Jun 5 2014
Sensity Systems, the pioneer of Light Sensory Networks (LSN), today announced enhancements to its flagship product, the NetSense platform.
The next-generation NetSense 2 platform provides greater integration flexibility, with a smaller, sleeker hardware form-factor that is easier to embed into third-party luminaires and support for a NEMA receptacle connector, which simplifies deployment of NetSense nodes with LED roadway light fixtures. NetSense 2 also adds on-board (native) video sensors and storage for performing real-time analytics on raw high-definition (HD) video streams.
“NetSense 2 extends the flexible, extensible and scalable design features of the NetSense platform, Sensity’s pioneering LSN implementation,” said Sean Harrington, SVP of Marketing and Business Development for Sensity Systems. “NetSense 2 is an even more capable platform for public safety and security, parking management, location analytics and other important applications.”
NetSense 2 preserves all the key attributes of the original NetSense platform—environmental sensing, high data throughput rate, distributed intelligence, low latency, data in the cloud with an open API, an application ecosystem, and continuous network monitoring and management—while adding innovative new capabilities that continue to push the definition of the LSN. Given the extensible design of the NetSense platform, applications written for the original NetSense API will continue to be supported on NetSense 2.
Integrated Video Provides Unprecedented Insight for Multiple Applications
Basic lighting control systems that rely on Zigbee or 6LoWPAN protocols lack the high-bandwidth networking capability required to support the most data-rich sensors, including HD video sensors. Sensity designed and optimized the NetSense 2 hardware and network architecture—from the network elements to the back-end software—to accommodate approximately 200 times greater data throughput than basic lighting control systems, by leveraging 802.11a/n Wi-Fi for local area networking and cellular or fiber for data backhaul.
NetSense 2 delivers true distributed intelligence for data-intensive sensing and can pick out critical data from the noise, turning it into valuable information. The platform’s native video support and storage can perform real-time analytics on raw HD video streams for traditional applications, such as extending security perimeters, but also enables an entirely new arena of innovative services such as: real-time parking availability, traffic reports, snowfall depth detection and many more. In a traditional camera-based security application, video cameras are simply capturing all activity and sending the raw video for some future use. With NetSense 2, video cameras are transformed into useful sensors, where specific event triggers are used to determine how much full-resolution video footage, if any at all, is to be sent back to central servers.
“Sensity’s LSN vision for LED lighting as the platform for sophisticated networking is really changing the landscape for new Internet of Things technologies to be implemented in the field,” said Bill Graham, CEO of FSG (Facility Solutions Group), one of the nation’s largest single-source providers of lighting and electrical products. “Customers such as airports, municipalities and large retailers are looking for stronger public safety and security solutions, requiring automated, real-time instant alerts to all the necessary people within their organization or to law enforcement—which means intelligent video and sensor capabilities. We believe that many of our customers will enthusiastically embrace Sensity’s new NetSense 2 platform.”
Transforming Luminaires Into Light Sensory Networks
With its smaller, sleeker hardware, NetSense 2 simplifies LSN integration into any type of outdoor luminaire. A new environmentally rated enclosure is also available for NetSense 2, enabling NetSense installation with lighting manufacturing partners’ luminaires without the need to integrate directly within the fixture. In addition, the new NetSense 2 compact size and its added ANSI C136.41 NEMA receptacle support allow Sensity’s customers and lighting manufacturer partners to easily upgrade roadway luminaires with NetSense.
Chuck Campagna, president and CEO of Amerlux, a Sensity lighting manufacturer partner, said: “Sensity presents a tremendous opportunity to leverage LED upgrades to deploy a powerful wireless network and sensing platform that enables a broad array of applications and services. With NetSense 2, including the option to embed or side-mount using a NEMA receptacle, we expect the build-out of Light Sensory Networks to accelerate. We are pleased that Sensity continues to invest in its partners by delivering products that not only add new capabilities, but also make it easier for us to install and leverage the platform.”