A new study conducted by the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics (IBP) in Germany showed that full spectrum LED products deliver better visual comfort compared to standard LED products. Full spectrum LEDs are usually categorized as those emitting light similar in composition to natural sunlight. The soon-to-be published Fraunhofer IBP study incorporated a technical comparison of the LED spectra to daylight spectra, a literature review addressing the effect of light spectra on humans, and a psychological study with 83 persons in an office setting. Each par...

LiDAR sensing technology is now commonly known as a solution for automotive driving and ADAS system, but the technology also leverage its edges in a time of the COVID-19 crisis. An indoor motion analysis software developer, iinsider, released SafeDistance, a free upgrade to its LiDAR-powered solution for monitoring and analyzing crowd density in public spaces. The software utilizes LiDAR sensors and 3D perception software from Quanergy to help airport, venue and facility managers monitor and mitigate crowding and congestion, and maintain safe distancing within t...

The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has developed a free online tool, the horticulture luminaire calculator, to assist growers evaluating the performance, efficiency, and economics of a wide variety of horticultural luminaires, typically used in greenhouses and other controlled agricultural environments. The horticulture luminaire calculator enables growers to compare different luminaires and choose the optimize solutions for their applications. (Image: LRC) Horticulture lighting is become more significant with indoor farming and high-...

The Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) will invest US$100 million to four agri-tech companies to set up high-tech agricultural facilities in Abu Dhabi including the world’s largest vertical farm for R&D and other production farms to solve the challenge of local food production. The ADIO partners include AeroFarms, Madar Farms, RNZ and Responsive Drip Irrigation (RDI). AeroFarms from the U.S. will build a new 8200 square meter indoor vertical farm focusing on R&D and commercialization of relevant local crops by leveraging its expertise a...

The Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) and the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) announced a strategic collaboration to address the global issue of light pollution that negatively affects our environment and the human condition. The two parties adopted Five Principles for Responsible Outdoor Lighting and seek to guide the outdoor lighting industry in the U.S. and beyond to be more socially and environmentally responsible. The five principles addressed that light at night should be with clear purpose and used in necessary areas in low level and warmer colo...

UC Santa Barbara’s Solid State Lighting & Energy Electronics Center (SSLEEC) and member companies are developing UV LEDs that have the ability to decontaminate surfaces — and potentially air and water — that have come in contact with the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 virus) to combat the world spreading disease. Recently, much attention has turned to the power of UV light to inactivate the novel coronavirus and Seoul Semiconductor, a SSLEEC member company, reported its achievement of “99.9% sterilization of coronavirus (COVID...

In response to the rising number of disinfecting products and applications based on UV radiation for preventing the spread of COVID-19, the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) issued a new report by their Photobiology Committee, providing professional information for germicidal ultraviolet (GUV) disinfection and its potential to safely reduce the transmission of coronavirus. (Image: Pixabay) The report provided answers to frequently asked questions about GUV, drawing from expertise from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food a...

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) in the U.S. and lighting company Signify published press releases to state the importance of lighting under the threat of COVID-19 pandemic. (Image: Pixabay) NEMA and members of its Lighting Systems Division addressed that lighting and lighting system manufacturers are essential businesses and requested that all government agencies should exclude lighting and lighting systems device manufacturers from stay-home policy to fully support the requirement of public’s needs for lit, safe, and secure envi...

On April 14, 2020, Apple was granted 54 patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and one of the patent is related to sensors that might be added to Apple Watch in the future to detect the environment of water and the makeup of water. The new patent issued to Apple, titled “Portable electronic device as health companion,” describe the function of the incorporating sensors for identifying the water based on the detected property and initiate actions of the wearable device to send notifications to the user. For example, the Apple Watch would be able to warm...

Custom lighting manufacturer ASCENTI Lighting launched the industry’s first AR and VR lighting app which enables architects and designers to create and evaluate their designs remotely. The application provides a safe and secure solution for architects and designers to keep projects moving forward and meet deadlines during and after the coronavirus health crisis. (Image: ASCENTI) State-of-the-art AR capabilities allow architects and designers to view and modify custom fixtures from any room in real-time, eliminating the need to visit project sites in perso...

In the fight against COVID-19, Chinese medical equipment supplier Sunay Healthcare Supply secured an order of autonomous UVC disinfection robots for hospital use from Danish-based company UVD Robots in February. UVD Robots won the IERA award, essentially the robotics industry’s Oscars, in 2019. The company currently sells its robots in more than 40 countries. In addition to operating in the European and U.S. healthcare markets, UVD Robots is also supplying autonomous UV disinfection robots to hospitals in Asia. Hot on the heels of UVD R...

