As a major manufacturer of electrical equipment and high efficiency smart streetlights with wireless network control, MinebeaMitsumi has been promoting Smart City projects in Japan since 2015.
Challenges
Cities in Japan are well aware of the benefits of Smart Lighting, so many municipalities are investing in smart LED streetlights to save energy and carbon emissions, improve quality of service, enhance road safety and urban life.
Our solution
In Toyono, Osaka prefecture, MinebeaMitsumi’s technology is used for the remote management of smart LED streetlights. The brightness of streetlights at road junctions is automatically set at 100%, while others are dimmed at 70% after midnight to improve energy efficiency. Our technology is also contributing to a more effective maintenance work by enabling a prompt detection of possible operational issues.
Still in Osaka prefecture, MinebeaMitsumi is conducting a pilot project in other 8 locations combining Smart Lighting, smart cameras and environment sensors. The infrastructure collects raw data from multiple sources to monitor key environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, illuminance, wind speed, rainfall, etc. Data are analyzed and correlated to predict possible disasters and early identify risks.
Results
The projects are running smoothly. MinebeaMitsumi has also been partnering with Japan Weather Association for different research projects and demonstration experiments funded by the Ministry of the Environment. After working together to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts by leveraging Smart Lighting data, the two organizations are now using pyranometer data to predict solar radiation and solar power output, thus contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions.
