Drivers and Trends Driving Development

One area that LEDs do tend to struggle is that as a silicon based light producer they react much more quickly to changes in current or voltage.  As a result, drivers must provide stable outputs or the occupants of the space will quickly start to feel fatigue as whilst the light may appear to be stable, it is actually flickering at a frequency that irritates and puts strain on the eyes.  As a result, there is now increased standards requirements on acceptable levels of flicker from luminaires and more focus on what matters to people in a lit environment both psychological and physiological.  Consequently you can no longer simply ask if there is enough light, you also have to consider the quality of that light.

The impact of wireless technology is already being seen in the residential lighting environment with products that allow users to control their lights via an app on their phone.  Some lighting control systems have, for a long time, had the ability to link with smart devices for the purpose of light control and AV systems.  As the technology progresses the ability for lighting devices to make their own decisions becomes more and more relevant.
 

What is clear is that the requirements of a data network for computers is very different to a network required for lighting devices and building controls.  These devices typically require smaller data packets but a more immediate response.  To be honest, if YouTube takes a few extra seconds to buffer most people won’t notice, but if they walk into a room and the lights take more than a second to turn on that will be noticed.  In this instance smarter devices can help with the future challenges, by providing a pathway for communication through smart devices embedded in a building’s structure they can become part of the network that the building uses to operate.  The most common thing in any space occupied by people, both internally and externally, is lighting.  It already has power, already has some smart capability, and is ever present in our environment.

The standards of the day always tend to lag behind technology by a couple of years but there is always a push towards higher energy efficiency and sustainability.  These requirements can be seen in requirements such as WELL, or LEED.  These are basically points based systems that provide indirect benefit to the building owners even in such simple terms as promotional capability.  The lighting industry, second only to HVAC in the share of power consumed in commercial buildings, has a big role to play.  LEDs have made a big change in efficiency levels and the standards are catching up and the driver will become increasingly relevant.
 

A key piece in the lighting environment is how will it react in an emergency?  A dependence on smart networks rapidly falls down when there is no power available to support it.  As silicon gets smaller and cheaper it’s important to take note of what additional features and capability an emergency device can offer outside of connectivity.  It is important to think about emergency devices that can react to different situations in different ways.  Devices that will increase or decrease light levels depending on smoke in the building, or what time of day.  As drivers get smarter, they will be expected to know these things and react accordingly.

As technology advances it is important to stay aware of what people in the space both want and need to do.  Smart for Smart’s sake is just an expensive way of looking clever and it’s more important to make sure technology is used to provide the right solution at the right time.