Signify and ESI connect on cleverly connecting smart lighting

The Edge is a 40,000 m² office building in Amsterdam’s Zuidas business district. One of its distinctive features is a smart lighting system, installed by Signify, formerly Philips Lighting. Nearly 6,500 connected LED luminaires create a digital lighting infrastructure throughout the 15-story building. Integrated sensors in the luminaires collect data on occupancy and light. This data allows facility managers to maximize The Edge’s operational efficiency and optimize office space, as well as reduce the building’s CO₂ footprint. The result: a 3.6 million euro savings in space utilization and an annual reduction of 100,000 euros in energy costs.

Creating such a large, distributed system is no small feat, Signify’s Peter Fitski points out. “The luminaires each have their own controller, receiving a host of inputs from light switches and light and occupancy sensors. All these controllers talk to each other, share information via a lossy wireless network and act on it in a coordinated fashion. Our engineers develop the required functionality, lighting specialists design the desired environment and installation technicians make it work.”