# Smart City Pilot Projects Using LoRa and IEEE802.15.4 Technologies
## 4 Smart Lighting Testbed
Figure 4 shows the dramatic economic impact that the smart lighting technology had in Montechiarugolo. In 2014, the first year of life of the new public lighting infrastructure, the power consumption dropped from 1,500,000 kWh to 358,000 kWh (\(-\)76%), with a significant money saving (\(-\)73%). In addition, the joint effect of LED lamps and wireless remote control led to a saving of 224 TEP (tonne of oil equivalent) in a year and avoided the emission, in the same period, of 500 tons of CO\({}_{2}\). Figure 3: Montechiarugolo: exemplification of the network architecture. Most notably, the free access to such network could be granted also to private citizens, as it happens in Montechiarugolo. Here, the owners of business activities with high lighting costs (e.g., firms, sports centers and farms) are encouraged to adopt smart lighting technologies by allowing them to freely connect to the public mesh network as well as by freely providing them with the software for the management of the private lighting infrastructure. In exchange, the municipality receives from private citizens the white certificates (a white certificate is an instrument issued by an authorized body guaranteeing that a specified amount of energy savings has been achieved. Under such a system, producers, suppliers or distributors of electricity are required to undertake energy efficiency measures that are consistent with a pre-defined percentage of their annual energy deliverance. If energy producers do not meet the mandated target they are required to pay a penalty. As white certificates are tradable, those who have overcomplied can sell their certificates to those who have not met their obligations.) which are granted by the Italian Energy Authority. Such certificates are then sold by the municipality, along with those that Montechiarugolo gains by itself thanks to its smart lighting infrastructure. Therefore, this mechanism provides an additional income for the municipality. However, the benefits of such technology are not limited to economic aspects. A relevant consequent effect is the availability of a capillary wireless network, which reaches every location where a smart street lamp is present. This enables the collection of data and the provision of new services, concerning for instance  
* _smart parking_: real time monitoring of parking lots (vacant/occupied);
* _waste management_: detection of rubbish levels in containers to optimize the trash collection routes and schedule;
* _air quality_: monitoring of the air pollution;
* _structural health_: monitoring of vibrations and material conditions in buildings, bridges and historical monuments;
* _vehicular traffic_: detection of traffic jams and suggestion of alternative routes through variable message signs. In particular, the smart parking service has been tested in Montechiarugolo, where a few parking lots have been equipped with magnetometers buried under the street surface. The magnetometer was capable of revealing the magnetic field change caused by the presence of a vehicle and transmitting the parking lot status to the nearest light pole. Short range communications between the magnetic sensors and the light pole took place by means of the Micro.SpTM technology, patented by STE Industries, which has been expressly designed for applications where the battery duration (the sensing device and  
Figure 4: Impact of the smart lighting technology in Montechiarugolo. the communication equipment are battery powered, hence the power consumption is a critical issue. Micro.spTM devices are supplied by 3V lithium battery for a duration of over 10 years.) is a critical aspect. Micro.Sp devices operated in the 169 MHz band with the pulse position modulation (PPM) and periodically transmitted the parking lot status, the magnetometer ID and the battery level. Such data were then forwarded by the \"receiving light pole\", equipped with the Micro.sp technology, to the cluster coordinator through the 2.4 GHz mesh network.