A method and a system of lighting nodes having a core node and sensor pods is described. A core node, representing a master device, is positioned within a luminaire housing to enable lighting control for the luminaire. At least one peripheral device representing an integrated sensor pod, an external sensor pod, or a video node. Each of the peripheral devices representing a slave device and includes one or more sensors for detecting conditions. A pod bus, representing a master-slave bus, enables power signals to be transmitted to each of the peripheral devices. The pod bus also enables the core node to query each of the peripheral devices and each of the peripheral devices to respond to a query from the core node.