Design Article
Environmentally-aware lighting
Sajol Ghoshal, Austriamicrosystems AG
5/25/2012 9:07 AM EDT
Autonomous light controls
Although previous smart lighting controls were always centralized, today's technology enables lights that think for themselves. With ambient light sensors built into each lighting instrument, you get on-the-spot decision-making regarding how much ambient light is present. With low-cost and low-power wireless networking (such as ZigBee), or wired networks, group intelligence (semi-autonomous controls aware of what each other are doing, and able to self-organize the most efficient lighting plan for each moment) and centralized control systems can be readily implemented.
Conclusion
A smart-sensor driven lighting system that is aware of the immediate environment and broader operating concerns, and is able to intelligently adapt to user and facility requirements with autonomous local- or centralized- control is critical to meet government mandates to reduce energy consumption and lessen greenhouse gas emissions. This next wave of Cognitive Lighting systems will finally make use of the abundance of data available in the light and autonomously adjust the built environment to enhance comfort, productivity, safety and efficiency at the same time.
The demand for power around the world continues to increase. It's essential, therefore, to have fixtures that reduce this consumption. Currently, all sensors and daylight harvesting systems are driven by controls and power rather than using light as the starting point. However, by looking at light differently and understanding that the future of lighting must be fully adaptive is the only way to truly lower energy consumption and costs.
About the author:
Sajol Ghoshal is the director of the Sensor Driven Lighting business at austriamicrosystems and may be reached at sajol.ghoshal@austriamicrosystems.com.
Courtesy of EETimes Europe
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Although previous smart lighting controls were always centralized, today's technology enables lights that think for themselves. With ambient light sensors built into each lighting instrument, you get on-the-spot decision-making regarding how much ambient light is present. With low-cost and low-power wireless networking (such as ZigBee), or wired networks, group intelligence (semi-autonomous controls aware of what each other are doing, and able to self-organize the most efficient lighting plan for each moment) and centralized control systems can be readily implemented.
Image 4: An ALS lighting control system using both wired and wireless communications.
Conclusion
A smart-sensor driven lighting system that is aware of the immediate environment and broader operating concerns, and is able to intelligently adapt to user and facility requirements with autonomous local- or centralized- control is critical to meet government mandates to reduce energy consumption and lessen greenhouse gas emissions. This next wave of Cognitive Lighting systems will finally make use of the abundance of data available in the light and autonomously adjust the built environment to enhance comfort, productivity, safety and efficiency at the same time.
The demand for power around the world continues to increase. It's essential, therefore, to have fixtures that reduce this consumption. Currently, all sensors and daylight harvesting systems are driven by controls and power rather than using light as the starting point. However, by looking at light differently and understanding that the future of lighting must be fully adaptive is the only way to truly lower energy consumption and costs.
About the author:
Sajol Ghoshal is the director of the Sensor Driven Lighting business at austriamicrosystems and may be reached at sajol.ghoshal@austriamicrosystems.com.
Courtesy of EETimes Europe
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agk
5/26/2012 9:17 AM EDT
This article mentions about integrating an intelligent light sensor to the luminaries to save energy during day light because the with day light, the light bulbs can be dimmed and the power can be saved. Actually here one important thing is our eyes can function properly with day light condition provided we have windows with plain glasses in the east and west directions and no lights required.But for many places the rooms are air conditioned ,windows are curtained for privacy reasons and never a day light falls into the place.There fore i feel that these sensors are of no use. If at all a simple light sensor to switch on or off by measuring a set ambient light level
may be help full for those places with large windows and with no privacy requirements. This sensor can work during rainy,cloudy days to switch on the lights.
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Dr DSP
5/26/2012 5:39 PM EDT
The use of sensors on the table may be a problem (can be easily blocked), but maybe sensors hanging from the ceiling or even floating in the room would be the solution.
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