Issue 21
October
2013
Intelligent Lighting Control
Introduction Intelligent Lighting System Control
Widespread adoption of autonomous systems gave rise to more Intelligent lighting system has no central controller and operates in a
intelligent automobiles, appliances, aircrafts and many other systems. distributed manner to provide autonomous control. Each individual
Many of these systems can make intelligent decision without human controller adjusts luminance of the fixture to meet the illuminance goal.
intervention. Current lighting system control lacks intelligence to allow The intelligent lighting control sequence is as follows:
local customization of illuminance level and autonomous operation.
However, current lighting systems have achieved significant reduction of 1) Initialize the intelligent lighting system and provide minimum
energy through use of occupancy sensor, timer, day-light sensor, etc. illuminance at each sensor locations.
Notwithstanding energy saving achieved, serious limitations exist: 2) Each illuminance sensor detects the current illuminance level.
inability to respond when lighting sensors are added or partitions are 3) Each illuminance sensor communicates its target illuminance level
added in open office; and inability to provide appropriate illuminance at and current illuminance level to the network.
an arbitrary location. New lighting control systems must incorporate 4) Controller of each intelligent lighting fixture controls luminance
intelligence to allow not only reduction of energy but also autonomous based on the current and target illuminance of each sensor with
operation. the goal of minimizing power consumption while achieving target
illuminance.
Overview of Intelligent Lighting System 5) Repeating steps 2 thru 4, the system constantly senses
Intelligent lighting system comprises multiple lighting fixtures connected environmental information, and adjusts control parameters so that
in a network to provide automatic control of lighting level to meet user’s goals are achieved.
need. Current lighting control systems often incorporate some
Using the above process, each intelligent controller can autonomously
automatic control but they can only create limited number of
perform lighting control to satisfy both energy saving and illuminance
illuminance pattern due to limitations imposed by field wiring of lighting
goals. Constant sensing of environmental information allows intelligent
fixtures. On the other hand, field wiring of lighting fixtures has no
lighting control system to respond quickly to changes such as addition or
limitations on intelligent lighting system operation. Once the user’s
movement of illuminance sensors and addition or malfunction of
preference is set, intelligent lighting systems can automatically provide
lighting fixtures. In addition, intelligent lighting control system can
appropriate illuminance without making the user aware of the location
balance conflicting preferences of adjacent illuminance sensors and
of the lighting fixtures.
implement demand response control through load shedding during
Multiple movable illumination sensors, lighting fixture controllers and a times of peak electricity pricing.
power meter connected together forms a small independent network
where information is shared locally and with other networks. Controllers Conclusion
in intelligent lighting systems are capable of acquiring new intelligence Artificial lighting consumes 20-30% of total electricity in a commercial
and can operate autonomously to control the lighting fixture. Figure 1 building. Use of occupancy sensor, timer, day-light sensor in existing
below shows the configuration of an intelligent lighting system. lighting control systems can significantly reduce energy footprint of the
lighting systems. Likewise, intelligent lighting system also strives to
reduce energy consumption. In addition to energy savings, intelligent
lighting system provides individual lighting comfort level autonomously
without human intervention. Barrier to widespread adoption of
intelligent lighting control is high initial cost. However, cost of
deployment will decrease in coming years as costs of processors and
wireless sensors are falling rapidly. This will allow future lighting system
to operate autonomously and intelligently.
References:
[1] M. Miki, T. Hiroyasu, K. Imazato, M. Yonezawa. Intelligent lighting control
using correlation coefficient between luminance and illuminance. Proceeding
IASTED Intelligent Systems and Control, Vol.497, No.078, pp.31-36, 2005.
[2] J. S. Sandhu, A. M. Agogino, and A. K. Agogino. Wireless sensor networks for
commercial lighting control: Decision making with multi-agent systems.
Proceedings of the AAAI Workshop on Sensor Networks, San Jose, CA, July 2004.
[3] LI DHW, Lam JC. An investigation of daylighting performance and energy
saving in a corridor. Energy and Buildings.
[4] Miki M, Hiroyasu T, Imazato K. Proposal for an Intelligent Lighting System, and
Verification of Control Method Effectiveness Proceeding IEEE CIS, Page520-525,
(2004)
Figure 1: Configuration of intelligent lighting system
