Village of Niles Smart City Initiative

Overview:

The Village historically relied on residential complaints to identify lighting outages, prompting the need for a more proactive solution. To address this, they sought a system that would enable real-time monitoring of lighting assets while also serving as a foundation for a broader IoT platform supporting applications such as traffic monitoring, environmental sensing, flood detection, and pedestrian tracking. After evaluating several control systems, the Village selected TWG based on Scott Johnson’s experience with cellular node-based lighting controls, which operate independently at each fixture. Unlike mesh systems, this approach improves reliability by allowing the network to remain operational even if individual nodes fail. Throughout the evaluation and implementation process, TWG collaborated closely with the Village and its engineers, providing support with system setup, configuration, and integration with other municipal infrastructure.

What We Delivered:

-Smart Lighting Controls: Installed cellular node-based technology for real-time monitoring of lighting assets.

-Asset Visibility: Enabled tracking of energy consumption, pole type, fixture type, mounting height, and GPS location.

-System Integration: Supported integration with the Village’s SCADA system for wireless water meter reading.

-Technical Consulting: Provided guidance during system evaluation, implementation, and ongoing software upgrades.

Results:

The Village of Niles now has full visibility into its lighting infrastructure, allowing staff to quickly identify outages and manage maintenance more efficiently. The system continues to evolve through software updates and remains expandable, giving the Village a flexible platform to support future smart city technologies.