IoT Drives Wireless Lighting Control Systems Market

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The increasing adoption of LED lighting is transforming the lighting industry and the associated lighting controls market. Wireless lighting control installation is especially gaining momentum with the Internet of Things (IoT) enabling its widespread use in a number of segments such as street lighting. Lighting controls like advanced motion sensors are also finding substantial usage in street and traffic light controls due to their ability to help monitor human and vehicular movement as well as guide vehicles to the nearest open parking. In addition, the emergence of wireless connectivity standards like Bluetooth Mesh and Zigbee are set to boost the market by facilitating the control of multiple light sources in a large-scale installation.

Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis, World Lighting Controls Market, Forecast to 2025, provides insights into the recent and future market trends across the segments of residential, retail and hospitality, education and healthcare, office, outdoor, industrial and others, including architectural, sports infrastructure, and places of worship. The study also provides the technology roadmap, price trends, growth opportunities for the companies, and a detailed breakdown of revenue and competitive landscape in the four main regions of North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest-of-the-World.

“Lighting controls have transitioned from being simple devices that are used to control lighting appliances to being critical components of smart buildings,” said Dennis Marcell Victor, senior research analyst, Energy & Environment at Frost & Sullivan. “The advent of sensors and innovations in LED lighting has accelerated developments within the lighting controls market. Thanks to IoT, apart from conventional benefits such as energy and cost savings, lighting controls can increase the productivity, safety, security, and visual comfort of building occupants.”

The market generated $6.19 billion in 2017, with developed markets holding close to 75% of the market share; North America was the largest shareholder. However, Asia-Pacific is expected to experience the highest growth due to escalating demand from developing markets like China, Japan, and India. The market will receive an additional boost from the adoption of open standards and protocols, as they enable interoperability among systems for building and home automation, managing sensor networks, and asset tracking.

Wired lighting controls will continue to dominate the market, although they are expected to lose shares to wireless controls. Controllers and sensors will hold more than 64% of the revenue share of lighting controls in 2025.

"Although wired system architecture held more than 80% of the market share in 2017, it will decline steadily till 2025 as wireless technology begins to dominate the retrofit market,” said Victor. "Future applications of both wired and wireless technologies will be driven by the efficiency with which the controls software interprets the data gathered from lighting controls and translates it into actionable insights for resource optimization."

While the market is still battling low consumer awareness, there are numerous growth opportunities that could raise the profile of vendors. Some of them are:

• Partnerships between lighting equipment/platform providers and energy service companies to implement a subscription-based business model.
• Leveraging rebates from energy providers in developing countries, similar to those provided by North America and Europe for the adoption of Lighting-as-a-Service.
• Launching interoperable lighting control devices that are DALI-2 certified, like those by Lutron, Signify, Helvar, Tridonic, and OSRAM.
• Focusing on the software of the solution to allow vendors to generate more revenue by making additional features chargeable.
• Employing novel technologies such as Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to reduce human interference in lighting control operations. The technologies will help in predictive maintenance, optimal use of light sources, integration with other building systems, and adaptability to building and external climatic conditions.

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