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.

In Tokyo Suginami, for instance, our technology is used for the remote management of smart LED streetlights. The installed solution monitors the status of operations and power consumption of streetlights, controlling their brightness and dimming lights to save energy without comprising the quality of service.

A similar solution is used in Toyono, Osaka prefecture, to manage each streetlight individually. 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.

Again in Osaka prefecture, MinebeaMitsumi is conducting a pilot project in 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.

The company 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.