Trends
Can You Show Me the Next S-Curve, Please?
The evolution of technologies is often
described using the “S-curve” model.
In the early stage, in the first phase of
its life cycle, technology is mainly driven
by fundamental research. Only a few
players are active at that time and
innovation steps are quite large. In the
second phase, early adopters start to
develop products and bring them to
market. This phase is characterized by
huge investments. In the third phase,
more and more players enter the
technology field, competition becomes
important and development speed of
the technology decreases. In the last
phase, the technology is mature,
(nearly) everybody can use it, there are
fewer margins and the technology
should be replaced by a new one.
Many of the SSL technologies have
meanwhile reached maturity. Where are
the upcoming technologies, what will be
the next S-curve? Looking at technology
discussions and lectures at LpS 2017
I tried to find answers to these questions.
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100 Years Lighting IP Applications
These IP Snapshots show approximately 100 years of patent applications of the IPC class F21 lighting and the IPC class H05 electric techniques. Both IPC classes are the most relevant in the lighting domain. Annually, over 60,000 applications are filed globally and an increasing number of IP applications is predicted over the next few years. Lighting, in general, and the electronics are, therefore, quite similar in numbers.
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Fraunhofer IIS IoT-Bus: The Secure Communication Bus - Not Just for Lighting
The Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS is developing the IoT-Bus with IPv6 support and integrated security concept. It is a communication bus based on EIA/RS-485 and the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, which enables a secure and reliable data transmission of measured values and control commands and connectivity to the Internet of Things. The IoT-Bus forms a cross-media communication protocol and unites the two worlds of WPAN and fieldbuses without complex protocol conversion. The novel technology IoT-Bus is developed as part of the SEEDs project.
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LiFi - What It Is, How It Works, What It Provides, How to Apply, and Its Future Prospects
The acronym LiFi (Light Fidelity) was born at the beginning of the 2010s. Its name derives from the very
well-known WiFi (Wireless Fidelity). The term VLC (Visible Light Communication) is used in the restricted
instances of visible light. Mr. Luc Chassage who works for Oledcomm and the Versailles University is
also Scientific Committee President of the Global LiFi Congress that offers 20 lectures dealing with all
aspects of LiFi. He is a profound expert in this technology field. Mr. Chassage explains the functionality,
pitfalls and hurdles to overcome, the disadvantages and advantages, and best practice to apply LiFi.
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Thermal Issues Posed by Compact Packaging and IoT for Next Generation SSL
Besides general lighting, LEDs are penetrating many areas. At the same time, Internet of Things (IoT)
has been rapidly evolving. Added electronics are expected to add an additional 70% to overall heat
generation. Therefore, solving thermal problems will become more important again; on a par with
footprint area and cost. Prof. Mehmet Arik, Director of EVATEG Center for Energy Efficient Electronics
and Lighting Technologies at the Ozyegin University, and Umut Zeynep Uras, master student at the
Ozyegin University, present some of the current, local, hotspot thermal issues caused by tight
packaging. The severity of the problem for future lighting systems with added IoT will also be discussed.
Finally, possible technologies to meet those challenges will be shown.
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Measurement Seminar – from SSL to Displays
For the third consecutive year, Instrument Systems invited engineers from all industries that deal with light measurement of SSL products and different kinds of displays to their seminar. LED professional’s Editor in Chief, Arno Grabher-Meyer, was also pleased to receive (and accept) an invitation. In this article he shows what attendees can expect, who might find this event of interest, who would benefit the most and who should definitely not miss the next opportunity to attend.
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Hybrid Quantum Dot Light Emitting Electrochemical Cells
Several new light generation technologies that are overshadowed by LEDs and OLEDs are investigated.
Most of these technologies are in a very early stage of research. One such technology, the LEC technology,
was presented at LpS 2017. Light emitting electrochemical cells can be compared to OLEDs, but they are
based on a much simpler inorganic architecture. The innovation in the presented approach lies in the
combination with quantum dots, resulting in a hybrid solution. This novel attempt with all its consequences
and future prospects was the reason that the LpS Scientific Award jury voted to bestow the award on
Dr. Ekaterina Nannen, Group Leader of the Research Group „Solid State Lighting“ at the Nano-Energie-Technik-
Zentrum (NETZ) of the University Duisburg-Essen and her research team, Julia Frohleiks and Svenja Wepfer.
