WO2014141312A1

WO2014141312A1 - Street type led lighting body integrated with telecommunication devices

Info

Publication number: WO2014141312A1
Application number: PCT/IT2014/000066
Authority: WO
Inventors: Piergianni MELONI; Giuliano LIBERATI
Original assignee: Ematek Lab S.R.L.
Priority date: 2013-03-13
Filing date: 2014-03-06
Publication date: 2014-09-18
Also published as: ITRM20130048U1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a street type lighting body comprising a support structure of the lighting elements, characterized in that: - said lighting elements are constituted by a plurality of LEDs, - said support structure comprises a casing (11), which defines one or more housing compartments, said casing being made of a non- conductive material; and - said lighting body is provided with one or more antennas (12), positioned completely inside said housing compartments defined by said casing (11).

Description

STREET TYPE LED LIGHTING BODY INTEGRATED WITH

TELECOMMUNICATION DEVICES

The present invention relates to a street type LED lighting body integrated with telecommunication devices.

In particular, the present invention relates to a street type LED lighting body that integrates inside antennas and signal receiving, transmitting and processing equipment, in order to provide voice and data connectivity to users in mobility and to convey telematic services on them.

In the present description the object of the invention will be indicated with the name lighting body or with the name lamp, the two terms being used to indicate the same component and being mutually equivalent and interchangeable.

It is known how the increasing availability on the market of LED (standing for light emitting diode) lighting bodies, for both street lighting and urban fitment, is due to the obvious economic benefits that this technology has. The reason for this is to be found, on the one hand, in the inherent greater luminous efficiency of an LED lamp with respect to a traditional one ("LED Lighting: A Primer to Lighting the Future" di Sal Cageloso, O'Reilly Media, July 2012), and on the other hand, in the possibility offered by this technology of allowing granular and real time control and adjustment of the equipment, even via remote control mechanisms, which allow to increase further the energy savings (EP2131630, TW201208477, KR101043415, CN102497709).

It is also known how the recent popularity of small and easily transportable mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, has had the consequence of a dramatic increase in the demand for data traffic from mobile users to the mobile operators.

Compliance with the regulations does not, however, allow an arbitrary increase in the number of base transceiver stations of the traditional type (known as macrocells) in order to meet the increasing demand for mobile traffic, because of the regulatory constraints related to the maximum attainable level of electromagnetic pollution. To solve this problem, the current trend according to the prior art is to combine the high-powered base transceiver stations of the traditional type, which cover large areas (the macrocells, typically with a coverage radius of 2 km), with an appropriate number of devices of lower power, size and complexity, commonly indicated with the name of metrocells (cells of intermediate size between a microcell, or a cell with a radius of a typical coverage equal to 500m, and a picocell, cell with typical coverage radius equal to 100m), cells with typical coverage radius of 250 meters (compare "Cell Planning for Wireless Communications" di Manuel F. Catedra, Artech House Mobile Communications Library, February 1999 and http://www.thinksmallcell.com).

Metrocells, covering smaller areas but with a greater spread on the territory, allow an improvement of the efficiency in the management of voice and data traffic and an increase in the capacity of the service, maintaining the level of electromagnetic pollution below a predetermined threshold of acceptability (which varies depending on local regulations).

In this context, it is critical the choice of sites at which to install these metrocells, which must meet specific constraints both of geographical nature (eg the location and height of an installation) and in relation to their impact on the environment (whether architectural, landscaping, but also psychological with reference to the perception by the user of the presence of a transceiver radio apparatus) besides that of electromagnetic pollution.

Finally, according to the prior art, lamps or supports for traditional lamps have been proposed, ie poles and head-poles, used to house wireless Wi-Fi router, used as access points to the Internet (known as Internet hot-spots, CN202253536) with antennas placed outside the lamp and making use of a power apparatus that is separate from that of the lamp itself. A not negligible limit of this type of integrated lamps is then found in the evident problems of installation and visual impact. In addition, these systems rely on the availability of a wired connection which carries the signal to the router. In this context it is included the solution according to the present invention, which aims at providing a street type lighting body manufactured with such materials and components to integrate in its interior both a metrocell and other connectivity services, such as an Internet hot-spot).

These and other results are obtained according to the present invention proposing a street type LED lighting body, which integrates inside not only the electronic adapted to control the light source but also other apparatuses of reception, transmission and processing of the signal for the realization of a metrocell built into the lighting body, which can provide connectivity services, both voice and data, exploiting the main technologies available on the market such as, by way of example and not limitation, GSM, UMTS, LTE, WiFi, Hiperlan. The use of LED lamps also allows to ensure full compatibility of electronic equipment used in terms of power management.

The purpose of the present invention is therefore to provide a street tyoe LED lighting body integrated with telecommunication devices that can overcome the limitations of solutions of the prior art and achieve the technical results previously described.

Further object of the invention is that said lighting body can be made with substantially limited costs, both as regards production costs and as regards the management costs.

Another object of the invention is to propose a street type LED lighting body integrated with telecommunication devices which is simple, safe and reliable.

