GB2368905A

GB2368905A - Street lighting inspection

Info

Publication number: GB2368905A
Application number: GB0112359A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Anthony Simon
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2000-05-26
Filing date: 2001-05-22
Publication date: 2002-05-15
Also published as: GB0112359D0; GB0012778D0

Abstract

Street lighting status monitoring apparatus (1) comprises sensing means (10) mountable on a car, GPS receiver (20), electronic compass (30) and a computer (40). The sensing means comprises a telescopically extendable frame adapted to be mounted on the roof of a car and having left and right sensing arrangements. Each sensing arrangement detects luminescence originating from different directions. Each individual sensor may have an optical lens and a photovoltaic cell. Output from the sensors passes to a computer (40) which has a database and a hard disk storage means (120). The computer is configured to correlate positional data from throughout the specification GPS receiver (20) with information on the positions of street lighting on the database. If the sensor arrangements are at a position at which there is according to the database, a piece or pieces of street lighting then luminescence data from the sensors is further correlated with direction data from the electronic compass (30) and with data from the database on the type of street lighting and its direction from the sensors and it is determined whether or not the luminescence detected by each of the sensors is appropriate for the street lighting. The results of the correlation are stored on the hard disk (120) for subsequent use. The computer (40) also has data input means (110) for setting parameters such as the beginning and the end of a journey.

Description

Street Lighting Inspection The present invention concerns improved means for detecting the status of street lighting.

Ensuring that street lighting, such as overhead street lamps and signs, are working properly is an arduous and time-consuming task but a necessary one as local authorities and other bodies responsible for street lighting are legally bound to ensure that street lighting is in an acceptable state and that malfunctioning lighting (for example lighting which does not work or has an unacceptably low light output) is promptly repaired.

A number of devices are known in the art to aid in this, but they all have certain limitations or disadvantages which are overcome by the present invention. GB 2245358 discloses apparatus for recording the condition of street lighting, and methods for same. The apparatus and method work by recording the lighting levels along a fixed route as a function of distance travelled as measured by an odometer and by using this as a first standard against which to compare separately recorded second lighting levels along the same fixed route. The first and second lighting levels are compared and correlated to determine points along the route at which lighting levels differ and at which it is therefore assumed that the condition of street lighting apparatus has changed i. e. at which street lighting may or may not have malfunctioned, but has changed in light output.

However, this has a number of substantial disadvantages including: i) a first"standard"must be recorded with all street lighting working, in order that the recorded second lighting levels are meaningful; ii) a fixed route must be followed; iii) any minor deviation from the fixed route, for example extra distance travelled caused by overtaking other vehicles, changing lanes, or travelling in a different lane along a non-straight section of road, can cause errors in the system; iv) any changes in street lighting (for example the addition, modification or removal of lighting) along the fixed route must be accompanied by the setting of a new"standard"for the route; and v) each set of lighting levels needs to be recorded using the same vehicle since odometers on different vehicles could measure different distances travelled for identical journeys.

This clearly limits the usefulness of the system.

Other systems for detecting malfunctioning street lighting include DE 3777860 (photodiodes in the lighting apparatus and a circuit to detect the state of the photodiode); GB 2176640 (street lights having a variety of in-built sensors), EP 0459923 (fibre optic devices connected to each light source), EP 0470943 (detectors connected to each light), FR 2601485 (monitoring of power consumption by individual lights and centralised reporting), WO 98/24275 (lights having monitoring elements), US 4507655 (light emitting diodes showing the operational status of lights when they are not operating, powered by charge accumulated by the lights when they are operating), US 5095502 (detectors monitoring current consumption of individual street lights), and US 5479159 (street lights having monitoring apparatus).

These all require relatively expensive modifications to lights or power supplies and do not work with existing systems.

