Soraa’s Chief Scientist Aurelien David shares his insight on LED lighting challenge beam quality in this latest blog entry.

At this week’s Meeting of the International Microelectronics Assembly and Packaging Society (IMAPS 2015), imec and CMST (imec’s associated lab at Ghent University) present a novel technology for thermoplastically deformable electronics enabling low-cost 2.5D free-form rigid electronic objects. The technology is under evaluation in Philips LED lamp carriers, a downlight luminaire and a omnidirectional light source, to demonstrate the potential of this technology in innovative lighting applications.

Plessey announced today that it will provide CIRCADIAN ZircLight, a global leader in providing 24/7 workforce performance solutions, with an LED package solution for the development of circadian-modulated, smart LED lighting systems and lamps.

AIXTRON, a worldwide leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, announced today that LandMark Optoelectronics Corporation, a supplier in gallium arsenide (GaAs) and indium phosphide (InP) based epitaxial wafers for optical communication, industrial application, and special-purpose usage, has purchased another AIX 2800G4-TM system for the production of laser diode devices. The tool is due for delivery in the first quarter 2016. 

Neuroscience researchers at Dalhousie Medical School and the Brain Repair Center in Canada have found a way to bypass the nervous system to stimulate muscles that have lost their connection to the nervous system through injury or disease.

Haydale, the group focused on the commercialisation of graphene and other nano particle products using its proprietary plasma process, is pleased to announce confirmation from the European Patent Office (“EPO”) of the decision to grant a European Patent to Haydale (“European Patent”).

Illumitex is pleased to announce that Indoor Harvest, design-builder of farms for indoor agriculture, has selected Illumitex as the preferred lighting provider for their systems, which are sold to innovative growers around the world. Together, Illumitex and Indoor Harvest will engage in R&D and coordinated business development activities to offer a complete hardware solution for the indoor farming industry, all at the bleeding edge of agricultural science.

A design team with roots in the U.S. and Germany has launched a Kickstarter campaign for mimooodz, a multi-color LED light bulb that can be controlled with iPhone.

The three most important light sources to impact human life in the 21st century will be sunlight, LEDs and lasers, said Professor Puspendu Das, Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Illumitex, LED innovator and maker of the world’s most optically advanced lighting products for horticulture, today announced it has launched a new division to further its mission of helping indoor growers become more profitable.

VTT-originated Flexbright Oy and Russian company NNCRM have agreed on partnership to develop Flexbright's innovative LED foil project. This offers many business opportunities to further innovation and design making use of Internet of Things technology, for example.

Chip Scale Package (CSP) has been in the LED industry for some time, and many manufacturers have followed in Lumileds footsteps and launched CSP LED products. Even LED package manufacturers are entering the field, but CSP applications are rarely seen in lighting applications.

Silver Spring Networks announced it has been selected to deliver an intelligent LED street lights network in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Silver Spring Networks will be deploying its award-winning smart street lights solution, including its Streetlight.Vision control software, to network 43,000 LED luminaires provided by LED Roadway Lighting, a manufacturer of smart lighting systems. Halifax is the capital city of Nova Scotia and, with more than 400,000 residents and geographic area covering almost 2,500 square miles, is the largest municipal area in Canada’s maritime province region.

When Sandia National Laboratories electronics engineer Chris Carlen got enthusiastic about flashlights containing high-power light-emitting devices (LEDs), he didn’t expect his hobby to lead to the creation of a new, high-speed LED driver that delivers lighting performance that exceeds that of conventional sources at a fraction of the cost.

As a part of the restaurant chain's continued commitment to making its restaurants and operations more socially responsible, the SUBWAY® brand has made LED lighting standard for all new and remodeled restaurants.  This important upgrade will provide energy-efficient lighting that, in 2014 with a small percentage of stores participating, saved 21.9 million kilowatt hours – enough energy to power 1,996 households in a single year.