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Color Reproduction and Measurement of 3D Objects
CIE Division 8 Image Technology is responsible for the study of the optical, visual and metrological
aspects of the communication, processing, and reproduction of images, using all types of analogue and
digital imaging devices, storage media, and imaging media. The Division is continually working on
recommendations to improve color image reproduction techniques, including, for example, colorappearance
models, color-difference evaluation and gamut-mapping algorithms. Current technology is
able to transform color images from one digital medium to another, under various viewing conditions,
while maintaining the appearance of each color in the image. This process has been applied in the
graphic arts industry with great success. According to Kaida Xiao, Chair of CIE's Division 8 TC 8-17,
the CIE standard observer and psychophysical data for color-appearance and color-difference modelling
were developed using flat, 2D color samples. He explains that to meet the increasing requirements for
color image reproduction for 3D objects, new research and recommendations
are highly desired.
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Atomistic Calculations Predict that Boron Incorporation Increases the Efficiency of LEDs
High-power white LEDs face the same problem that Michigan Stadium faces on game day -- too many people in too small of a space. Of course, there are no people inside of an LED. But there are many electrons that need to avoid each other and minimize their collisions to keep the LED efficiency high. Using predictive atomistic calculations and high-performance supercomputers at the NERSC computing facility, researchers Logan Williams and Emmanouil Kioupakis at the University of Michigan found that incorporating the element boron into the widely used InGaN (indium-gallium nitride) material can keep electrons from becoming too crowded in LEDs, making the material more efficient at producing light.
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LpS Gets a Younger Sibling to Foster a Holistic System Approach
For the most part our readers are aware of the fact that the LpS has a
strong focus on the component level, but after the 6th event, the Luger
Research team realized that it was time to find a way to push the more
holistic system approach. After much consideration and careful
planning, the Trends in Lighting (TiL) Forum and Show was initiated
and took place in conjunction with the LpS 2017. Arno Grabher-Meyer,
Editor-in-Chief at LED professional took a close look at both exhibitions
and the lectures to find out what the audience thought of the extension
and broader outlook.
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SoC Technologies in Lighting - Today’s Landscape and Tomorrow's Practices
A system-on-chip (SoC) quite suddenly became an important component in the lighting industry,
fueling IoT innovation and opening new opportunities, while at the same time bringing disruption and
new challenges. With rapid advancements in wireless communication, the impact of connected
technologies on the lighting business will only keep increasing. This means deeper integration with
SoCs and more attention from silicon vendors as they start competing for market share in this
promising segment. But what is the current state of SoC design from the lighting perspective?
Are chipmakers keeping up with the growing expectations for wireless lighting control solutions that
are mature and truly reliable? When developing its complete Bluetooth software stack for professional
lighting, Silvair worked with a number of different SoCs. Therefore, Piotr Winiarczyk, Wireless Solution
Architect, and Szymon Rzadkosz might have found the answers to these questions.
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Phosphors & QDs LED Downconverters Report for Lighting & Displays from Yole Développement
“Volume saturation, price pressure and a shifting intellectual property landscape are forcing the LED phosphor & QDs industry into a rationalization phase,” announces Dr. Eric Virey, Senior Technology & Market Analyst, Yole Développement (Yole).
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Lighting Technology with Dynamic GI by Brilliant Games
Brilliant Games has presented a new lighting system that will be used for the studio’s upcoming titles. The thing is that the technology is said to instantly calculate GI, providing outstanding results.
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NEC Improves Workplace Efficiency with AR Solution Utilizing Smart Glasses
Tokyo, November 7, 2017 - NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) today announced the development of an Augmented Reality (AR) solution to assist users with the selection of items through the use of smart glasses, a smart watch and new "ARmKeypad" functions. This solution enables users to perform tasks without having to look away from objects, making it ideal for use in manufacturing, logistics and other industries. Currently, NEC is carrying out demonstration tests at a hospital pharmacy and a manufacturing floor, where it has confirmed a reduction in workplace errors and working time thanks to the assistance of the new solution.
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LED Driver Miniaturization - Opening New Opportunities for Solid State Lighting
While LEDs have significantly improved over the past decade, driver technologies have not kept pace and
are, in some respects, the limiting factors for new applications. Size is a particular issue. Dramatically
increasing the switching frequency helps to reduce size but often causes other issues or is costly. Mickey
Madsen, CEO of Nordic Power Converters, explains how his company has overcome the hurdles and
made it feasible by designing very high frequency LED drivers.
