Consortium updates protocol for lighting asset management

The TALQ Consortium, responsible for the development of the Smart City Protocol, OpenAPI interface for smart city device networks, has released a new version of its protocol. The version 2.5.0 brings an improved profile for the management of lighting assets that aims to meet a demand from cities.

Street lighting managers in various parts of the world had been expressing for some time the need to track and manage lighting assets more efficiently. It was then that members of the TALQ Consortium decided to work collaboratively to define a new profile. The new Lighting Asset Management now includes a new entity, TALQ Type, designed to manage data common to many devices and also functions that allow you to manage data specific to a particular device. The TALQ Type and functions will help model public lighting assets in cities.

According to the consortium, by investing in TALQ-certified smart city apps, cities need not be locked into a single vendor and can rely on data interoperability to monitor devices across heterogeneous ecosystems.

“While the primary objective of the TALQ standard remains the same, we are providing innovative solutions to meet the demands of the smart city market and are looking forward to seeing the new Lighting Asset Management profile in action.” says Simon Dunkley, general secretary of the TALQ Consortium.

Version 2.5.0 of the Smart City Protocol standard (data model and API definitions) is freely available on GitHub.

The TALQ Consortium was founded in 2012 to establish a standard for smart city management interfaces. The TALQ Smart City protocol is a data exchange specification aimed at ensuring interoperability between central management software and external device networks from different vendors. Thus, a single system will be able to control different networks of external devices in different locations of the city. The consortium currently consists of more than 50 members.

More than lighting

When we think of public lighting, one of the first elements that come to mind are streetlamps. And they are the ones that are coming into play when we also think about smart cities. So-called smart poles will become an essential structure for urban infrastructure, reaching an installed base of 10.8 million by 2030, according to research by ABI Research.

Smart poles are multifunctional aggregation points for smart urban infrastructure, built on top of lampposts and other connected utility points. “The relevance of smart poles for smart cities is enormous. They offer an efficient, expandable and modular framework for deploying the full spectrum of smart urban infrastructure,” says Dominique Bonte, vice president of verticals at ABI Research.

These poles can have structures ranging from small 5G cells and Wi-Fi access points to surveillance and traffic cameras, signage and information display boards, air quality and flood monitoring solutions and vehicle charging points.

“However, the main driver for smart pole deployments is the densification of cellular networks in the form of 5G and future 6G small cells and the use of mmWave radio spectrum. Therefore, the telecoms ecosystem is expected to at least partially fund this smart city functionality embedded in smart poles,” Dominique Bonte highlights.

According to the research firm, typical barriers that slow down the adoption of smart poles have to do with issues related to co-ownership and management (design, maintenance, backhaul cost-sharing), conflicting priorities and agendas, sensor data privacy concerns and a lack of awareness among municipal governments about the many benefits offered by smart poles in terms of cost savings, deployment time and modularity.

The main suppliers in the smart pole ecosystem are Ubicquia, Verizon, Huawei, Signify, Nokia/LuxTurrim5G and ELKO EP, alongside several other smart street lighting providers. Major initiatives include the European Union’s Humble Lamppost project and metropolitan government deployments in Seoul, Los Angeles, Munich and Leuven. In addition, cities in China (Shenzhen, Hangzhou) and India (Bhopal, New Delhi and Indore) have already implemented smart pole projects.

The expectation is that pole deployments will gain momentum only towards the end of this decade says the researcher.