The U.S.-based Innovasonic announced a partnership with CEA-LETI and CEA-LIST institutes to open a wholly-owned subsidiary in France. The company chose to work with CEA Tech Institutes to leverage their expertise in thin-layer piezoelectric material and their technologies in applied research in microelectronics and nanotechnology. Dr. Boris Kobrin, Founder and CEO of Innovasonic said, “Innovasonic addresses LIDAR, automotive cameras, PV solar panels, and other applications that could benefit from the solution's self-cleaning capabilitie...

Worldwide technology builders are accelerating UVC LED developments for disinfecting applications aiming to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Lately we have seen many new products and technologies debuted and here comes a new UVC LED innovation from the German research center, Fraunhofer Institute for Optronics, System Technology and Image Evaluation, which is part of the Applied System Technology AST branch (IOSB-AST). Researchers built a microwave-like equipment which include two separate UVC LED modules with 10 UVC LEDs embedded respecti...

Chelsea Klukas, the product design manager at Oculus/Facebook AR/VR team, recently debuted a face mask combining a LED display panel to show customized images or texts, under her fashion-technology brand Lumen Couture. The LED mask can connect with an application on smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth to input the messages or graphic that users want to show on the mask. The mask also provides equalizer mode to respond to music, sounds or voice of the phones to deliver unique animated designs. (Image: Lumen Couture) The 512 pixels LED display panel is put bet...

LettUs Grow is an indoor farming technology provider founded in 2015 in Bristol, UK. The company is speeding up the building of two vertical farm modules in the city of Bristol to help feed vulnerable communities during the Covid-19 outbreak. The company is also forming partnership with the food redistribution charity FareShare South West to ensure the produce gets to those who need it most. LettUs Grow expects the first of the new aeroponic farm modules to be ready to start producing fresh produce from mid-April, with the first harvests ready to be delivered in ten days...

A KAIST team developed a novel wearable strain sensor based on the modulation of optical transmittance of a carbon nanotube (CNT)-embedded elastomer. The sensor is capable of sensitive, stable, and continuous measurement of physical signals and shows potential for the detection of subtle human motions and the real-time monitoring of body postures for healthcare applications. The study “Wearable Strain sensors Using Light Transmittance Change of Carbon Nanotube-Embedded Elastomers with Microcracks” was published in Applied Materials & Interfaces in ...

A joint research conducted by Japan’s Kobe University and Ushio, the Japan-based LED component maker, has provided proof for the first time in the world that direct and repetitive illumination from 222nm UVC radiation, which is a powerful sterilizer, does not cause skin cancer. This suggests that 222nm UVC is also safe for human eyes and skin. This technology is expected to have a wide range of antibacterial and antiviral applications in medical facilities and daily life. These research results were published online in Photochemistry & Photobiology, titled &l...

Acuva, the Canada based UVC LED water disinfection solution provider, shared professional understanding about how much UV radiation is required to deactivate the novel coronavirus and how UVC LED technology may support the disinfection process. Dr. Babak Adeli, Director of R&D at Acuva Technologies, explained the ways of novel coronavirus (COVID-19 virus/SARS-CoV-2) transmission and its reaction to UV radiation, showing the possible approach of using UVC LED to diminish the virus. Adeli addressed that the novel coronavirus, is a new strai...

Seoul Viosys announced that its Violeds technology has been adopted by China-based automotive component supplier Yanfeng for in-vehicle UV disinfection. Adopting Violeds technology, the Yanfeng’s in-vehicle UV sanitizer can detect for absence of occupants before activating lamps for a period of 10 minutes that can sterilize the cabin including cockpit, seating and steering wheel. The sterilization lamp is embedded in the ceiling for maximum coverage and allows for sterilization of the harmful bacteria and viruses inside. (Violeds technology adopted by Yanfeng for ...

A report of Thomson Reuters Foundation pointed out that cities lockdowns across the globe due to COVID-19 pandemic has made people to rethink the way they obtain food. Urban farming taking places in rooftops or other spare spaces in the city may be the solution for food supply. Horticulture LED lighting can thus become a critical supporting equipment for household or community farming applications. Panic buying has been reported in many countries during the coronavirus crisis. Kotchakorn Voraakom, the landscape architect who designed Asia's largest urban rooftop farm...

