Accelerate the construction of smart cities, connect outdoor LED lighting fixtures with the IoT ecosystem, and standardize the implementation of multi category intelligent lighting systems

In 2026, the national new smart city special construction will continue to increase, and the multi-functional smart lighting network will become the core area of urban digital infrastructure. The full range of outdoor LED lamps such as LED courtyard lights, outdoor floodlights, linear lights, wall lights, and buried lights will no longer be limited to a single lighting function, gradually integrating environmental monitoring, video capture, crowd statistics, 5G micro base station installation and other functions. The standardized IoT lighting system will be implemented in batches in first - and second tier cities and county-level new cities, reconstructing the development logic of the outdoor lighting industry.
The National Development and Reform Commission has included smart outdoor lighting in the list of new digital infrastructure support, issued special bonds for urban renewal in multiple regions, and provided up to 95% funding subsidies for smart lighting renovation projects, significantly reducing the cost of urban implementation. Traditional outdoor lighting only serves the function of night lighting, while the new generation of intelligent LED lamps builds a global perception network: multifunctional LED column lights on main roads and courtyard lights are equipped with temperature, humidity, noise, and air quality sensors; Reserved equipment mounting interface for high-power floodlights in squares and parks, which can be equipped with monitoring cameras and emergency broadcasts; Distributed signal transmission nodes are composed of exterior wall wash lamps, linear lamps, and point light sources to support digital management of buildings; The underground lights and step lights in the park trail are equipped with human body sensing radar, which automatically reduces power to 30% during unmanned periods, achieving fine on-demand lighting.
From the perspective of technological iteration, outdoor LED lighting fixtures have undergone three generations of energy-saving upgrades and are now fully entering the stage of "AI networking adaptive dimming". The first generation relied solely on LED light sources to replace traditional lighting fixtures and achieve basic energy savings; The second generation is equipped with human body and light sensing to achieve independent dimming of a single lamp; The third generation relies on a global Internet of Things network, where all bridge lights, wall washers, underwater lights, and lawn lights are interconnected. Cloud based big data is used to comprehensively analyze traffic flow, passenger flow, sunrise and sunset, and seasonal changes, automatically generating dynamic dimming strategies. The overall energy-saving rate can reach 50% to 65%. At the same time, the industry has unified the interconnection protocol for lighting equipment, solving the industry problem of incompatibility between different categories of lamps and control systems in the past. Municipal projects can mix and purchase multiple categories of products such as linear lamps, floodlights, tree lamps, underwater lamps, etc., and integrate them into a unified management platform to reduce system integration costs.
Segmenting product categories to meet the needs of different smart scenarios. The smart renovation project of urban bridges is equipped with intelligent LED bridge lights, which are linked to river water level monitoring equipment. During the flood season, the brightness of the lights is automatically adjusted to warn pedestrians; Outdoor wall lights, window lights, and point light sources in commercial districts are linked to the mall's passenger flow system, increasing brightness during peak hours in the evening and significantly reducing brightness during low peak hours in the early morning; The intelligent lawn lights, step lights, and buried lights in the community garden are linked to the security system. When personnel movement is detected at night, the lighting brightness is synchronously increased and warning information is uploaded; The underwater lighting of the fountain is linked to water quality monitoring equipment, which automatically switches warning light colors when the water body is abnormal.
Standardization and modularization have become the core research and development directions of products. The outdoor lamps have a unified modular structure. The light source, drive and communication modules are separated independently. Maintenance and upgrading can be completed without replacing the lamps as a whole, reducing electronic waste, and meeting the requirements of the development of circular economy. At the same time, the industry has introduced new energy efficiency standards for outdoor intelligent lighting, setting mandatory thresholds for the light efficiency, standby power consumption, and signal transmission stability of linear lamps, wall washers, and floodlights, and phasing out low-quality and uncertified non-standard intelligent lighting fixtures.
According to industry predictions, the average annual growth rate of smart outdoor lighting in the next five years will exceed 22%, far exceeding traditional landscape lighting. County level urbanization will release a massive incremental market. Outdoor LED lighting manufacturers must simultaneously master the three major capabilities of hardware manufacturing, intelligent control system research and development, and scene scheme design in order to adapt to the long-term development needs of smart cities.