, flood water on the road, and so on.

In this demonstration experiment, Minebea Mitsumi is installing streetlights with sensors that can monitor surrounding environmental conditions such as wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, rainfall, illumination, UV and acceleration on six roads managed by Osaka Prefecture.

The illumination levels of these streetlights are centrally controlled wirelessly and they collect surrounding environmental data. Using the collected data, Osaka Prefecture can immediately check the weather conditions of the prefectural roads in mountainous and coastal areas that it manages. In particular, the project will verify whether it is possible to monitor the weather conditions that can be used for road management operations in summer and winter.

Minebea Mitsumi was chosen in a financing programme for the model projects under the Joint Crediting Mechanism entrusted by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan. Since then, it has been developing smart lighting in all provinces of Cambodia.

It has also been conducting tests in Japan, but this project is of the largest so far. In addition to the environmental sensor mounted on the street lightings, there are plans for cameras to measure traffic volume, a water level sensor for detecting flood water, a snow depth gauge for measuring precipitation, and a rain gauge, partly under development.

With a focus on Expo 2025 in Osaka, which will be held under the concept of the People’s Living Lab, the Osaka Prefectural Government, the Osaka City Government, and the Osaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry are working closely to create an environment suitable for conducting innovative demonstration projects and create a virtuous cycle for generating new businesses in Osaka.

Minebea Mitsumi has developed a high efficiency LED streetlight with wireless functionality together with Iwasaki Electric, and been promoting the smart-city project since 2015.

“We are building a system that can collectively monitor functions related to urban life by centrally managing the LED streetlights in the cloud with wireless functionality, making it possible to monitor lighting time and power consumption, and combine various sensors – environmental sensors, parking sensors, etc – power meters, surveillance cameras, etc,” said a Minebea Mitsumi statement. “We continue to take on the challenge of evolving lighting equipment devices with various added value beyond simple lights, such as energy saving, enhanced convenience for urban life and improved safety.”

The communications system is using 6LowPan technology in a mesh network that is effective in areas with many trees and buildings. If communications go down, the LED streetlights with wireless functionality will automatically build a new network.

Established in 1951, Minebea Mitsumi is a precision components manufacturer that integrates a wide range of technologies, from precision machining technologies, such as miniature and small ball bearings to motors, sensors, semiconductors and wireless technologies.