Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications

“Systems that Think™” Positive control of every aspect of autonomous and intelligent Systems
The LESA Center is primarily concerned with how to properly engineer advanced systems in various capacities related to application based technology. LESA’s integrated systems approach are tightly knit interactions between sources, sensors, and controls that mediate system performance between IoT, buildings, infrastructure, and other smart grid platforms leading to advancements in lighting control and design, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning.
1. EFFICIENT BUILDINGS
Cities of the future will require sustainable, energy efficient buildings that are automated, able to maintain superb energy efficiency as well as improve human wellness and comfort. Innovation in the Efficient Buildings space must ensure that intelligent, adaptive buildings with embedded monitoring systems become integral parts of future urban ecosystems, and are able to stay ahead of the dynamic modern needs of a rapidly evolving society.
LESA is leading the way — combing new sensors with autonomous networking capabilities and the latest machine learning technology to create the intelligent buildings of the future. LESA’s Thoughtful Buildings approach is to significantly improve building energy savings, occupant comfort and wellbeing, safety, and worker productivity. We believe, it is imperative to develop powerful, low-cost systems that know where people are and anticipate their needs for temperature, lighting, and air quality at any given time.
Research Focus
Research efforts include the exploration of privacy-preserving light-fields for occupancy and activity sensing methods; integration of robotic, autonomous and self-regulating system controls; and the development of algorithms and simulation tools. LESA ‘controls’ methodologies are focused on fundamental pattern recognition such as Bayesian and neural networks, dynamic clustering, and system information disseminate across communication networks.
LESA’s concept of light transport analysis and plenoptic light-field sensing using digitized spectral reflectance and Time of Flight (TOF) or ‘Indoor LIDAR’ for activity mapping, is a transformative and powerful approach to address some of the toughest engineering challenges in the connected environment. The TOF approach is superior to other occupancy tracking systems (including RF reflection/attenuation sensing) in terms of overall value, cost, benefit and precision. The integrated sensor platforms are developed adaptive and providing rich datasets for machine learning and artificial intelligence enabling embedded autonomous adaptive control of lighting and building systems, such as HVAC – and funded in part by a DOE ARPA-E award.
Tools & Applications:
Intelligent Building Systems
Autonomous System Management
Advanced Sensors & Controls
Internet of Things (IoT)
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
Privacy & Security
Energy Utilization
Visible Light Communications (VLC)
Indoor LIDAR
Occupancy Tracking
Sentient Spaces
SMART Cities
Cognitive Environments
2. HEALTHCARE
Human Centric Lighting
Light-based regulation of circadian rhythms has the potential to significantly improve human health and wellbeing. Control algorithms based on established circadian dynamics from clinical study-data are instrumental in the implementation of circadian-regulating lighting. LESA research explores opportunities to utilize advanced lighting systems and associated health applications to address issues related to sleep disorders, shift worker fatigue, jet lag, and human health and wellbeing. Research in this capacity continues to address, define, and refine the role of the precise light spectrum, intensity, and timing on patient outcomes.
Patient Safety & Protection System
LESA’s precise pattern recognition methodology led to the development of extremely robust algorithms that enable ‘Indoor LIDAR’ sensors to detect the precise location of occupants instantly and respond to changes with a low-cost integrated sensor platform.
The Indoor LIDAR platform uses the speed of light to measure distances between a sparse network of sensors and objects or occupants in any space at any time. It provides an inexpensive and discrete solution in places where monitoring occupants is an important function of a facility such as hospitals, eldercare facilities, nursing homes, day cares or, and long-term or assisted living centers.
Research Focus
LESA research for the management of control systems for circadian rhythm regulation in the treatment of sleep disorders and disruption in patients with traumatic brain injuries is supported by the Drosophila testbed at RPI. LESA researchers and industry members also have access to the inpatient Lighting Testbed at the University of New Mexico Hospital and the ICU Hospital Testbed at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Both testbeds are equipped with an integrated network of tunable LED luminaires, sensors and controls designed to simulate the appropriate environment for human health lighting applications.
LESA research is also exploring the use of Time of Flight (ToF) sensors and technology platforms in the healthcare setting to provide powerful and discreet surveillance in environments where cameras would be ineffective, costly, or invasive.
Tools & Applications :
Circadian Rhythm Regulation
Light-Based Therapeutics
Patient Recovery
Jet Lag Management
Shift Worker Productivity
Eldercare and Wellbeing
Discrete Patient Monitoring
Privacy Preserving Occupancy Tacking
3. COMMUNICATION
LESA research in high-speed VLC is addressing the current wireless spectrum crunch by focusing on ways of meeting these unique challenges and exploring opportunities in lighting enabled systems and services.
