Technical audit of street lighting infrastructure

Introduction

The subsystem “Technical audit” (hereinafter referred to as the Subsystem) is intended for the primary collection and / or updating of information about the elements of the street lighting network: SLCC, characteristics of the location of the mounting and the mounting itself, installed luminaires. The collected data forms the basis of the technical accounting database of the future system, and / or is received for lighting calculations when planning the transition to LED lighting.

Applications are municipalities, public utility companies responsible for organizing street lighting, energy service companies, system integrators, as well as any other organization that is involved in the design or implementation of smart lighting.

With the availability of data obtained as a result of a technical audit, the cost of switching to LED lighting is reduced. Supplier of LED luminaires, focusing on the data obtained: the width of the roadway, the height of the luminaire mounting, the length of the extension, etc. will be able to offer the best-priced luminaire models that meet the illumination requirements for each mounting.

Architecture

The subsystem consists of the following modules:

• Mobile application “TA Mobile Assistant”;
• Business logic server to support the operation of the mobile application;
• Server of authentication and authorization;
• Back office web application to view audit results and maps.

Architecture features

After launching, user authentication and initial data download, the application for a mobile phone does not require constant communication with the server part. The registered data is saved on the phone and transferred to the server in the background when the connection is restored.

Figure 1: Example architecture

Subsystem Features

• To reduce the cost of storing an array of photos and videos using AWS S3 or compatible;
• The subsystem is available only in the cloud version;
• The numbering of the mountings is automatic. After completion of field work, it is possible to renumber the mountings in accordance with the agreed rules.
• Typical cloud server availability period is 6 months from the start of work.

Safety

The support service specialist creates users with login / password pairs in accordance with the customer’s request. For each technical audit specialist (who will work in the field) an individual login and password is issued. This allows you to control the quality of the information entered, photographs, etc., to address claims on the work done.

Business Processes Covered

The subsystem provides a single information space in the “all-in-one” concept for the following specialists:

• field work:
  • registering the geographical coordinates of street lighting objects;
  • recording characteristics of street lighting objects.
• In the office:
  • designers;
  • project Manager.

The collection of information about the elements of the street lighting network is carried out in two stages:

• Entering SLCC coordinates and supports into the Subsystem for displaying markers on the map;
• Markers bypass: taking measurements and entering the characteristics of objects into the mobile application.

The division into two stages is justified by the difference in the resources involved and the possible savings in renting devices for registering precise geographic coordinates. For example, to register coordinates, one specialist is enough. It is possible to work in several shifts, including at night. And to measure and enter the characteristics of objects, it is necessary to focus on the approximate productivity of 250-300 mountings by one specialist during daylight hours.

Artifacts based on work results

As a result of a technical audit using the Subsystem, the following artifacts are available:

• Excel file with the characteristics of each light point for calculating the required illumination level;
• Excel file with the characteristics of each light point for the selection of luminaire models;
• Files with objects in JSON format for loading data into the LMS system;
• Photo and video files;

Stage 1: Registration of geographic coordinates of objects

Registration of the exact coordinates of objects is carried out using special devices that ensure the capture of geographical coordinates (GPS, GLONASS, etc.) with an error of 1..10 cm. The device model is determined by the availability in the country.

Professionals are expected to act as follows:

• fit to the support;
• attach the GPS device to the support;
• press the button to capture the current coordinates (the coordinates will be saved in the device’s memory);
• go to the next support;
• repeat the steps above.

At the end of the work shift, a memory card is removed from the device and the file with the coordinates of mountings is loaded into the Subsystem. Mounting markers appear on the map and are available to specialists involved in the second stage.

The first and second steps can be performed in parallel if the first step is ahead of schedule.

Stage 2: Registration of object characteristics

Registration of the characteristics of objects is carried out using the mobile application “Auditor Assistant Mobile” for the Android platform. The application can be used simultaneously by many technical audit specialists, while the data registered by one specialist is automatically visible to other specialists in order to avoid “re-registration of data” and immediately becomes available to the designers and project manager.

The application interface is designed for quick (in terms of the minimum number of required actions) registration of characteristics of street lighting objects and includes:

• Selecting an object on the map;
• Photographing the object;
• Shooting a video object (relevant for the content of SLCC);
• Entering the characteristics of the object.

Object selection

Objects of different types are represented by different markers:

• triangle - SLCC;
• square - street lighting mounting.

The marker color determines the completeness of the registered object data:

• blue (0cf) - information was not registered
• deep-blue (00s) - only photos are uploaded to the system (to the server).
• orange (fa0) - characteristics are registered, but the photo has not yet been uploaded to the server.
• green (0a0) - characteristics are registered, the photo has been uploaded to the system (to the server).

The light point is an outdoor lighting mounting together with luminaires installed on the mounting. The number of light points exceeds the number of SLCC by hundreds of times.