The present invention overcomes the prior art disadvantages and provides improved apparatus and methods for detecting the status of street lighting. According to the present invention there is provided street light monitoring apparatus comprising: i) sensing means for detecting luminescence levels; ii) position determining means for determining the position of the apparatus; iii) direction determining means for determining the direction that the sensing means is facing; iv) computing means; v) a database comprising information on positions of street lighting; and vi) data storage means; said computing means communicating with said sensing means, positioning means, direction determing means database and data storage means and being arranged such that it: a) determines the position of said sensing means and the direction that said sensing means is facing; b) correlates said position and direction and the luminescence detected by said sensing means with said information on said database to determine when said sensing means should be detecting luminescence from said street lighting and whether said detected luminescence is appropriate for said street lighting; and c) stores the results of said correlation on said data storage means.

Also provided is a method for determing the status of street lighting comprising : i) detecting luminescence levels at a location; ii) determining the position of said location; and iii) correlating said detected luminescence levels at said position with data on a database comprising information on positions of street lighting to determine when luminescence should be detected from said street lighting and whether said detected luminescence at said position is appropriate for said street lighting.

The method may comprise moving between a set of locations, for example driving along a motorway or around an urban location, to determine the status of street lighting which is passed. Naturally, the method of the invention may be performed using apparatus according to the invention. The apparatus and method of the present invention thus allow for monitoring of the status of street lighting along any route, as long as the database has information on street lighting at the positions visited. The route does not need to be pre-defined, nor does a"standard"of luminescence levels have to be predefined against which detected luminescence is compared. Addition, removal or movement of street lighting simply requires minor alteration to the database. The use of position detering means such as GPS navigation devices means that the same or different apparatus can be used with the same or different means of transport, for example different cars or vans, and accurate results will be obtained.

Luminescence detectors may, for example, be as described in GB 2245358 or any other appropriate arrangement of light sensors. For example, different types of street lighting may be located at different heights and thus a set of detectors may be employed arranged such that they detect luminescence from different heights or different directions as being from such different heights or directions.

Position determining means may typically comprise GPS receivers, which are widely commercially available. These can readily be used to determine the position of the sensing means to within one metre or less, and may employ readily available techniques to improve the accuracy of the determined position. For example, real-time code (often referred to as real-time differential) and real-time phase GPS corrections may be employed.

A GPS system may for example comprise an antenna, mounting means, a GPS receiver, power supply for same, memory means (e. g. flash-RAM), terminal with display and keyboard. Systems are widely available, for example the Leica GPS System 500 (www. leica-geosystems. com), and those of Trimble Navigation Ltd. (California, USA) (www. trimble. com) and products from Geosystem S. n. c. Di Esposito e Celano, Piazzo F Maggio, 11-04010 Norma (LT), Italy (www. geo-system. it).

In its simplest form the database may contain just the location of street lights. However, additional data may also be included, for example as to the height and/or type of street lights. Thus when the correlation is made between position, detected luminescence and information on the database, factors such as height and type of street lighting may be taken into account when determining whether the detected luminescence is appropriate for the street lighting.

When performing the correlation, the first step is usually to determine whether or not there is any street lighting at a given position. If there is none then the correlation can be stopped since there will be no appropriate luminescence levels. Thus at positions without street lighting, luminescence levels need not even be detected.

The database need not be local to the detection apparatus (i. e. sensing means). For example, the database may be located on a central computer and a computer located with the detection apparatus may communicate with the central computer, for example via other than fixed cable, for example via the mobile telephone network using any appropriate standards such as WAP, GPRS, 3G etc.

Direction determining means may for example comprise an electronic compass or may instead be provided by the computing means determining the direction of travel of the sensing means as a function of the current and immediately previous position of the sensing means, assuming that the sensing means is travelling in a forward direction. In order to allow for a vehicle on which the sensing means is mounted to be driven in reverse if necessary, the computing means may be provided with a sensor input determining when the vehicle is in reverse gear and thus when it is travelling forwards or backwards.

