User's Manual

40 Planning for the Street Lighting Solution
commission all luminaires and Street Light Bridge module in the entire street
lighting network. The Segment Controller discovers and commissions nearby
devices first, then discovers additional devices through the Street Light Bridge or
luminaire repeaters, and then commissions them. Thus, the discovery and
commissioning process is iterative, and could take some time to complete. The
process also depends on your having installed Street Light Bridge or luminaire
repeaters in appropriate positions within the network.
Both installation methods are supported, and both work well in most cases. The
first method is recommended for new installations because it allows you to create
and document the network as you install it. For either installation method, you
can manually commission any device within the network if you have the device’s
Neuron ID.
Defining Repeating
The main purpose of a Street Light Bridge module is to act as a repeater for
power line communications, for RF communications, or for both. By repeating
the communications packets, the Street Light Bridge module can extend the
overall range of the street lighting network, or it can bypass obstacles that could
otherwise restrict communications within the network.
What kind of repeater the Street Light Bridge becomes depends on the value of
the nciRepeatMode configuration network variable:
• If nciRepeatMode is 0, proxy requests received on the power line channel
are repeated onto the RF channel. This is the default value.
• If nciRepeatMode is 1, no packets are sent on the RF channel (that is, the
Street Light Bridge module acts as a power line repeater only).
• If nciRepeatMode is 2, no packets are sent on the power line channel
(that is, the Street Light Bridge module acts as an RF repeater only).
Regardless of the Street Light Bridge module’s repeating mode, when it receives
a message that requires a response, acknowledgement, challenge, or reply, the
Street Light Bridge module sends that response, acknowledgement, challenge, or
reply on the channel on which the original message was received.
PL/PL Repeater
You can define the Street Light Bridge module as power line repeater to extend
the range of power line communications. By default, the Street Light Bridge
module acts as power line repeater, but by setting nciRepeatMode to 1, you can
block RF communications, which might be useful for situations in which RF
communications are not used.
Figure 8 shows an example for PL/PL repeating mode. In a multi-phase system
with insufficient cross-coupling between the phases, a pair of Street Light Bridge
modules in PL/PL repeating mode act as intelligent phase couplers.