HK Turns On Smart Lights

The first 50 smart lampposts under a government pilot scheme are being installed in selected road sections in Kwun Tong and the Kai Tak Development Area, and are expected to come into operation at the end of June.

Equipped with sensors, data networks and related digital facilities, the smart lampposts can enhance city management through collection of real-time data like weather, environment and traffic.

Multiple benefits

Office of the Government Chief Information Officer Senior Systems Manager Dantes Tang noted the lampposts are suitable for installing microcell stations of fifth generation (5G) mobile communications services and providing Wi-Fi and future 5G services to the public and tourists.

“To complement the development of 5G in Hong Kong, we have reserved spaces for the mobile network operators to install their microcell base stations into the smart lampposts.”

Some of the smart devices are housed within the lamppost’s protective “donut” casing.

The technology was developed locally by the Logistics & Supply Chain MultiTech R&D Centre, universities, startups, and small and medium enterprises.

It also incorporates energy saving features including light-emitting diode or LED lighting with a Smart Lighting Management System.

Highways Department Senior Engineer Cheng Chung-shan explained that LEDs use less energy and therefore emit less carbon dioxide.

“(Compared with) the road light, it is about a 30% reduction in energy. Matched with our smart control system, the energy saving can be further enhanced. Because perhaps after midnight the illumination is not required to be so bright, we can dim it to a certain degree to save more energy.”

Under the Multi-functional Smart Lampposts pilot scheme, the Government will progressively install about 400 smart lampposts in the next three years in four urban locations: Central and Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Wan Chai, Tsim Sha Tsui, and Kwun Tong and the Kai Tak Development Area.

The scheme’s performance will be evaluated next year.