Smart lighting is often the first IoT deployment in a building or a city because the savings are easy to measure. In buildings, luminaires with occupancy and daylight sensors dim or switch off when light is not needed, and a control network such as Zigbee or a wired bus reports energy use per fixture. On streets, networked LED lamps can be dimmed late at night and report failures instead of waiting for complaints.
The fixtures also make a convenient host for other sensors, which is why many smart city platforms start with the lighting network. The trade-off is lock-in: proprietary control systems can be hard to extend, and a lighting network that becomes critical infrastructure needs the same security attention as any other. In the home, Matter is simplifying how bulbs from different brands work together.
Part of the IoT Glossary. Spotted an error or a missing term? Tell us.