In the UK, statutory requirements dictate how often street lighting must be checked to ensure its working status. As well as having a central database containing information on the location (and/or height and type) of street lights, the database may contain information on when a street light must next have its working status checked (or when it was last checked and therefore when it must next be checked). Thus a series of positions which must be visited may be communicated to a person driving a vehicle equipped with the detection apparatus. A central computer may combine information on when particular street lights need inspecting with other information such as the required start and finish positions of a person driving the detection vehicle, the length of time they will be driving for, and road congestion, to provide a route to be travelled. The route may be determined on a real-time basis in order to take into account information on e. g. road congestion, closures or accidents, and may be communicated to the driver as a series of instructions over the course of time (i. e. during the journey itself). As far as the driver is concerned, the apparatus of the invention (or at least that part of it which is in the vehicle) may appear to operate as a navigation system, simply providing navigation instructions-"Take the next left turn in 100 metres", "Take the third exit off the roundabout","Leave the motorway in one mile at Junction 12"etc. Position, direction and luminescence data can be communicated to the cental computer which can perform the correlation. In order to minimise the amount of data communicated between the central computer and the vehicle, the central computer can request that luminescence data only be sent when it determines that the vehicle is at a position at which there is a piece of street lighting (to allow for time lags in communication and data processing, the computer on the vehicle may be provided with memory means to buffer luminescence data for a short period of time e. g. 15, 30 or 60 seconds, 5,10 or 15 minutes etc. or the central computer may determine the location of the next piece of street lighting which will be reached by the vehicle carrying the detection apparatus and may instruct that luminescence data is only sent corresponding to that position).

Thus the apparatus of the invention may comprise a first portable unit moveable by an operator and a second central unit, the portable unit comprising: i) sensing means for detecting luminescence levels; ii) position determining means for determining the position of said sensing means; iii) direction determining means for determining the direction that said sensing means is facing; iv) computing means; v) instruction means for instructing said operator on the movement of said portable unit; and vi) communication means for communicating with said central unit and said central unit comprising: i) computing means; ii) a database comprising information on positions of items of street lighting, the date by which each street light is due to be inspected, and routes which may be travelled; iii) data storage means; and iv) communication means for communicating with said portable unit; and being arranged such that said central unit computing means determines from said database which items of street lighting need inspecting and is able to determine a route to be travelled by said portable unit to visit said street lighting units in need of inspection and is able to communicate said route to said portable unit, said portable unit communicating with said central unit to provide said operator with said instructions on its movement and to provide said central computer with information on the position of said sensing means and the direction said sensing means is facing and the luminescence detected by said sensing means, said central computer correlating said position, direction and detected luminescence with said information on said database to determine when said sensing means should be detecting luminescence from said street lights and whether said detected luminescence is appropriate for said street lighting, and storing the results of said correlation on said data storage means.

The portable unit is typically mounted in/on a vehicle such as a car or van, but may also be carried by a person, e. g. mounted on a back-pack in order to allow the checking of footpaths and subways etc. The provision of memory means (or data storage means of some form) for the portable unit is particularly important when data communications with the central unit may be interrupted or are likely to be interrupted, such as when travelling through a subway, or when passing through a tunnel or under a bridge. In order to minimise telecommunications costs it may in any event be desirable to temporarily store data in data storage means on the portable unit. The portable unit may connect to the central unit at the start of a session. The central unit may communicate to the portable unit a first part (or the whole) of the route to be travelled and optionally the location of street lighting along the route communicated. As the route is travelled data can be stored by the portable unit and transmitted when necessary to the central unit. Thus the portable unit may collect data only for those positions at which it has been told there is street lighting, and as the first part of the route is nearing completion it may communicate with the central unit to obtain instructions on the next part of the route to be travelled, and may transmit to the central unit the data collected up until that point.

The database may have additional uses, for example, the cataloguing and management of street lighting resources, and the calculation of power consumption and therefore calculation of power bills (power usage of street lighting is typically unmetered). Thus the database may contain numerous additional data fields and tables.

