SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Internet of Things pioneer Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON) has completed initial field tests of another new application for its InSight Cognitive Vision System, this time validating the ability of the intelligent camera to accurately and inexpensively count traffic on city streets. In a deployment in Spokane, Washington, the new application captured data that matched or exceeded the accuracy of conventional and manual counters, day or night. The new streetlight-based system is less expensive and easier to deploy than conventional roadway surface-based counters, and because the system communicates over the existing lighting network, it can be deployed on any streetlight, not just those in intersections adjacent to traffic control boxes.

The InSight system deployed in Spokane included an adaptive learning capability to accommodate differences in each camera’s deployment for light levels, shadows, and reflections. “While there are many open source computer vision algorithms available today, most address one particular problem under a narrow set of conditions and are not effective for reliably addressing multiple real world issues,” said Sohrab Modi, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Engineering, Echelon. “We developed this cognitive AI vision technology to enable a municipal streetlight system to host an increasingly broad array of smart city solutions.”  

Traffic counting is traditionally accomplished with pneumatic tubes temporarily laid across the roadway surface, or with inductive loops buried in the roadway, or with microwave radar transmitters.  Echelon’s new InSight application leverages access to the Echelon Lumewave lighting control network, allowing placement of the self-learning system on any streetlight instead.  Moving the traffic counter from the roadway surface to a streetlight simplifies deployment, and moves the sensor into a more versatile location. And by leveraging a city’s existing connected lighting platform, the traffic counting application based on Echelon’s InSight technology offers smart cities a lower cost alternative in managing energy use as well as a platform to broadly collect traffic data.

“We are encouraged by these field test results that demonstrate that InSight provides reliable traffic flow information directly into the street lighting process,” said Adam Miles, Associate Traffic Engineer, City of Spokane. “Over time, we believe the aggregated traffic data we collect will enable us to address resident and commuter needs in new ways we are just beginning to consider.”

“With the deployment of this new application, cities and campuses can begin to see how InSight will provide the foundation for a family of AI-based tools leveraging the omnipresence of street lights connected with Echelon technologies,” according to Echelon Chairman and CEO Ron Sege.  “Street lights are everywhere – these tools will take them from being simple re-implementations of 19th century gaslights, to the basis for providing advanced 21st century capabilities enhancing safety and quality of life for individuals and businesses, at a lower cost than today’s simple lights alone.”

About Echelon Corporation

For 25 years Echelon (NASDAQ: ELON) has pioneered the development of open-standard networking platforms for connecting, monitoring and controlling devices in commercial and industrial applications. With more than 110 million devices installed worldwide, Echelon’s proven, scalable solutions host a range of applications enabling customers to reduce energy and operational costs, improve safety and comfort, and create efficiencies through optimizing physical systems. Echelon is focusing today on two IoT (Internet of Things) market areas: Creating smart cities and smart enterprises through connected outdoor lighting systems, and enabling device makers to bring connected products to market faster via a range of IoT-optimized embedded systems. More information about Echelon can be found at www.echelon.com.

Echelon, the Echelon logo, Echelon InSight, and Lumewave by Echelon are trademarks of Echelon Corporation that may be registered in the United States and other countries. Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

This press release may contain statements relating to future plans, events or performance. Such statements may involve risks and uncertainties, the risk that Echelon’s offerings by themselves or combined with other applications or offerings do not perform as designed or do not offer the expected benefits and savings; and other risks identified in Echelon’s SEC filings. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Echelon undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

CONTACT:
Lucie Mann
Echelon Corp.
lmann@echelon.com

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SOURCE Echelon Corporation