Energy consumption is something to worry about. As the carbon footprint grows and grows, students look for ways to tame the ever-growing beast.
Patrick Toplikar, a student of the cooperative engineering program, received funding to look into sustainable street lights.
With help from an Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experience (OURE) grant from Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) and Missouri State’s engineering program, Toplikar put his plan into action in Springfield.
Phase one
Adaptive learning smart street lights were the focus of Toplikar’s project. He wanted to see if he could create a program to turn street lights on and off when cars or pedestrians neared.
He created a light system in his yard to sense cars coming down the street. After that, it would go through an Arduino microcontroller board that would turn the light on.
Toplikar’s first try was unreliable. The system detected Toplikar’s car coming into the driveway and successfully turned on the LED light system in response. It was inconsistent in determining accurately whether a car was passing by or not.
The second try
After it became clear the sensor was not working as it should be, Toplikar changed gears to imitate adaptive learning lights.
He got real traffic data from Transportation Management Center of the Ozarks. Jason Saliba, a professional engineer for the City of Springfield Public Works, assisted Toplikar in data collection. Dr. Tayo Obafemi-Ajayi, electrical engineering faculty and Toplikar’s adviser, helped him get in touch with Saliba.
Toplikar then created an adaptive learning imitation program that turned the lights on/off based on the traffic reported.
According to his findings, there was no extra energy used when the lights continuously turned on and off compared to staying on consistently. Toplikar’s data also showed no energy savings from using the adaptive learning imitation program based on the traffic data obtained.
These findings are inconclusive due to limited sample size, some possible errors in the receivers that controlled the lamps and the limited precision of the energy monitors utilized.
“It is possible the energy consumption of the receivers explains the greater amount of energy consumed by the lights that imitated adaptive behavior as compared to the lights that were on constantly,” Toplikar said.
Repeated experiments would need to be conducted with a more advanced program to obtain a more conclusive finding.
Impact of the project
Toplikar is ahead of the curve since it will most likely be 16 or 17 years before Springfield changes its streetlights. Though Toplikar is not the first to work on this adaptive energy, other researchers can use his work for background information, ideas and what has been tried.
He gave an oral presentation of his project April 17 at Missouri S&T’s 14th Annual OURE Research Conference.
“Researchers have found about 30 percent of the total electrical power of any country is consumed in lighting the roads and the streets,” Toplikar said. “Research that seeks to reduce the energy consumed by streetlights could help society consume less energy, be more sustainable and save money.”