Environmental scientists at IGB, The Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, the research institute in Germany, found that artificial lighting at night affects melatonin reproduction in fishes. It is widely acknowledged that melatonin plays a critical role in regulating circadian rhythm of human bodies. And a research team now proved that lighting also suppresses production of melatonin in fishes. The team of IGB researchers investigated melatonin production in European perch and showed that light pollution, like nighttime urban sky glow, is bright...

At CES 2020, Taiwan-based laptop manufacturer MSI introduced its notebook product adopting Mini LED backlit display, Creator 17. The Mini LED laptop with 4K UHD resolution will be launched on April 15, 2020 at US$ 1799. Creator 17 is a 17.3 inch laptop with Mini LED backlit display, achieving a resolution of 4K and a brightness of 1,000 nits based on the 240 dimming zones. With the launch of the Mini LED laptop, many LED manufacturers are looking forward to a booming market for the display technology. (Image: MSI) Consumer products adoptin...

US Lighting Group announced it is developing a new UV LED Plug-n-Play 4-foot, commercial bulb which can be used for surface sterilization to help combat viral pathogens like COVID-19. Paul Spivak, CEO of the US Lighting Group, currently holds two patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for UV LED Light Projection Method and Apparatus using ultraviolet and LED lighting technology. (Image: Pixabay) "We are ecstatic to announce that we have engineered the latest Plug-n-Play 4-foot, commercial replacement bulb with...

Seoul Viosys and Sensor Electronic Technology, Inc. (SETi) announced that that they have succeed in achieving 99.9% sterilization of coronavirus (COVID-19) in 30 seconds. Tests were conducted with the research group of Korea University by using a compound semiconductor Violeds technology that is being mass-produced. As COVID-19 spread throughout the world, SETi and Seoul Viosys devoted resources to show how Violeds technology can directly sterilize the virus. The goal has always been to provide technology for a cleaner world, and this includes minimizing the...

Since last year, manufacturers of LEDs, panels, and systems across the globe have displayed Micro LED-related products at major international exhibitions. Applications include automotive and indoor fine-pitch displays. This has kick started a Micro LED trend across the world. At the beginning of this year, leading industry players including Taiwan’s ITRI, Japan’s Sony, and Korea’s Samsung, LG, and Seoul Semiconductor have all presented the latest Micro LED technology at CES 2020. As one of the major focuses in the display industry, Mi...

Cree Lighting announced that it will collaborate with lighting control expert Lutron Electronics to introduce a variety of new connected lighting products to the market. Based on the partnership, Cree Lighting’s indoor and outdoor fixtures are connected with Lutron wired and wireless digital fixture control technologies. (Image: Cree Lighting) The connected lighting portfolio includes the integration of Cree Lighting’s architectural and outdoor lighting series with Lutron’s wireless and digital LED drivers, as well as the ZR Series LED troffers...

The Global LED Summit, focusing on the LED video wall market, will be held in London on May 13, 2020, during London Digital Signage Week from May 11-15. The Global LED Summit invites experts of the industry to share their insights of LED video walls, covering technology progresses, application techniques and the current trends of the market. The event will gather industry professionals and researchers focusing of the technology and industry to address on the opportunities of LED video wall applications in the West Europe market. As the display technology ...

Applied Optoelectronics, an optical products manufacturer, announced the release of a high power and narrow linewidth laser specifically designed for LiDAR applications, particularly for automotive use. Current automotive LIDAR systems are based on near infrared lasers, however these lasers are not eye safe and therefore are limited in terms of emitted power. This power limitation, in turn, restricts the effective sensing range of the LIDAR system. AOI’s laser operates at longer wavelengths near 1550-nm where eye-safe emission limits are much higher and therefore...

Plessey, the UK-based Micro LED display developer focusing on AR/MR display application, announced that it is collaborating with Facebook, providing its technology to support Facebook building prototype and develop new technologies for potential use in the AR/VR space. (Image: Plessey) Plessey has been focusing on Micro LED-based AR display technology and it was rumored that Apple had plan to acquire Plessey with its interest in AR smart glasses. However, now Plessey teams up with Facebook and will license its technology to the social media giant for cr...

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is threatening all over the globe with continuously surging cases in nearly every countries. In order to reduce the risks of infection, disinfecting applications utilizing UVC radiant have attracted attentions in both the medical and consumer market. UV light solution providers across the world are offering their expertise to help medical institutions eliminating bacteria and viruses to prevent healthcare-associated infections. Bolb, the U.S.-based UV LED company, provided their UVC LED products to decontaminate infectious disease...