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wall controls. The entire system also integrates with
embedded sensors and IP protocols for easy setup and
control, data acquisition, scalability, and integration
with other building applications.
FIGURE 5: The PoE lighting system at UWCA included a combination of ceiling troffers for office locations and downlights
in public spaces.
ENSURING PERFORMANCE,
FUNCTIONALITY, FLEXIBILITY
AND SCALABILITY
Once the decision was made to implement PoE lighting,
sound masking, and advanced AV systems, UWCA needed
to ensure a flexible, quality implementation and superior
functionality. For the PoE lights this meant accommo-
dating immediate needs such as color tuning and motion
sensing, while ensuring support for future capabilities.
For the PoE lights throughout the new facility, UWCA
chose a combination of 2 X 4 foot (≈0.61 m x 1.2 m) and
1 X 4 foot (≈0.30 m x 1.2 m) 4000 lumen troffers, as well
as 6-inch (15.24 cm) round 2000 lumen downlights for
a total of more than 500 fixtures and about 200 PoE-based
"In selecting the lighting system, we selected
a fixture-centric topology where each luminaire connects
to the network versus a node-centric topology that uses
nodes to connect to multiple luminaires. We felt that
the node-centric approach added a potential point
of failure and limited the flexibility," explains Sosnin.
"We wanted all the luminaires to be networked devices
that could talk to each other and integrate with other
systems using common open IP communication
protocols." See Figure 5.