The database and system of the invention can be used stand-alone, or are particularly useful as a"bolt-on"addition to existing commercially available street lighting management systems such as the TOSS system produced by AI Technologies Ltd. , Canada (www. infoserve. net), the Maintenance Manager products from Symology Ltd. (GB) (www. symology. co. uk), and the UKPMS system produced by Exor Corporation Ltd. (Bristol, GB) (www. exorcorp. com). Thus the present invention can be used to extend the functionality available from current street lighting inventory and management systems.

The invention will be further apparent from the following description, with reference to the several figures of the accompanying drawings, which show, by way of example only, one form of street lighting status detection apparatus.

Of the Figures: Figure 1 shows a device according to the present invention; Figure 2 shows the luminescence detection apparatus of Figure 1; and Figure 3 shows sensing arrangements of Figure 2.

In a first embodiment, street lighting status monitoring apparatus I comprises sensing means 10 mountable on a car (not shown), GPS receiver 20, electronic compass 30 and computer 40.

Sensing means 10 comprises telescopically extendable frame 50 adapted to be mounted on the roofs of cars (magnetically or by attachment to a roof-rack) and having left and right sensing arrangements 60,70. Left sensing arrangement 60 has light sensors 61,62, 63,64 separated by walls 65 and arranged to detect luminescence originating from different directions. When mounted on a car roof, sensor 61 detects luminescence originating from a height of 10-15 metres (correlating to overhead lighting); sensor 62 detects luminescence from a height of 5-8 metres (correlating to other non-overhead street lights); sensor 63 detects luminescence from a height of 2-4 metres (correlating to street signs); and sensor 64 detects luminescence from a height of 0-2 metres, correlating to bollards. Right sensing arrangement 70 has light sensors 71-74 arranged similarly to sensors 61-64.

Each of sensors 61-64,71-74 comprises an optical lens 80 and photovoltaic cell 90.

Output from sensors 61-64,71-74 passes to computer 40, which has database 100 (not shown) and storage means (hard disk) 120. Computer 40 is configured to correlate positional data from GPS receiver 20 with information on the positions of street lighting on database 100. If sensor arrangements 60,70 are at a position at which there is also (according to the database) a piece or pieces of street lighting then luminescence data from sensors 61-64,71-74 is further correlated with direction data from electronic compass 30 and with data from database 100 on the type of streetlighting and its direction from sensors 61-64,71-74 and it is determined whether or not the luminescence detected by each of sensors 61-64,71-74 is appropriate for the street lighting.

The results of the correlation are stored on the hard disk 120 of computer 40 for subsequent use.

Computer 40 also has data input means 110 for setting parameters such as the beginning and end of a journey or a pause in it, and to set the position of sensing means 10-such as on vehicles of different heights, or on a backpack.

To place sensing means 10 on a backpack (not shown), frame 50 is telescoped so that it is arranged in a compact fashion and is then attached to the backpack (not shown). The use of the backpack is then indicated to computer 40 using data input means 110.

In addition, apparatus 1 can also be used to map the position of pieces of street lighting such as overhead lamps, traffic signs and traffic bollards. The apparatus is the same as before, and with the database being able to accept new records.

Using data input means 110 a user (not shown) instructs computer 40 to enter a data input mode. Sensor arrangements 60,70 are then positioned adjacent street lighting (for example a vehicle (not shown) on which they are mounted is stopped next to the street lighting) and the particulars of the street lighting inputted via input means 110 and stored on database 100. This allows the mapping of e. g. complex urban lighting.

Simpler lighting arrangements such as those on dual carriageways or motorways (freeways) may be mapped in a continuous manner, i. e. without needing to stop the vehicle next to each light or set of lights. Input means 110 is used to instruct computer 40 as to what type of lighting is being mapped or which type of road is being travelled along. Computer 40 then records positions at which maxima of luminescence are detected as being positions at which there are lights, and records this on database 100.

