Beyond the deployment of LED lighting

During the planning stage for deployment of LED lighting at Custodian Data Centres’ flagship site in Kent, the idea was born to control them more intelligently than before. Most other data centres either use regular switches or use a passive infrared (PIR) sensor (based on motion detection) to turn appropriate sections on.
A traditional switch method of managing lighting is often inefficient and results in unused areas being lit for long periods of time. Central lighting switch controls can also result in areas being turned off by clients that still require lighting by other users. The PIR method has increased efficiency, as it senses movement inside appropriate sections of the data centre and turns on the respective lighting segment.

However, PIR is always a compromise between efficiency and convenience, as if someone is standing still in the segment PIRs will go off after a certain adjustable amount of time. If you try to avoid the inconvenience by adjusting the timer to a higher timeout you potentially lose the efficiency itself, especially if triggered inadvertently.

Consequently Custodian Data Centres decided to create a more intelligent system. Conceived by Senior NOC Engineer Pavelas Sokolovas, they have created a system which uses both PIRs and CCTV cameras to detect human presence in areas of the data centre.

Their system utilises a simple yet effective operating logic. As soon as they detect motion in a certain area they turn the lights on, using PIR technology. At this point their CCTV analysis system kicks in. It is specifically coded to analyse the image in the area for human presence and as soon as it sees the area is empty, it turns off the lights. It takes 10-15 seconds to turn off the lights after an area is empty. Custodian’s lights are now on and off for the optimum amount of time, thus solving both efficiency and inconvenience issues.

Initially two aisles are currently running a beta testing stage, with stable results. Custodian are preparing to roll it out across one of their data centre floors. Pavelas Sokolovas who designed the intelligent lighting system developed the idea after being constantly frustrated by the lighting waste that data centres can accrue, coupled with a desire to develop a system that supported the work of visiting clients. Pav noted that “whilst clients waving to reactivate PIR lighting systems may look initially amusing on CCTV – the reality is that when focusing on work on their servers, an untimely light black-out can have frustrating consequences and interruptions for engineers”.

Technical Director Rob Williams agreed to trialling the project as “the intelligent lighting system developed by Pav is just one example of how Custodian constantly strives to innovate in order to maximise what we deliver to our clients, our own operating infrastructure and the environment on a daily basis”.