Enabling IoT Empowered Smart Lighting Solutions: A Communication Theoretic Perspective

The aim of this article is to explore the design space of the IoT empowered smart lighting systems from communication theoretic perspective. It is noted that traditional wired solution such as digital addressable lighting interface (DALI) need to be replaced altogether. The solutions proposing to replace just the end connections by wireless transceivers will not fit in the emerging IoT paradigm. Different architectural blocks of smart lighting systems are briefly described. The key enablers for each of these blocks, their evolution trajectories, existing challenges and possible pathways are briefly summarized. It is noted that the functionality of the building block of IoT based smart lighting system can be translated into an abstract reference architecture. A hirerichical networking architecture is proposed and different networking issues are discussed. Finally, a communication theoretic perspective for wireless interface selection is presented.