Visible Light Communication (VLC) is gaining interest and momentum worldwide for its potential to fully optimize ubiquitous indoor optical communications. The development of heterogeneous network (HetNet) capabilities that seamlessly integrate light and radio frequency (RF) wireless communications is critical to the future the IoT connected world.
Research Focus
Work in this area primarily uses visible lighting systems for high-volume and high-speed data throughput in HetNets/RF wireless networks to address challenges with mobility, OFDM platform and software integration, and hardware installation, among others. LESA is creating advanced driver and compatible receivers to improve productivity for accessing information indoors using dual-lighting systems that permit high-data rate and density needed to integrate VLC into 5G and future wireless systems. It allows for the continuous transmission of signals while simultaneously providing adaptive illumination.
Tools & Applications :
LiFi Connectivity
VLC & 5G Networks
Internet of Things (IoT)
Indoor LIDAR
Virtual Reality
Efficient Buildings & Systems
Object Tracking
Security
4. PLANT SCIENCE
LESA’s research in Plant Science is focused on optimizing and regulating plant growth through remote sensing of plant signals and stressers to automate the spatial, spectral and temporal characteristics of the growth environment – process known as cyberphysical farming. Through controlled environmental agrilculture (CEA), plant physiology can be altered to increase growth rates, nutritional value or crop yield, among others.
LESA’s current focus is primarily on creating specific light recipes that increease biomass, plant pigmentation, photochemistry andother physiological effects plants undergo when there are specific changes in lighting conditions. The fundamental research includes lighting automation for photosynthetic organisms; integration of advanced plant-fluorescence sensing techniques; tunable and dynamic lighting schemas; and implementing control algorithms for various ambient lighting conditions.
The Tunable Irradiant Growth Efficacy Research (TIGER) Light is just one example of the dynamic tools being engineered at LESA used to address future farming needs.
Tools & Applications :
Plant Growth & Crop Yield
Horticultural Lighting
Greenhouse Operations
Vertical Farming
Urban Agriculture
Pharming & Pharmaceuticals
Nutritional Optimization
5. COGNITION
Interactive Realities
Imagine attending a meeting where the room itself is one of the participants. It is active and thinking – able to keep track of the agenda, record action items, refocus discussions, assess who is engaged, and provide resources upon request. This futuristic scenario is just one of the technological advances LESA is pioneering. By perfecting interactions between sensors and controls for speech recognition, activity sensing, and pose-detection processed by the right algorithms, the room becomes an intelligent member of the team.
LESA is creating intelligent service systems utilizing advanced Time of Flight (TOF) sensors, custom-made beam-forming microphones, natural-language algorithms, and specific lighting and temperature conditions, among others to create self-commissioning environments for seamless integration into SMART building systems. Reserach and technology in this space can be accerlated with AR/VR enabled technology as well for training machine learning algorithms to respond to the indoor environmental conditions needed. Tools and applications in this space have widespread uses in meeting-rich envionments such the board room, school classrooms, bullpen sessions or any other setting where human interactioin needs to be productive.
Research Focus
Research efforts include sensors and controls that enable comprehensive integreation betewen human-systems and intelligent room design. More than the inclusion of augmented or virtual reality, interactive realities means creating self-commissioning environments outfitted with occupant aware systems. In additiontion we are also utilizing the RPI RAVE Lab headed by deputy director Rich Radke to explore reserach and technology in this emerging space.
Tools & Applications :
Group & Meeting Dynamics
Intelligent Room Design
Occupancy Sensing
Human-System Interfaces
Productivity
Safety & Security
Internet of Things (IoT)
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
Autonomous Operation
Privacy Preservation
Energy Efficiency & Sustainability
6. FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH
IOT
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Augmented & Virtual Realities (AR/VR) – RAVE Lab
Biohazard Detection
Plenoptic Sensors
Efficient Sources
Dynamic Optical Controls
The fundamental research at LESA has and continues to focus on the development of solid state light (SSL) source technology that can translate to the systems, sources, and sensors level of performance to provide low cost, energy efficient Systems that Think™.
LESA’s exploration of LEDs and phosphor fundamentals address parameters such as polarization, wavelength, intensity, spectral distribution, tunable light generation, and absorption in the development of progressive concepts and technologies for SSL applications.