Avnet, a major global technology distributor, announced that Avnet Illumineer Bob Householder will be among the featured course instructors at this year’s LIGHTFAIR International (LFI), May 7-8, 2017, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia. LFI is the world’s largest annual commercial lighting conference and trade show.

Householder, who has 13 patents focused on lens and illumination systems, will co-present full-day courses on Sunday and Monday, May 7-8, along with LED solutions specialists from Cree Inc., Hubbell Lighting Inc., ON Semiconductor Corp. and Heatron LED Integration. Sunday’s intermediate-level course, entitled “LED Luminaire Design: Beyond the Basics, Tips and Tricks for a Better Product,” will give attendees the opportunity to see LED luminaire design from a systems perspective with key risks identified and mitigation plans outlined.

The presenters will take things up a notch on Monday, with “Advanced LED Luminaire Design: A Deep Dive into Two Products.” The course will detail the full product development process for two representative LED luminaires, including systems engineering concepts and design trade-offs and will provide an overview of design validation, reliability testing and agency approval processes for LED luminaire products.

Avnet’s team of LED-focused Illumineers will also be on hand at the Avnet LightSpeed Pavilion, located at #1141 on the LFI trade show floor. Interactive demonstrations of new LED technologies and innovative solutions developed by Avnet will be on display, including a voice-controlled “digital sky” system that mimics natural daylight based on the sun’s position, as well as Avnet’s Advanced IoT Greenhouse. This smart horticulture system combines the ability to enhance yield, influence development stages, alter phytochemical composition and physical characteristics of many plants using selective LED wavelengths.

“The IoT Smart Greenhouse is remarkable in two respects,” said Cary Eskow, vice president of Avnet’s global LightSpeed business and designer of the system. “Practically, it demonstrates how employing IoT and LEDs in horticulture can increase yields while dramatically reducing resource consumption. In addition, Avnet’s work with high-value horticulture illustrates how the principals of IoT can have meaningful impact across a diverse range of industries beyond industrial automation.”

The full LIGHTFAIR 2017 conference will run from May 7–11, 2017. With LED end-applications ranging from Smart Cities and Intelligent Buildings to LED horticulture and IoT-based monitoring/control, LFI draws lighting professionals, engineers, architects, designers and technologists from over 80 countries. LFI offers accredited education sessions concurrent with an expansive product/service trade show.

Visit Avnet and partners Luminus, Everlight, Seoul Semiconductor, Infineon, Aimtec, QuarkStar, Moons’, Silicon Labs, Amphenol and Microchip at LIGHTFAIR pavilion #1141 for more information on Avnet’s specialized LED design and support ecosystem, including Avnet’s global LightLab metrology centers, best-in-class products, development kits and reference designs.