Reactive Lighting System

Aim

To design and implement a reactive lighting systems to facilitate a feasibility study into the use of such a system. Reactive elements are to initially include temperature, ambient light, motion, and time of day. The system will also provide a manual mode that will allow for full control by the user.

The system will be modular in nature and each module will adhere to a standard pre-defined protocol to allow expansion. A protocol for raw input into the master controller will allow the system to be driven by 3rd party software and hardware solutions.

Predominant uses for the system would be in the realm of mood lighting both in the home or commercial environments.

Background

Ever since we began paying attention to interior design and decoration, lighting has been an important aspect. So far mood lighting has manifested itself in the forms of simple lamps or light fittings taking mains bulbs. Control was usually via a simple mains switch or dimmer.

More exotic products have been available in the bespoke lighting market for some time now, but none have been easily obtainable. They have also been limited to very basic control which has consisted of automatic colour scrolling or pre-set colour and animations. Lighting systems of this kind usually come in the form of professional DMX based solutions which can be very costly and require some expertise to setup. They are usually more rugged and industrial in design and look unsightly in home environments.

Current Market

Very recently we have seen some widely available mood lighting products appear in the market. Among these is the new Phillips mood lamp. The first generation provides a remote for setting colour. Their second generation lamp allows for basic automated colour scrolling but each lamp is independent. The lamp will also remember the colours last set and allow definitions for a favourite. The first generation uses four LED’s, two Red a green and a blue. The newer lamp uses seven LED’s.

Part of the issue with the Phillips mood lamps is an inability to sync them. This is solved in another product by ChromoFlex which allows cabled or wireless control from a computer or small hand held remote. Both the remote and computer software provide very basic colour settings or animation. The system is not a complete solution with ChromoFlex only offering the controllers.

Short of a custom designed and built system, there was nothing discovered during research which reacted to its environment in the way being proposed.

Proposed System Structure