Dimonoff is the pioneering innovator in wireless controls and remote-monitoring technologies for street and area lighting, steadily rising to become a top three player in a rapidly growing market. Its combined embedded hardware and back-end management software is changing the rules for municipal lighting by reducing energy consumption, lowering operating and maintenance costs, increasing citizen safety, and creating more vibrant, attractive neighborhoods.
Business Challenge
For decades, street lighting has been a low-tech cost center and a drain on municipal finances plagued by high maintenance and operating costs, and a steady stream of citizen complaints when fixtures need repair. In most cities, maintenance employees traversed the streets at night, searching for burned-out lights, or in response to reports from unhappy residents.
“That just isn’t an economically viable model anymore,” said Daniel Noiseux, General Manager and Executive Vice President at Dimonoff. “In most cities, electrical consumption and billing aren’t metered, so the government and its citizens were paying for that light, whether it was operational or not. And since the lamps are primarily governed by a photovoltaic cell, the light operated in a binary mode. If it’s dark out, the light goes on … period; additionally many would fail and stay on or off all day. But that’s a pretty primitive way to think about street lighting.”
Instead, as cities transition from expensive high-pressure sodium (HPS) streetlights to LED fixtures, Dimonoff recognized a new opportunity to simultaneously build in new levels of intelligence and connectivity to create proactive lighting using dimming and other adjustment methods. “This LED upgrade cycle that’s steadily taking place in countless locales is an ideal opportunity for us to piggyback on those replacements at the same time with smarter fixtures that can talk to one another,” Noiseux said. “Imagine the ability to monitor and control thousands of streetlights from a single management platform, or allow built-in sensors to recognize ‘events’ such as traffic volume, pedestrian movements or other activities, and then adjust lighting in the area accordingly.”
Solution
Dimonoff provides a solution that transforms streetlights into smart, IoT-enabled devices, allowing cities to wirelessly manage individual fixtures and electrical loads for various applications. By integrating Dimonoff’s smart, addressable modules into existing fixtures, the lighting system becomes a connected network of smart nodes. This wireless communication enables remote monitoring, metering of each fixture or circuit, and precise control over lighting status (on/off), output levels, and scheduling.
The modules communicate with one another using Digi XBee® wireless RF radios on a secure mesh network, and a master control center (for data logging and scheduling). The Digi DigiMesh® innovative, peer-to-peer protocol offers added network stability through self-healing, dense network operation.
Dimonoff | SCMS (Smart City Management System) is a state-of-the-art IoT management platform that enables municipalities to remotely access, monitor, and control smart urban assets. This web-based platform integrates multiple system providers into a single interface, allowing seamless interoperability between lighting control systems and other smart city infrastructure components.
Administrators can configure and control streetlights through sensors, switches, or remotely via the Dimonoff | SCMS platform. The system tracks real-time fixture data, including power consumption, voltage, current, power factor, and operating status. It also offers automated alerts for issues such as defective lamps, power outages, or abnormal parameter detections, ensuring swift response times and improved maintenance efficiency.
Dimonoff | SCMS Platform
Dimonoff | SCMS stands out as one of the most scalable and flexible smart city platforms on the market, with real-world deployments supporting extensive city-wide implementations.
“The DigiMesh network solution is very easy for us to deploy – and far less expensive than competing solutions,” Noiseux said. “Our monthly cost with DigiMesh networking is about $.04 per light pole, as compared to $1.00-$2.00 using a cellular device. And when you’re deploying tens of thousands of smart fixtures, it translates into very significant savings.”
Results
Dimonoff’s smart lighting control solution delivers significant cost savings and streamlined infrastructure management for municipalities. Many cities achieve ROI within three years, with reported energy savings of up to 50% and maintenance cost reductions of up to 40%. By optimizing truck dispatching and enabling real-time fault detection, the Dimonoff | SCMS platform helps cities streamline maintenance workflows and extend the lifespan of their lighting infrastructure.
The system’s dynamic lighting calibration ensures optimal illumination based on real-time data. Lights can be dimmed during periods of low activity to conserve energy or brightened when needed to enhance safety and visibility. Beyond energy efficiency, Dimonoff | SCMS also supports public safety applications, such as guiding emergency responders with blinking streetlights, marking evacuation routes with strobe lighting, and integrating environmental monitoring for air quality, noise pollution, and flood detection. “And we can control all of this because Digi XBee is networking these devices in a mesh configuration with little cost and excellent reliability.” said Daniel Noiseux.
Another recent innovation integrating Digi XBee is the RTM Smart Wireless Internal Lighting Node, which enables advanced color control for decorative and architectural lighting. With support for CK (Color Kinetics) and DMX protocols, the RTM node allows cities to create dynamic, vibrant lighting effects for touristic and entertainment districts.
Laval, QC – Two Urban Transformations Through a Centralized Smart City Management System
The City of Laval undertook a major modernization by converting 37,000 traditional streetlights to energy-efficient LED fixtures, controlled by Dimonoff’s wireless lighting nodes, creating a DigiMesh network. This system provides real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and adaptive brightness control, leading to substantial reductions in energy consumption and operational costs.
In addition to smart lighting, Laval deployed thousands of dynamic signage panels to enhance parking management during snow removal and maintenance operations. These smart signs, powered by Dimonoff’s wireless nodes, provide real-time parking availability updates, improving urban mobility and minimizing enforcement costs. The Dimonoff | SCMS platform integrates the signage into the existing lighting network, offering Laval a unified interface to manage both systems.
Read the full case study.
Columbus, OH – A City’s Smart Street Lighting Journey
The City of Columbus modernized its infrastructure by upgrading 58,000 streetlights to energy-efficient LED fixtures, also controlled by Dimonoff's wireless smart lighting nodes communicating through DigiMesh wireless technology. This system enables real-time monitoring, proactive maintenance, and adaptive dimming, significantly reducing energy consumption and maintenance costs.
Beyond lighting, Columbus leverages Dimonoff’s lighting control system as a foundation for future smart city applications, including smart parking management, air quality monitoring, and security enhancements. By centralizing control of its urban assets, the city is building a more connected, efficient, and sustainable urban environment.
Read the full case study.
Next Steps