Context-aware Intelligent Lighting and Interaction

Bright Environments

Finding new methods of intelligent lighting control and human interaction

Bright Environments

Ever since the light bulb was first discovered, we have turned lights on and off with a switch. Today, lighting systems are transforming into networked systems, offering a range of intelligent services and applications. Intelligent lighting technology allows many opportunities including autonomous lighting control, advanced user interaction styles and support for health and well-being through lighting. The Bright Environments (BE) research program develops unique models, technology and methods for controlling and interacting with intelligent indoor lighting systems of the future.

Research challenges

The overarching theme and BE focus: Based on the input from N_s Sensors and interactive controllers, control the setting of N_L light sources to optimize the experience and wellbeing of N_P people, and facilitate the intention of stakeholders, within constraints.

This supports a formalized approach of the problem, yet BE takes into account human aspects of experience and interaction.

Unobtrusive sensing

A wide range of sensors can gather data that is relevant to BE, but sensors have imperfections, do not measure exactly the desired parameters or may be too intrusive for the purpose. In BE, we therefor study also sensor improvements in particular to map sensor data to light performance indicators or to monitor context and user interaction. BE studies impact of sensing limitations and artefacts, particularly their relevance to specific lighting applications, considers the limited power available to sensor nodes but also the challenges processing of their data in the edge-cloud, using statistical signal processing and other AI. Also, privacy restrictions are taken into account, for instance in choosing where, how and under what conditions camara images are collapsed to inputs to control systems or how user input data is processed.

Designing correct, pleasant and explainable interaction schemes for intelligent spaces

BE Optimizes the use of human interventions to enhance the system performance, to improve the human experience and wellbeing, and to make the interaction for the user as attractive, intuitive and understandable as possible. The human interaction with the user is studied from different angles: The range from designers creating novel interaction paradigms, to information theorists and data scientists infering desired light scapes to interventions and train the control schemes adaptively and collectively. The insights evolved from “no switches allowed”, to “an optimal automatic control scheme ensures that the number of manual interventions goes to zero when time progresses”, to “engage the user in a way that is pleasant, understandable and efficient”.

Creating healthy and comfortable spaces using quantified models of human experience.

BE uses Light Sources to create light distributions in the space that may also vary over time. These light distributions impact human comfort, wellbeing and performance but also the circadian rhythm. BE uses estimation and optimization, digital twins, statistical models, signal processing and AI to optimize light distribution, using quantified modelling challenges addressed in Sound Lighting.