Round Rock, a city in Texas, U.S., is one of the first cities to conduct smart LED streetlight tests, according to Round Rock Patch’s report.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) have awarded US $1.7 million to study the novel use of light to suppress a broad group of plant pathogens affecting sustainable production of organically grown crops. 

Low market demands in the past few months has driven Taiwanese LED manufacturer Harvatek to explore innovative LED technologies including forming a partnership that includes teaming up with Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI) to develop LED thread and related technology applications

Ayla Networks, whose agile Internet of Things (IoT) platform provides comprehensive connectivity for any kind of product, announced that it has signed its first customer in Europe, Innr Lighting B.V. from the Netherlands. Innr is using the Ayla IoT platform, including Ayla’s Agile Mobile Application Platform (AMAP) technology, to scale its smart home lighting solution across Europe.

GE announced recently the creation of Current, a startup that combines energy hardware with a digital backbone to make power simpler and more efficient for customers.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory has developed a near ultra-violet and all-organic light emitting diode (OLED) that can be used as an on-chip photosensor.

Despite technological leaps in modern electronics, the quality of lighting they provide still leaves much room for improvement.

GE announced Current, powered by GE, a first-of-its kind energy company that integrates GE’s LED, Solar, Energy Storage and Electric Vehicle businesses with its industrial strength Predix platform to identify and deliver the most cost effective, efficient energy solutions required by customers today and in the future. Maryrose Sylvester, who as President and CEO at GE Lighting has led the transformation of one of the company’s most iconic businesses, will lead the new enterprise. Current is backed by GE’s balance sheet and financing expertise, and committed to successfully advancing ecomagination-certified technology solutions, new business models and Predix solutions for the energy sector.

Stranded on the barren red planet Mars with few supplies available, astronaut Mark Watney played by Hollywood actor Matt Damon in The Martian is fighting for survival on the harsh planet.

This LED badge launched at Burning Man this year has an OLED touch screen was designed by applying reproductive science and genetics. The personified light badges “inherit” a particular lighting sequence that can be passed on to another light badge through intercourse, which takes form through blinking lights. However, all sex between the lighting badges is consensual and require the approval of the female badges (yes the badges have different genders). Badges can also engage in homosexual relations. Instead of a walkie talkie users can use the light badge to link up with friends and choose their mate. For further info on the design concept and technology involved please see below.

Leviton recently announced the expansion of its portfolio of LED lighting fixtures with a new line of industrial grade fixtures designed specifically for use in general industrial and hazardous classified locations. These products are designed to provide lighting for areas where water, vibration, maintenance or temperature can negatively affect conventional lighting fixtures. The product category includes a comprehensive collection of area floodlights, linear fixtures and spotlights.

Cities and their emergency responders will soon have a new way to deploy gunshot detection technology and be able to respond to incidents and react faster to protect their residents. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) between GE Lighting and SST, Inc., developer of the ShotSpotter™ crime detection and location suite, lays ground to embedding sophisticated ShotSpotter technology into GE’s intelligent LED street lights.

The Global Lighting Association (GLA) cautions against the establishment of regulatory or other minimum performance requirements for a colour rendering index (Ra) of greater than 80 for indoor lighting applications. For Europe, the GLA supports retention of legal minimum requirements on colour rendering (Ra) at the current level as defined in the EU Eco-design Regulations (EC 244/2009, EC 245/2009, EC 1194/2012). In the United States, the GLA supports the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Program’s current minimum requirement of 80 CRI.

gridComm, a provider of power line communication (PLC) solutions that enable the transformation of traditional power grid into a smart grid, announced it has signed a partnership agreement with a leading LED manufacturer in Indonesia, PT Siklon Energy Nusantara, to jointly provide a cloud-based Street Light Management Solution to the Indonesian market. Given Siklon's leadership and expertise in LED lighting and advanced production facilities, the partnership enables the delivery of a complete Intelligent Street Light Solution tailored for Indonesia.

Xicato®, a leading manufacturer of intelligent light sources, published today on its website TM-30-15 Color Rendering results for its entire product range of XTM and XIM modules.