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LED-Retrofit Based on AlGaN/GaN-on-Si Field- Effect Transistor Drivers
Efficient driver technologies for LED systems are still a relevant topic. Several new approaches are
proposed and new technologies are under development. Andreas Zibold, PhD student at the
Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF, and his co-authors, M. Kunzer, R. Reiner,
B. Weiß, P. Waltereit, R. Quay, J. Wagner, and O. Ambacher demonstrate the suitability of AlGaN/GaNon-
Si field effect transistors (FETs) for their use in LED drivers. The transistors are tested in an isolated
buck converter and an efficiency of 86% is measured for the full converter circuit. The driver circuit is
combined with an LED module based on a laser-structured Aluminum Nitride (AlN) ceramic board onto
which 21 high power white-emitting LED chips are mounted. This combination resulted in an LEDRetrofit
lamp with a total light output of 2676 lm at an efficacy level of 119 lm/W. The results compare
favorably to state-of-the-art commercial solutions.
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Eviyos LED Prototype Revolutionizes Smart Headlights
The Eviyos prototype developed by Osram Opto Semiconductors is the world’s first hybrid LED and represents major progress toward the first market-ready smart controllable high-resolution LED. As soon as oncoming traffic is detected the appropriate pixels are automatically switched off so drivers of oncoming vehicles are not dazzled. The prototype, integrated in a demonstrator from Osram Specialty Lighting, were on show for the first time at ISAL from September 25 through 27, 2017 in Darmstadt.
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Trends in Horticulture Lighting
Cree has been a leader in general lighting applications for over 20 years and has customers ranging
from restaurant chains to global government agencies. Paul Scheidt began his career in Cree in 2005,
working on the development of their lighting applications. During this time, he has seen an increase in the
horticulture lighting application. LED professional spoke to Paul Scheidt about horticulture lighting and
what he thinks is behind this recent trend. He also shares his views of what he thinks the future holds for
both Cree and horticulture lighting applications.
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Quantum Dot Based White LEDs for General Illumination
Colloidal quantum dot based white LEDs can be integrated into commercial products meeting the
stringent reliability requirements for general illumination and providing LED efficiency gains of 5% to 15%
over commercial phosphor based LEDs at CCT’s ranging from 5000 K to 2700 K. Unlike earlier
demonstrations, the QD material is applied in an on-chip configuration resulting in drop-in fit, form,
and function compatibility to existing LED based luminaires and lamps. Ken T. Shimizu, Director,
Novel Technologies and Devices, Research and Development, M. Böhmer, D. Estrada, S. Gangwal,
S. Grabowski, H. Bechtel, E. Kang, K. J. Vampola, D. Chamberlin, O. B. Shchekin, and J. Bhardwaj
from Lumileds showcase the advantages of on-chip QD LEDs: A commercial lamp at 3000K color
temperature and 90 CRI is substituted with QD based LEDs resulting in a system level efficiency gain up
to 17%, attributed to the reduced blue LED droop from the lower drive current and the lower heat sink
temperature when compared to the standard phosphor based LED lamp output.
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Challenges when Designing LED-Based Illumination Systems in Medical Applications and Diagnostics
LEDs have become indispensable in medical technology and dentistry. But the requirements placed on these lighting products are very high: Minimized size, high, application specific color rendering index, efficient temperature management, usability and excellent disinfection opportunities are all extremely important. Prof. Paola Belloni from the Steinbeis Transfer Center Illumination Optics and Lighting Engineering and Furtwangen University, and Alexander Gärtner from the Faculty of Mechanical and
Medical Engineering of the Furtwangen University discuss the requirements for different applications such as endoscopy, surgeries, dental devices, and photodynamic therapy. Further topics are the development of a self-disinfecting operation interface with edge-lit UV-A LEDs, and a new optimization approach, taking into account the reflection and absorption properties of human tissues.
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Measurement of Angular and Spatial Resolved Spectral Rayfiles
The enhanced complexity of modern lighting systems has increased the importance of realistic light
source models during the optical design process of LED-based luminaires. I. Rotscholl, Research Associate,
K. Trampert, C. Neumann, I. Leopoldo Sayanca from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, U. Krüger and
F. Schmidt from the TechnoTeam Bildverarbeitung GmbH, propose a method to enhance the often used LED
light source model “rayfile” towards a “spectral rayfile”. A spectral rayfile would be a model that associates
each ray with its own spectrum and therefore describes varying spectra as a function of angular direction and
spatial starting position. The PMBS (physical motivated basis spectra) method is based on the assumption
that each LED spectrum consists of a weighted sum of individual basis spectra, for instance those of
individual semiconductors and phosphors. There is no need for any special measurement equipment but a
classic nearfield goniophotometer and some off-the-shelf optical filters. This method requires at least one
spectral measurement and just a minimum of goniophotometric measurements with different optical filters.
