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ongoing training on more modern technologies; and school
teachers require additional support to introduce students to
the most advanced learning schemes in classrooms. Despite
all of these civic expenses in smart cities, the average city
spends 40% of its energy budget on streetlights. The installation of networked LED streetlights reduces their energy
consumption by 40-70%. If we take a low estimate of a 50%
reduction in energy usage for equivalent lighting, we can free
up 20% of a city's energy budget for other civic services that
would enhance the lives of our citizens and keep our streets
safe and functional. This does not even take into account the
reduction in routine or emergency maintenance costs provided by remotely viewing the streetlights. The networked
communication and control system for LED streetlights in
smart cities provides significant reductions in truck-rolls to
send maintenance crews searching for faulty lights, which
provides more time and resources to work on improving the
many other pieces of infrastructure that constantly require
attention in a city like Chicago.
Business Benefits

The business benefits of increasing cybersecurity are
✔ improving control system reliability and availability
✔ improving employee morale, loyalty, and retention
✔ reducing community concerns
✔ increasing member confidence
✔ reducing legal liabilities
✔ enhancing the corporate image and reputation
✔ helping with insurance coverage and cost
✔ improving investor and banking relations.

Moving Forward
Overall, this project has been extremely beneficial to student
learning at CSMART, the IIT microgrid operation, and ultimately for every city that chooses to adopt this intelligent
system. We have had inquiries from professors interested in
more research and municipalities curious about their own
installations. We have been approached by public safety officers, students, and housing directors and thanked for improving a section of the campus by making it brighter and safer,
and we are doing it with half of the energy. There is no question in their minds that this is an improvement. When they
walk through the bright white light, the only questions we
receive are, "Is there any way to dim them because they are
so bright?" and "When are you going to do the rest of the
campus?" We hope to start the installation of the full campus expansion late in 2015, and we know we will be asked,
"When will you do my neighborhood or my block?" We have
no doubt that this technology will expand across the globe.
The only question is who will be manufacturing the parts,
doing the installations, and reaping the rewards first.

Summary
The IIT microgrid provides an excellent test bed for implementing emerging smart grid technologies. IIT has recently
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initiated CSMART to develop projects to address the biggest challenges in cyber and physical security of power
and energy systems. Built with the initial support of
ComEd, Silver Spring Networks, and West Monroe Partners, CSMART is dedicated to researching, testing, and
analyzing the latest smart grid technology innovations in
a real-world environment. The project team developed a
software system, based on the OSIsoft PI, and integrated
it at the CSMART control room, allowing the project
team to remotely monitor and control the lights at the
IIT microgrid. The wireless network implemented with
the streetlights provides a great many benefits including
remote metering, on/off and dimming controls, dimming
schedules with sunset/sunrise, event lighting, emergency
lighting controls, automated outage detection, and performance data analysis.

For Further Reading
L. Che, M. Khodayar, and M. Shahidehpour, "Only connect:
microgrids for distribution system automation," IEEE Power
Energy Mag., vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 70-81, Jan. 2014.
M. Khodayar and M. Shahidehpour, "Cutting campus energy costs with hierarchical control: The economical and reliable operation of a microgrid," IEEE Electrification Mag.,
vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 40-56, Sept. 2013.
NIST. (2010). Interagency/internal report (NISTIR)-
7628. [Online]. Available: http://www.nist.gov/manuscriptpublication-search.cfm?pub_id=906224
Silver Spring Networks. (2013). The business case for
smart street lights. [Online]. Available: http://www.silverspringnet.com/company/resources/whitepapers/
OSIsoft PI System. (2014). Real-time data and event infrastructure for the enterprise. [Online]. Available: http://www.
osisoft.com/software-support/what-is-pi/ What_Is_PI.aspx
K. Jin, "Internal project plan, cyber-security evaluation of
the IIT smart streetlight project," Oct. 2014.
G. Balcıogulları, "Internal project plan, intelligent and
energy-efficient LED street lighting," Oct. 2014.
N. Buch, "Internal project report, intelligent and energyefficient LED street lighting," Sept. 2014.

Biographies
Mohammad Shahidehpour is with the Illinois Institute of
Technology, Chicago, and King Abdukaziz University, Jeddak, Saudi Arabia.
Carol Bartucci is with Commonwealth Edison, Chicago,
Illinois.
Nipesh Patel is with Silver Spring Networks, Chicago,
Illinois.
Tom Hulsebosch is with West Monroe Partners, Chicago, Illinois.
Patrick Burgess is with the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago.
Nathan Buch is with Silver Spring Networks, Chicago,
Illinois.
p&e
may/june 2015

http://www.nist.gov/manuscript http://www.silver http://www.springnet.com/company/resources/whitepapers/ http://www http://www.osisoft.com/software-support/what-is-pi/

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