LIGHTING TODAY14 Sep 2022
Zhaga launches Smart City Sensor Awards
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Piscataway, NJ, USA – The Zhaga Consortium is launching the global Zhaga Smart City Sensor Awards to address the needs of many cities that have installed Zhaga-D4i certified streetlights. The awards encourage and recognize excellence in smart city sensors that can be installed on streetlights using the Zhaga Book 18 standard and are suitable for Zhaga-D4i certification. Sensor manufacturers, innovators as well as universities and students are encouraged to submit their applications by 16 December 2022.

Over the last 7 years, the Zhaga Consortium has created and further developed a new universal platform for streetlighting connectivity by offering Zhaga Book 18 titled “Smart interface between outdoor luminaires and sensing / communication modules” to the market. This platform allows streetlights to be the backbone of smart cities.

Streetlights are regularly positioned, secure, powered and in a great location for many sensing tasks and for communications. Zhaga’s Book 18 takes this further by standardising the mechanical interface, intra-luminaire communication protocol and power budget for control devices. Zhaga also creates a new market opportunity for smart city sensors. With over 200 families of Zhaga-D4i luminaires from some of the world’s leading manufacturers already certified, streetlights become the cheapest and most practical way for city-wide deployment of smart sensors.

Zhaga Book 18 brings standardisation to sensors that one might wish to install on streetlights. The D4i protocol brings common communication. The Zhaga-D4i program, supported by logo use, offers the comfort of a global certification regime. The relatively recent Book 18 Edition 3 also opens up this opportunity to those parts of the world that are more comfortable with ANSI/NEMA-based lighting controls, yet who still wish to add Zhaga-based smart city sensors to streetlights.

Commercial participants who win an award will receive international public recognition via an article in a leading lighting publication and via Zhaga social media channels. They will also be entitled to make specific reference to the awards in marketing material. Students and researchers from recognised educational institutions are eligible for a 2000€ prize. Runner-ups will receive a digital certificate.

Smart city sensors under the following categories: mobility, climate, pollutants, sound, lighting controls, multi-sensors, innovation and research, can be submitted to the international jury before 16 December 2022. The winners will be announced in February 2023.

The Zhaga Smart City Sensor Awards are explained in detail here: https://www.zhagastandard.org/zhaga-smartcitysensor-awards.html.

Visit them at Light+Building in Frankfurt, hall 8.0 B15, and meet the Zhaga experts.