It is therefore specific object of the present invention a street type lighting body comprising a support structure of the lighting elements, in which:

- said lighting elements are constituted by a plurality of LEDs; - said support structure comprises a casing, which defines one or more housing compartments, said casing being made of a non- conductive material; - said lighting body is provided with one or more antennas, positioned completely inside said housing compartments defined by said casing.

Moreover, according to the invention, said street type lighting body further comprises:

- one or more electronic devices of reception-transmission, equipped with one or more radio, each connected to a respective antenna; and

- one or more devices of signal processing and control of said electronic devices of reception-transmission.

Preferably, according to the present invention, said street type lighting body further comprises a buffer battery, which can be housed inside or outside the lighting body, in such a way as not to be visible from outside observers.

In particular, always according to the invention, said street tyoe lighting body may further comprise a dissipation element, which defines one or more housing compartments, adapted to define an additional space with respect to said housing compartments defined by said casing, preferably said dissipation element being made of a nonconducting material.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, said antennas are dipolar sectoral antennas, realized with a mixed material of reinforced glass fiber fabric and plastic composite material, used as a substrate of a printed circuit board.

It is evident the effectiveness of the street type LED lighting body integrated with telecommunication devices of the present invention, which allows to reduce the visual impact of the same, thereby allowing placement in environments in which the environmental impact, in terms of landscape, of an installation is one of the most stringent constraints of the project.

Moreover, the street type LED lighting body integrated with telecommunication devices forming object of the present invention is based on a full compatibility of the apparatuses that compose it in terms of geometrical dimensions and technologies used, in fact:

- the optimum height for installation of a metrocell is compatible with the height at which lamps for street lighting are installed;

- the size of electronic equipment involved are much smaller than the size of any lighting body present on the market, so as to allow the full integration, at the cost of minimum intemal changes in the geometry of the lamp;

- the possibility of use of plastic compounds in the production of many components of the lighting body allows the insertion of antennas within the same so that these are not visible or recognizable from the outside and without that their performance is affected by the presence of external metallic elements preventing their proper operation;

- the greater energy requirement due to the additional electronic components is not significant, on average in the order of less than 20% of the energy consumption of a LED lamp for road use, and is therefore perfectly compatible with the technologies used.

In contrast to what happens in ordinary lamps, the remote control system of LED lights allows to keep under constant voltage the lighting body, and activate selectively the lighting at the occurrence of appropriate environmental conditions (typically concerning lighting or movement, but also because of a decision of a control center, as described in TW201208477, CN102497709, EP2131630) without wasting energy/instead being able to keep always powered the electronic devices embedded in them, which are responsible for the provision of wireless services. When due to regulatory constraints or accidental causes such equipment could not be kept under tension without interruption, the lighting body according to the invention can be provided with a backup battery that may supply to periodic interruptions in energy supply network. The backup battery being not intended to power the LEDs but some wireless equipment, can be recharged during the lighting of the lamp (typically at night), or when the lighting body is under voltage or by other energy sources freely available in the environment, in an example purely illustrative and not limitative, through the use of photovoltaic panels.

The present invention will be now described, for illustrative but not limitative purposes, according to its preferred embodiment, with particular reference to the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which:

- figure 1 shows a side elevation view of a lighting body according to a first embodiment of the present invention,

- figure 2 shows a side elevation view, partially in section, of the lighting body of figure 1 ,

- figures 3A and 3B respectively show a plan view in section and a side elevation view of the lighting body of figure 1 ,

- figure 4 shows a side elevation view of a lighting body according to a second embodiment of the present invention,

- figure 5 shows a side elevation view, partially in section, of the lighting body of figure 4, and

- figures 6A and 6B respectively show a plan view in section and a side elevation view of the lighting body of figure 4.

Referring to the figures, the street type LED lighting body integrated with telecommunication devices according to the present invention may take various shapes and sizes depending on the specific application. In particular, for purely illustrative and not limitatative purposes of the presenter invention, the lighting body is shown in figures 1 , 2, 3A and 3B according to a first embodiment, tipically used for urban and/or in town centers and in figures 4, 5, 6A and 6B according to a second embodiment, typically used for heavy traffic roads.

In both cases, and more generally, regardless of its form and application, the lighting body according to the present invention includes:

- a casing 11 composed of non-conductive materials, inside which is defined a housing of one or more sensors or antennas 12 capable of receiving and transmitting signals;

- a plate 13 with a juxtaposition of LEDs;

- support elements 14, dissipation elements 15 and elements - a compartment containing electronic devices of reception- transmission 18 connected to said antennas 12, signal processing apparatuses 19 in turn connected to said electronic devices of reception- transmission 18, a power supply 20, preferably a buffer battery 21, apparatuses 22 of lighting control connected to the plate 13 that houses the LED, possibly other rooms in addition to the main compartment for housing the antennas 12 arranged in other parts of the lamp, that allows its location, such as in the elements 15 of dissipation.

