Top 4 Security Lighting Technologies For Perimeter Applications
When it comes to choosing lighting for outdoor perimeter security applications, there are four key factors that can mean the difference between identifying intruders and allowing them to get away scot-free: Colour Rendering Index (CRI), lumens per Watt (lm/W), color temperature, and lamp life.
The right combination of these factors can improve performance and add efficiency to security systems. So, what exactly are each of these factors?
Color Rendering Index (CRI) A quantitative measure of the ability of a light source to reveal the colors of various objects faithfully in comparison with an ideal (incandescent lamp) or natural light source (the sun). In essence, it describes illuminating an object to where the human eye or a camera is able to perceive all of the colors that make up the object, including the various shades of each color. The CRI scale ranges from 0 to 100; the higher the CRI value, the wider the spectrum of colors being emitted.
Lumens per Watt (lm/W) The luminous efficiency of a lamp. The more efficiently a light can produce photons (light) from a given amount of electrical energy, the higher the resulting lumens per watt output. High lighting efficiency is important because it provides similar illumination using less power. From a perimeter security perspective, this means lower operational costs while maintaining a well lit perimeter to allow cameras to operate at optimal performance.
Color temperature The light appearance provided by a lamp. When a filament is heated to different temperatures, the type of light given off by different bulb is different. For example, soft white (emitted at lower temperatures) vs daylight (emitted at higher temperatures). For security applications, the closer to “Daylight” a light source is, the better since the captured image is more representative of its true colors.
Lamp life How long a bulb lasts before needing replacement.
Further explore these factors and how they can affect perimeter security.
Learn more about the Senstar LM100 hybrid perimeter intrusion detection and intelligent lighting system.