Registration of the characteristics of the object begins with the selection of the object on the map. Available options:

• search by object code;
• moving the visible part of the map to the current location of the specialist;

Switch to search mode by clicking on the “magnifying glass” icon in the upper right part of the window. As you enter the object code, the object codes starting with the entered characters are automatically suggested. After selecting an object from the drop-down list, the map is positioned on the object. A circle flickers around the marker to draw attention.

When you click on the marker, you go to the object viewing screen.

Object View Screen

For an object whose characteristics have not yet been registered, the appearance of the screen will be as follows:

Using the “Add comment” button and using the buttons , we switch between data collection modes:

• take a photo;
• film a video;
• enter the characteristics of the object;

The number of photos that need to be taken for a different type of object, the angles of the photos and the need to shoot a video are determined by the customer himself. We recommend filming the contents of each SLCC in detail.

A thumbnail will be displayed on the screen if there is a photo that has not yet been uploaded to the server. Until the photo is transferred to the server, you can delete it by clicking on the cross in the right corner of the thumbnail. When you transfer a photo to the server, it is removed from the phone to save space and will be displayed as a gray icon on the screen. A photo uploaded to the server cannot be deleted.

Registration of light point characteristics

Light point features include:

• Mounting condition, selected from the directory (required field);
• Mounting type, selected from the directory (required field);
• The address closest to the mounting in the absence of an exact address;
• Place of installation: normal / carriageway, in the vicinity of a pedestrian crossing or intersection, courtyard area, (required field);
• The width of the road in meters (required field, depending on the type of installation);
• The number of car lanes (required field, depending on the type of installation);
• Sign of electrical connectivity with the mounting registered before the current one (for automatic tracing).
• The type of electrical connection with the previous mounting, if specified (from the directory: by air, underground).

The characteristics of each luminaire include:

• Type of luminaire (from the reference book, required field);
• Height of luminaire support on a mounting, in meters (required field);
• Console length, in meters (required field);
• Departure length, in meters (required field);
• The angle of inclination, in degrees (required field).

When entering data, there is a format-logical control of the entered data. Screenshot example:

If more than one luminaire is installed on the mounting, then when an additional luminaire is added, the characteristics of luminaire # n-1 are automatically transferred to the added #n luminaire.

Registering SLCC characteristics

SLCC characteristics include:

• The address closest to SLCC in the absence of an exact address;
• SLCC type, selected from the directory (required field);
• Condition selected from their directory (required field);
• Method of managing outgoing lines, selected from their directory (required field);
• The number of phases at the entrance to the SLCC (required field);
• The number of outgoing lines (required field);
• The type of meter, if available, is selected from the reference book;
• Meter number, if available;
• Current transformation ratio in the presence of a transformer;
• Additional description, any detailed information.

Support for continuous data collection

When launching the application, you must enter a username and password to authenticate a specialist.

The login / password pair defines the technical auditor, and after successful authentication, the application displays the last objects registered by this user. This allows you to continue the work on registering the characteristics of objects, continuing from the last object registered the day before.

You can continue working from the last object of another specialist, for this you need to switch to the mode of viewing the last objects of another auditor, by clicking in the Last name of I.O. and choosing the appropriate specialist.

Stage 3: Trace the supports and SLCC

Tracing is the mapping of electrical lines between SLCC and the mountings on the city map. We recommend that you carry out a full tracing of street lighting objects to obtain the following capabilities:

• visual display on the map of air and underground lines;
• display of existing, planned and emergency lines;
• the ability to calculate the standard power consumption for each SLCC;
• synchronization with LMS when changing the electrical connection between SLCC and the support;
• the ability to print a card for issuance to assembly teams and emergency services;
• quality control of the work performed by the emergency service.

Operations on objects are performed on the city map.

In the upper right corner, there are buttons for switching operating modes:

• View - navigation on the map, viewing information about objects;
• Editing - modification mode:
  • Moving - changing the position of markers;
  • Binding - tracing supports and SLCC;
  • Categorization - change marker subtypes
• Print - output to the printer of the visible part of the map.

In edit mode, you can also:

• create a new marker;
• remove the marker;
• split a straight line into segments.

Providing support for operational management processes

The subsystem allows generating reports of the following type:

• The total number of mountings and luminaires registered by auditors;

• Number of mountings and luminaires registered by auditors by date.

• Additional reports can be developed according to project requirements.

Software structure

The subsystem consists of several software modules interacting with each other using secure protocols: VPN, SSL / TLS.

Used developments

The Postgres database server is used only as a data store, there is no logic on stored procedures or triggers.

When the server part of the Subsystem is started, all frequently used accounting objects are cached in RAM to speed up operations.

All software actions are recorded in log files that are automatically archived.

All user actions are recorded in special database tables and this data is available for further audit.

Support for new types of outdoor lighting objects

New types of outdoor lighting objects are supported through configuration. If necessary, the software is revised.

Deployment patterns

Given the temporary use of the Subsystem and the use of AWS S3 cloud storage, only cloud deployments of the Subsystem are assumed for a limited amount of time.

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