Even though the revolution of LED lighting was successful, it is now over. But solid-state lighting is transforming the way we perceive how lighting can illuminate the human civilization in the next few years. It has replaced traditional illumination sources across the world. The new transition of LED lighting in the global lighting market has kicked in a new era for LED adoption. The race has already begun to replace older light sources with new sockets.
Excitement over the new light source is not only being experienced by manufacturers, but also by consumers. The new intelligent lighting offers a trifecta of qualities, like connectivity, omnipresence, and constant power access. These are the qualities on top of which a new internet of buildings can be constructed. Intelligent lights can provide the perfect platform to transform simple LED light sockets into an intelligent, sensor-activated and connected network of lights that can change the way the next generation of smart buildings are formed.
However, behind the excitement over these new possibilities, a race for acquiring the technological rights is ongoing. This race will determine who will be responsible for building the loT infrastructure, which will transform the central nervous system of the internet of buildings. These smart buildings will be built on top of next-generation illumination systems and will change the way we utilize and interact with the spaces in which we live and work.
It all starts with the LED, in which low-conductor semiconductor devices will be utilized because of their inherent affinity for digital control. Because LEDs and microcontrollers work well together, manufacturers took advantage of that while producing the color-controlled LED lightings in early 2000, responsible for spectacular light shows all around the world. Since then, the prices for the sensors, processors, and networking chipsets for LED lights have consistently decreased. This has allowed researchers to work the decreasing costs of LED lights into their favor by designing the next generation of smart lights.
The complete package of smart lights can be designed by a light fixture, which has the capability of sensing its environment, and has the ability to act on the information received and share the data with multiple sources. These characteristics make intelligent lighting the perfect component to add to the smart network of public and private buildings. Real estate that is equipped with these lighting fixtures will provide a perfect way to observe people and activities while also generating a constant and reliable source of power.
An average-sized space is equipped with dozens of lights, and with smart lights, if you could see them, they would be able to see you too. This is the concept upon which the secular shift towards a digital illumination system is building the new market. The explosion of low-cost supporting technology and installation bases can allow rapid deployment of these lights into the consumer market.
This is not the first time that smart lighting has emerged in the market. Sensity, BeOn, Enlightened, and Digital Lumens are some of the companies that have contributed in pioneering the smart lighting industry, each working towards an aim of producing a shared networking system of a software-controlled illumination system. However, a power struggle is going on behind the scenes in which major corporations are fighting to grab the biggest consumer and manufacturing share in this new sector. Only time will tell who will emerge as a winner.
