SANTA CLARA, Calif.,
April 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/
-- Internet of Things pioneer Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ:
ELON) today unveiled a patent-pending cognitive vision-based
technology that can enable a wide range of smart city and smart
campus applications. Echelon InSight™ utilizes artificial
intelligence in vision-enabled edge devices, optimized for
Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications. With InSight,
traffic data is collected and processed at the edge of the network
instead of on a central server, and uses the Lumewave by Echelon®
lighting platform to transmit traffic information, reducing
response time and improving reliability. This architecture
enables faster action in response to changing conditions and
minimizes network bandwidth requirements.
The first application of Echelon's new technology will be to
provide traffic-adaptive lighting in Spokane, Washington. The cognitive vision
system will be deployed on traffic intersection streetlights where
it will analyze traffic flows and automatically adjust light levels
to enhance safety while reducing energy consumption and maintenance
costs. With InSight, each unit analyzes video streams locally
and makes decisions about what light levels to set based on traffic
volumes and conditions, triggering higher levels during peak hours
and lowering light levels during non-peak hours. The solution
leverages Echelon's industry-leading connected streetlight control
system, along with the trend by cities and campuses to upgrade to
LED lighting.
LED streetlight conversions typically reduce electricity
consumption by 50 percent while maintaining the same or better
light levels. Adding Echelon's connected lighting control
system can reduce consumption by an additional 30 to 40 percent by
allowing intelligent traffic-adaptive lighting driven by Echelon
InSight.
Traditionally, cities have used a wide variety of traffic
monitoring systems such as in-ground loops, cameras, radar, or
infrared to detect traffic for timing traffic signals. These are
typically closed loop systems and provide limited information for
traffic signal timing only. Lumewave by Echelon's traffic
adaptive lighting application takes traffic detection one step
further by providing direct integration with area street lighting.
Additionally, the InSight Cognitive Vision System captures and
analyzes traffic patterns right at the camera and then provides
traffic volume data to a local gateway or SmartServer to adaptively
dim or brighten lights. Critical traffic data is also passed to a
Central Management System via Lumewave by Echelon network.
"Echelon's new solution will deliver more efficient lighting
sequences at a lower cost, so we're excited to be testing it. The
Echelon team got up to speed very quickly on the way a signal
cabinet works and expertly integrated their traffic adaptive
lighting into our existing system," said Adam Miles, Associate Traffic Engineer,
City of Spokane. "The technology
will allow us to reduce energy costs through existing traffic
detectors while we analyze data from the new InSight cameras and
compare their ability to replace traditional traffic detection
tools."
"An intelligent street lighting platform can serve as the
backbone of a smart city," said Sohrab
Modi, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of
Engineering, Echelon. "Municipalities and campuses need to leverage
existing infrastructure when implementing IoT systems to minimize
costs and maximize ROI. Spokane is
a test bed for emerging technology and its leaders recognize the
environmental and safety advancements that this type of intelligent
infrastructure can bring to its constituents. Once the technology
is in place, city managers can add IoT applications to further
improve public safety and enhance quality of life as new challenges
arise."
"For instance," Modi adds, "by using Echelon's innovative
traffic-adaptive street lighting application, a city could avoid
the need to deploy a separate, costly broadband network that would
be required by a conventional closed-circuit TV monitor system that
would send video streams to a central system for analysis."
In the future, additional InSight applications will offer more
traffic analytics, including vehicle classification and vehicle
speed maps, signal timing functions, and solutions to other related
problems, like parking.
About Echelon Corporation
For 25 years Echelon (NASDAQ:ELON) has pioneered the
development of open-standard networking platforms for
connecting, monitoring and controlling devices in commercial and
industrial applications. With more than 110 million devices
installed worldwide, Echelon's proven, scalable solutions host a
range of applications enabling customers to reduce energy and
operational costs, improve safety and comfort, and create
efficiencies through optimizing physical systems. Echelon is
focusing today on two IoT (Internet of Things) market areas:
Creating smart cities and smart enterprises through connected
outdoor lighting systems, and enabling device makers to bring
connected products to market faster via a range of IoT-optimized
embedded systems. More information about Echelon can be found at
www.echelon.com.
Echelon, the Echelon logo, Echelon InSight, Lumewave by
Echelon and LumInsight are trademarks of Echelon Corporation that
may be registered in the United
States and other countries. Other product or service names
mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective
owners.
This press release may contain statements relating to future
plans, events or performance. Such statements may involve risks and
uncertainties, the risk that Echelon's offerings by themselves or
combined with other applications or offerings do not perform as
designed or do not offer the expected benefits and savings; and
other risks identified in Echelon's SEC filings. Actual results,
events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned
not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements,
which speak only as of the date hereof. Echelon undertakes no
obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these
forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or
circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events.
CONTACT:
Lucie Mann
Echelon Corp.
lmann@echelon.com
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SOURCE Echelon Corporation