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Farmington Hills-based Illuminating Concepts is about to launch its first “Intellistreets” concept installation in Farmington Hills.
Farmington Hills is using federal grant money to become the first site in the world to feature the Intellistreets system, a lighting pole system that combines energy conservation, homeland security features, audio entertainment, traffic control, advertising and more.
Intellistreets amounts to an intelligent wireless network, completely concealed within the street light pole. But it’s far more than a simple street light. Its lighting is variable for energy conservation and theming, reacting to natural light, the environment, and wireless commands. It has sensors to monitor foot and vehicle traffic. And it replaces static vinyl banners typically attached to light poles with LED screens. It can transmit information for emergency alerts, indicate evacuation routes or Amber Alert warnings, or hazardous environment alerts.
The system was invented by Illuminating Concepts founder Ron Harwood, who holds numerous patents in the lighting and multimedia fields.
On Friday, Oct. 28 at 10:30 a.m., U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, Farmington Hills Mayor Jerry Ellis, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson and other dignitaries will headline a ceremony to officially send the system live on 10 Mile Road in Farmington Hills. (CBS, Detroit, 10.23.2011) http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/10/23/225836
More at http://bit.ly/intellistreets.
The Light Pole Transformed
A Touch of Technology
Lighting Control
The Intellistreets system features controllable and programmable lighting
capabilities, including dimming and load-shedding. Lighting can be scheduled but can also
react to ambient light levels in real-time. Significant energy savings can be achieved by
providing only the necessary amount of light at any given time. In addition, holiday
themes or other special programming can be integrated so that the lighting is unique for a
given time period.
Wireless Communications
The Intellistreets system operates on a wireless mesh network. This network
provides communication between each light pole and from each light pole back to an
interface server. The mesh nature of the wireless network enables the network to remain
highly resilient and flexible. If a light pole becomes damaged and can no longer
communicate with the rest of the Intellistreets system, the wireless mesh network
will heal itself and continue to function.
Concealed Audio
A concealed speaker housed within the base of the light pole provides clear, high-quality,
360-degree dispersion audio without being visible. The audio capabilities of Intellistreets
can be used for many different audio applications, such as background music, paging and
announcements, emergency alert information, and even sirens.
Alert Indication
The Intellistreets system supports visible LED alert indicators that can easily
be programmed for a wide range of uses. Alert indicators can be used to direct people to
an exit in the case of an emergency, or could be used to indicate a faulty lamp source to
maintenance personnel. Alert indicators can also be used as part of a larger security
system to provide safety benefits.
Additional Components
The following additional components are available to further enhance the capabilities of Intellistreets:
Digital Video Signage
LED technology has revolutionized the display of information in recent years, both for
advertising and way-finding purposes. The Intellistreets system offers the
ability to add digital video signage in the form of a large LED banner to a light pole,
much like the vinyl banners currently seen in city environments. Unlike vinyl banners, LED
banners can display a wide variety of continually changing content, including both still
images and video. This opens up endless possibilities for revenue generation through
advertising, as well as intuitive and localized way-finding and video-based public service
announcement.
Data Acquisition
A wide range of sensors can be added to the Intellistreets system, including
weather and environmental sensors, toxic gas, radiation and other atmospheric monitoring
and alert systems. Footfall sensors can be added to gather and relay valuable
information regarding pedestrian traffic, which can assist city planners, managers &
DDA directors. All of this data can be intelligently shared between poles to enable
the system to adapt and react by itself, as well as enabling advanced reporting
functionality as an adjunct to Homeland Security, emergency management and municipal
operations.
Future Features
In the future, additional features are expected to come online, including options such as
downloadable maps and digital information packets for visitors, parking-meter
capabilities, and even a portal to recharge hybrid or electric cars.
Intellistreets Wayfinding and Banner Ads
Intellistreets' digital LED banner displays and LED street signs allow municipalities to provide both wayfinding and advertising (i.e., revenue generation) capabilities. http://identitypr.com/pressrelease/illuminating-concepts/intellistreets-by-illuminating-concepts
[Ed. note: You can be 100% certain that Big Brother will coerce cities to purchase the video and audio recording applications for these Big Brother towers. The proof is found in this article below by ABC News.]
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. (WXYZ) - They are being used for entertainment and safety. but some critics say this is nothing more than the watchful eye of big brother keeping track of your every moment.
This high tech system called ‘Intellistreets' is being made right here in Farmington Hills.
“In each lighting fixture or each lighting pole, there is processor very much like an iPhone. And it takes inputs and outputs and talks back and forth. And the poles actually talk to each other,” said Ron Harwood.
Inventor Ron Harwood unveiled the intelligent light in a ribbon cutting ceremony. With funding help from the Department of Energy, Harwood’s Farmington Hills company, Illuminating Concepts, started designing the wireless communication system after the horrors of September 11th and Hurricane Katrina.
“It became really obvious to myself, and my staff that we could do something that would make people more informed, make them safer,” said Harwood.
LED video screens and cameras add to the wireless infrastructure that is remotely controlled.
It can provide entertainment, save energy, make announcements, and even counts people for police.
When you step come into view of the street light, there is a camera that spots you, and the person on the other side sees you by white specs on a black screen. The camera senses that somebody is there, and if wants, it can even take your picture.
The system is also capable of recording conversations making critics cry invasion of privacy.
“This is not a system with spook technology. It’s much more transparent.
It can just talk to you and say, don’t fall over Niagara Falls,” said Harwood.