In another embodiment (not shown), sensing means 10 comprises telescopically extendable frame 50 adapted to be mounted on the roofs of cars (magnetically or by attachment to a roof-rack) and having left and right sensing arrangements 60,70, which in turn have sensors 261,271 which detect luminescence originating from a height of 10-15 metres (correlating to overhead lighting and lanterns); sensors 262,272 which detect luminescence originating from a height of 5-10 metres (correlating to lighting columns of 5-10 metres in height); and sensors 263,273 which detect luminescence originating from a height of below 5 metres (correlating to bollards and signs). Detectors 261-263 and 271-273 are each connected via seven pin plugs 280,281 to terminal box 282 which passes signals to apparatus contained within the vehicle. GPS antenna 290 is also mounted on frame 50.

It will be appreciated that it is not intended to limit the invention to the above example only, many variations, such as might readily occur to one skilled in the art, being possible, without departing from the scope thereof.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. Street light monitoring apparatus comprising: i) sensing means for detecting luminescence levels; ii) position determining means for determining the position of the apparatus; iii) direction determining means for determining the direction that the sensing means is facing; iv) computing means; v) a database comprising information on positions of street lighting; and vi) data storage means; said computing means communicating with said sensing means, positioning means, direction determining means database and data storage means and being arranged such that it: a) determines the position of said sensing means and the direction that said sensing means is facing; b) correlates said position and direction and the luminescence detected by said sensing means with said information on said database to determine when said sensing means should be detecting luminescence from said street lighting and whether said detected luminescence is appropriate for said street lighting; and c) stores the results of said correlation on said data storage means.
2. Apparatus according to claim 1, said sensing means detecting light from a plurality of directions.
3. Apparatus according to either one of the preceding claims, said position determining means comprising a GPS receiver.
4. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, said direction determining means comprising a compass.
5. Apparatus according to any one of clams 1-3, said computing means determining the direction that said sensing means is facing by interpolation from movement determined by said position determining means.
6. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, said database comprising the location of street lights.
7. Apparatus according to claim 6, said database also comprising at least one of the height and type of said street lights.
8. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, said database being remote to said sensing means.
9. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, said database also comprising the date on which said street lights must have their working status checked.
10. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising a first portable unit moveable by an operator and a second central unit, said portable unit comprising : i) sensing means for detecting luminescence levels; ii) position determining means for determining the position of said sensing means; iii) direction determining means for determining the direction that said sensing means is facing; iv) computing means; v) instruction means for instructing said operator on the movement of said portable unit; and vi) communication means for communicating with said central unit and said central unit comprising: i) computing means; ii) a database comprising information on positions of items of street lighting, the date by which each street light is due to be inspected, and routes which may be travelled; iii) data storage means; and iv) communication means for communicating with said portable unit; and being arranged such that said central unit computing means determines from said database which items of street lighting need inspecting and is able to determine a route to be travelled by said portable unit to visit said street lighting units in need of inspection and is able to communicate said route to said portable unit, said portable unit communicating with said central unit to provide said operator with said instructions on its movement and to provide said central computer with information on the position of said sensing means and the direction said sensing means is facing and the luminescence detected by said sensing means, said central computer correlating said position, direction and detected luminescence with said information on said database to determine when said sensing means should be detecting luminescence from said street lights and whether said detected luminescence is appropriate for said street lighting, and storing the results of said correlation on said data storage means.
11. Apparatus according to claim 10, said portable unit being mounted on a vehicle or back-pack.
12. A method for determining the status of street lighting comprising: i) detecting luminescence levels at a location; ii) determining the position of said location; and iii) correlating said detected luminescence levels at said position with data on a database comprising information on positions of street lighting to determine when luminescence should be detected from said street lighting and whether said detected luminescence at said position is appropriate for said street lighting.
13. A method according to claim 12, comprising moving between a set of locations to determine the status of street lighting which is passed when moving between said locations.
14. A method according to either one of claims 12 or 13, comprising the use of apparatus according to claim 1.