Lighting control systems are good investment because they can save 100 percent of the lighting energy automatically during periods of vacancy and other times when electric lighting does not need to be energized.
However, more than 60 percent of commercial buildings in the U.S. have not yet installed these systems mainly because retrofitting a lighting control system into an existing building can be expensive, requiring new wiring and high labor costs.
To help customers overcome this challenge, Light technology provider Hubbell has launched the wiHUBB Wireless Distributed Lighting Control System at LightFair International 2011 tradeshow in Philadelphia.
wiHUBB, according to company officials, is a peer-to-peer, self-organizing and self-healing mesh network of fixture modules, occupancy/vacancy sensors, daylight harvesting sensors and switch stations designed specifically for indoor and outdoor lighting applications. It has wireless control technology built in at the factory, with no field installation required.
Scott Muse, president of Hubbell Lighting, said, “By utilizing wireless technology, wiHUBB makes the installation and maintenance of these energy saving lighting controls in new construction and retrofits simple and painless.”
WiHUBB-enabled smart fixtures will plug and play in the wiHUBB Distributed Intelligent Wireless Lighting Control System to make sourcing and commissioning a no-brainer, Muse added. “Now your iPad, smart phone or any device with Internet access and a standard browser can be lighting control central.”
The solution offers affordable retrofitting options to businesses. It can also be re-configured over the air without the need to move wires. The system also delivers lamp and ballast diagnostics to users in real time, so a facility manager can instantly see a lamp or ballast’s status along with operational data on the unit without getting on a ladder.
The “demand response ready” system also can reduce lighting energy loads automatically in response to a signal from the electric utility.
wiHUBB is based on a Synapse Network Appliance (News 
- Alert) Protocol (SNAP). It operates in a 900 MHz band. With such a frequency, the system’s mesh network signals are able to easily reroute around obstacles.
The wiHUBB radios are FCC (News - Alert) approved and uses Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-128), the encryption technology utilized by the U.S. government for secure data transmission. The wiHUBB radios do not interfere with any other wireless systems. The wiHUBB Access Point (News - Alert) also uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol, the standard for Web security authentication.
Hubbell Lighting announced it provided both indoor and outdoor energy efficient illumination for a 5-story parking garage with more than 1,000 parking spaces on the campus of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.
Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Rajani's articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Jennifer Russell