Finally, the authors demonstrate the potential of this method by applying the concept on a typical LED and
compare the results to the often used Blue/Yellow approach in terms of accuracy and applicability.
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CIE Calls for Focused Research Efforts to Support Healthful Lighting Recommendations
Not so long ago, vision scientists thought that light detection - photoreception - was exclusively
performed by rod and cone cells in the retina. Photobiologists, however, conclusively demonstrated
otherwise with the identification of the intrinsically photoreceptive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) [1].
Whereas rods and cones detect pattern and color, and send this information to the visual cortex,
ipRGCs (of which we are learning there are several subtypes) detect irradiance, and route their
information to many brain structures. The most thoroughly studied of these is the suprachiasmatic
nucleus of the hypothalamus, location of the central circadian clock, where the light and dark signals
trigger the offset and onset of production of the hormone melatonin. As shown in figure 1, however,
ipRGCs also project to other structures, about which, as yet, we have little information.
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OLEDs Applied to Paper-Thin Stainless Steel
Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP, a provider of R&D in the field of organic electronics, will be presenting OLEDs on gauzy stainless steel foil during aimcal 2017 in Tampa/USA, from October 15-18, 2017. The novel application on display in Booth 22 was developed in cooperation with the Nippon Steel & Sumikin Materials Co., Ltd. (NSMAT) and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC).
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Tracing the Light Inside an LED
The performance of white LEDs can be improved, based on better knowledge of the absorption and scattering of light inside the LED. A new method, developed by the University of Twente in The Netherlands and Philips Lighting, can lead to efficiency improvement and powerful design tools.
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Nanoparticles Could Spur Better LEDs, Invisibility Cloaks
In an advance that could boost the efficiency of LED lighting by 50 percent and even pave the way for invisibility cloaking devices, a team of University of Michigan researchers has developed a new technique that peppers metallic nanoparticles into semiconductors.
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Luger Research Creates an Active Network to Secure the Future of Innovation in Lighting: The First Meeting Will Take Place at the LpS 2017
Luger Research establishes the first scientific lighting partnership network for research experts and leaders in
the lighting industry. The scientific partnership has been created to form an active network that will
strengthen and build the connections between universities, research laboratories and industry. The scientific
partnership’s mission is to enable and secure the continued development of innovation in lighting technology.
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CIE Research Strategy on Defining New Calibration Sources and Illuminants
In photometry and radiometry, traceability of measurements requires appropriate calibration sources
and transfer detectors. A major challenge is the technological revolution of lighting products towards LED
lighting and the ban of incandescent lamps. This raises concern about the availability of incandescent
photometric standard lamps in the future while the prices of such standard lamps are already increasing.
In addition, calibration conditions should ideally be chosen to be as close as possible to the
measurement conditions. Furthermore, the number of LED lighting measurements in laboratories and in
the field has significantly increased, while the calibration of photometers is still done using incandescentbased
standards. Therefore, it is important to investigate the pros and cons of replacement of
conventional standard lamps with new solid-state technology. Peter Blattner and Tony Bergen, Division 2
Director and Secretary respectively, explain how CIE has defined the research topic “New Calibration
Sources and Illuminants for Photometry, Colorimetry, and Radiometry” to address these concerns.
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Brave New World and the Dualism of Light(ing)
The lighting business has been quite
predictable over a long period of time.
Technical changes were introduced
slowly, dominated by a handful of leading
companies, and mostly due to new,
but not disruptive light sources. The life
of engineers was mainly determined by
a manageable number of parameters:
Lighting requirements, light source
parameters, costs, product dimensions,
and the odd, required feature.
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Flexible OLEDs with Adjustable Colors – New Design Options for Lighting Designers
The Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP, one of the leading R&D partners for surface technologies and organic electronics, specializes in the development and fabrication of OLED modules with unconventional properties for specific client designs. The Institute will debut flexible adjustable-color organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) at ISAL 2017 in Darmstadt, Germany from September 25-27, 2017 at its booth (No. 31).
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Variability in LED Production and the Impact on Performance
LEDs are subject to manufacturing deviations, which have an impact on the end product. Benoit Bataillou and T. Merelle, guest authors from Pi Lighting, review the surprisingly large impact on LED performance and light quality. They used traditional as well as modern indicators like CRI and TM-30 as well as the latest circadian indices to measure. The results are explained by spectral modeling and a variability study. They show the large impact on CRI, even with small deviations inside the same bin.
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