The casing 11 which defines the housing space of the antennas 12, and the other parts of the lamp that can be used for the placement of the antennas 12 is made of a plastic material that allows the antennas 12 to radiate the electromagnetic field correctly. The position, the number and the disposition of the antennas 12 instead depend on the type of requested service and wireless coverage. The electronic components can also be placed in closed compartments totally in metal.

This configuration, which distinguishes clearly . and unequivocally the lighting body according to the present invention from other solutions on the market, which do not occur within a single closed body, characterized not only by the function of LED street lamp but also for its full functionality of real component of an urban wireless broadband telecommunications based on the implementation of microcells, has a further unique feature relating to the design and implementation of appropriate sector antennas. These particular dipole antennas, rectangular in shape, have very small dimensions, with an area of dimensions not greater than 40 cm² and a thickness of less than 1cm, and allow very high gain values compared to the small physical size, not less to 6 dBi. The materials with which the antennas are made consist of a mixture of reinforced glass fiber fabric and composite plastic material, used as the substrate of a printed circuit, entirely compatible with the plastic materials with which a part of the lighting body is made, and thus enable high performance in terms of propagation of the radio signal coming from the inside of the lighting body. The particularly small dimensions of the individual antennas facilitate their multiple disposal inside the lighting body, up to a number of five of them, allowing to optimize sectorally their positioning for both transceiving of transport data (backhaul) and for the transceiving of user connectivity data, thus ensuring great flexibility in the design and implementation of microcell urban wireless networks. The above said antennas are made taking into account the current and future needs with regard to the use of the frequency spectrum relative to the user connectivity of urban microcell (metro cells), particularly for frequencies UMTS and LTE. These antennas are in fact able to be used in a frequency range between 1.8 and 2.6 GHz, within which access networks to micro cell UMTS and LTE are operational, thus allowing the possible integration of the LED lighting body even with the micro-cell UMTS and/or LTE.

The integration of antennas inside the lighting body 12 is made possible by the availability of receptacles made of non-conductive material, which allow the propagation of an electromagnetic signal which passes through them, in which the same are housed.

The integration of the electronic components for the management of wireless and LEDs functions also provides the possibility to use dedicated radio bridges, even in MESH mode (ie a mesh network, with decentralized architecture, realized through the use of a wireless local area network , where each node acts as a repeater retransmitting the broadcast signals from the closer nodes), to provide signal to the electronics on board of the lighting body.

Finally, the lighting body according to the present invention has as its main application not that of the mere realization of a hot-spot for connecting to the Internet, but the realization of metrocells for cellular applications, in order to make available to the users voice, data and telematic services in accordance with the needs of the industry and taking advantage of the possibilities offered by LED technology.

Application Example

It is provided, below, a case of application example, for purely illustrative and not limitative purposes. A lighting body of the type which is the subject of the present invention provides a Wi-Fi coverage in the 2.4GHz band; the cell of relevance was split in three adjacent angular sectors of 120°, for each of which an antenna 12 is used with sectoral coverage of 120°, and an equal number of electronic devices of reception-transmission 18 that operate on non overlapping channels, connected to a signal processing board 19 and powered by a power supply unit 20 (shared with the lighting part of the lamp) connected to the power network, provided with an additional backup battery 21 to be used in the event of interruptions in energy of the same network. The connectivity is brought to the pole by a fiber optic connection that arrives to the signal processing board 19 or, if not available, via a radio link, which reqires an additional dedicated antenna and an additional dedicated electronic device of reception-transmission 18, always installed within the casing 11 of the lighting body. The antennas placed inside the lamp will provide connectivity to the users who will be within the coverage range of the metrocella, but being not visible from the outside will not induce situations of distress in the population and allow a perfect integration, from the point of view of landscape, of the lighting body in the urban environment.

The present invention has been described for illustrative but not limitative purposes, according to its preferred embodiments, but it is understood that variations and/or modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of protection, as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1) Street type lighting body comprising a support structure of the lighting elements, characterised in that:

- said lighting elements are constituted by a plurality of LEDs; - said support structure comprises a casing (11), which defines one or more housing compartments, said casing being made of a non- conductive material; and

- said lighting body is provided with one or more antennas (12), positioned completely inside said housing compartments defined by said casing (11).

2) Street type lighting body according to claim 1 characterised in that it further comprises:

- one or more electronic devices of reception-transmission (18), each connected to a respective antenna (12), and

- one or more devices of signal processing (19) and control of said electronic devices of reception-transmission (18).

3) Street type lighting body according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that it further comprises a buffer battery (21).

4) Street type lighting body according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that it further comprises a dissipation element (15), which defines one or more housing compartments, adapted to define an additional space with respect to said housing compartments defined by said casing (11).

5) Street type lighting body according to claim 4, characterised in that said dissipation element (15) is made of a nonconducting material.

6) Street type lighting body according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said antennas (12) are dipolar sectoral antennas.

7) Street type lighting body according to claim 6, characterised in that said antennas (12) are made with a mixed material of reinforced glass fiber fabric and plastic composite material, used as a substrate of a printed circuit board.