Basic light starts at $3,000 dollars. By Spring of next year there is a good chance you
could see them pop up in your city.
The first of these light poles sit on 10 mile Road just East of Orchard Lake Road. Harwood already has orders from cities across Metro Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh and he's working with Homeland Security. (ABC 7 Action News, 10.28.2011, Julie Banovic) http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/oakland_county/intelligent-lights-make-up-wireless-network-used-for-entertainment-and-safety
With a blast of the U2 song "Beautiful Day" Friday morning, Farmington Hills became home to the first wireless Intellistreet light-pole system in the world -- a network of street lamps that can feature everything from hidden speakers to electronic signs to water-level monitors.
Behind the new urban-communication device is Farmington Hills' Illuminating Concepts. The company office and Café Cortina sit on the strip of 10 Mile east of Orchard Lake, where the city's eight new poles are. This model boasts dimmable lights and a smaller flashing notification light, though not the eye-catching digital signage option.
According to Illuminating Concepts, the most comprehensive poles also can direct traffic, advertise local events and show pictures of missing children on the digital screens; help with crowd control; sense rising water levels as well as chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive agents; enable a passerby to talk with a public-safety officer in an emergency and aid homeland security officials with video and audio alerts and data acquisition. [Ed. note: data aquisition is Newspeak for video surveillance.]
The energy savings is 50%-70% for the Intellistreet lamp, which can be changed to dimmer settings. However, additional power is needed for the ones that include electronic signs.
Company President and creative director Ron Harwood, who got the idea for Intellistreet working at Disney and Universal parks, said it will "make us feel not only safer, but happier."
The base price for an Intellistreet pole is $3,000.
Farmington Hills, for example, spent $30,000 and used a U.S. Department of Energy grant to cover the rest, according to Mayor Jerry Ellis.
He said this project "demonstrates how business and government can work together for economic, environmental, and social benefits."
The poles can be controlled from a central location or by iPad or phone, wireless systems that are protected from hackers with double encryption, said Jeff Stribbell, Illuminating Concepts' director of business development, who demonstrated the technology.
Illuminating Concepts has installed similar systems at Greenfield Village in Dearborn and Branson Landing in Branson, Mo.
Contact Zlati Meyer: 313-223-4439 or zmeyer@freepress.com
'Talking' CCTV scolds offenders
"Talking" CCTV cameras that tell off people dropping litter or committing anti-social behaviour are to be extended to 20 areas across England.
They are already used in Middlesbrough where people seen misbehaving can be told to stop via a loudspeaker, controlled by control centre staff.
About £500,000 will be spent adding speaker facilities to existing cameras.
Shadow home affairs minister James Brokenshire said the government should be "very careful" over the cameras.
Home Secretary John Reid told BBC News there would be some people, "in the minority who will be more concerned about what they claim are civil liberties intrusions".
"But the vast majority of people find that their life is more upset by people who make their life a misery in the inner cities because they can't go out and feel safe and secure in a healthy, clean environment because of a minority of people," he added.
The talking cameras did not constitute "secret surveillance", he said.
"It's very public, it's interactive."
Competitions would also be held at schools in many of the areas for children to become the voice of the cameras, Mr Reid said.
Downing Street's "respect tsar", Louise Casey, said the cameras "nipped problems in the bud" and reduced bureaucracy.
"It gets across the message, 'please don't litter our streets because someone else will have to pay to pick up that litter again'," she told BBC News.
"Half a billion pounds a year is spent picking up litter."
'Scarecrow policing'
Mr Brokenshire told the BBC he had a number of concerns about the use of the talking cameras.
"Whether this is moving down a track of almost 'scarecrow' policing rather than real policing - actually insuring that we have more bobbies on the beat - I think that's what we really want to see, albeit that an initiative like this may be an effective tool in certain circumstances.
"We need to be very careful about applying this more generally."
The talking cameras will be installed in Southwark, Barking and Dagenham, in London, Reading, Harlow, Norwich, Ipswich, Plymouth, Gloucester, Derby, Northampton, Mansfield, Nottingham, Coventry, Sandwell, Wirral, Blackpool, Salford, South Tyneside and Darlington.
In Middlesbrough, staff in a control centre monitor pictures from 12 talking cameras and can communicate directly with people on the street.
Local councillor Barry Coppinger says the scheme has prevented fights and criminal damage and cut litter levels.
"Generally, I think it has raised awareness that the town centre is a safe place to visit and also that we are keeping an eye open to make sure it is safe," he said.
But opponent and campaigner Steve Hills said: "Apart from being absurd, I think it's rather sad that we should have faceless cameras barking at us on orders from who? Who sets these cameras up?"
There are an estimated 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain.
A recent study by the government's privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner, warned that Britain was becoming a "surveillance society". (BBC News, 4.04.2007) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6524495.stm
SEE ALSO
"To Achieve One World
Government it is necessary to remove from the minds of men their individualism,
their loyalty to family traditions and national identification." (Brock Chisholm - Director of the World Health Organization)
"A society whose citizens refuse to see and investigate the facts, who refuse to
believe that their government and their media will routinely lie to them and fabricate a
reality contrary to verifiable facts, is a society that chooses and deserves the Police
State Dictatorship it's going to
get." (Ian Williams Goddard)
The fact is that "political correctness" is all about creating uniformity. Individualism is one of the biggest obstacles in the way of the New World Order. They want a public that is predictable and conditioned to do as it's told without asking questions.
"The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first." Thomas Jefferson