Design and Development of an Intelligent Solar-Powered Lamp Post with Adaptive Lighting Control

The increasing demand for sustainable outdoor lighting has accelerated the development of solar-powered lighting systems. However, conventional solar lamps typically employ fixed illumination levels and simple day–night switching mechanisms, resulting in inefficient battery utilization and limited adaptability to changing environmental conditions. This study proposes a TRIZ-guided intelligent solar-powered lighting system that integrates photovoltaic energy harvesting, adaptive pulse-width modulation (PWM)-based illumination control, ultrasonic sensing, wireless communication, and embedded control into a unified standalone platform. The TRIZ contradiction matrix was employed during the conceptual design stage to systematically resolve key engineering contradictions involving illumination performance, energy efficiency, hardware complexity, battery lifetime, and user convenience. The proposed prototype was developed using an AT89S51 microcontroller to coordinate battery charging protection, environmental sensing, adaptive brightness regulation, and manual wireless operation. Experimental validation demonstrated stable photovoltaic charging with a regulated battery charging voltage of 14.4 V, reliable execution of embedded control functions, seamless transition between manual and autonomous operating modes, and adaptive LED brightness regulation according to real-time environmental conditions. The integrated PWM control strategy reduced unnecessary energy consumption by dynamically adjusting illumination intensity based on object detection rather than maintaining constant full-power operation. The experimental results further verified the feasibility of combining software-driven adaptive control with renewable energy harvesting to achieve intelligent energy management without increasing hardware complexity. Overall, the proposed system demonstrates that the integration of TRIZ-based systematic innovation with embedded intelligent control provides a practical, energy-efficient, and cost-effective solution for autonomous outdoor lighting. The proposed architecture offers valuable engineering insights for future smart lighting applications in off-grid infrastructure, sustainable communities, and smart city environments.