“Smart lighting is lighting technology designed to ensure energy efficiency. With smart lighting technology, light control is possible via an app on your smartphone. Smart lighting includes various sensing technologies such as daylight sensing, occupancy sensing, ultrasonics, etc. Smart lighting systems ensure cost savings and reduced energy consumption. The increasing popularity of LED lighting products has greatly promoted the development of the smart lighting market.

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Author: Doctor M

Smart lighting is lighting technology designed to ensure energy efficiency. With smart lighting technology, light control is possible via an app on your smartphone. Smart lighting includes various sensing technologies such as daylight sensing, occupancy sensing, ultrasonics, etc. Smart lighting systems ensure cost savings and reduced energy consumption. The increasing popularity of LED lighting products has greatly promoted the development of the smart lighting market.

Smart lighting is one of the most important growth areas in home automation. Smart lighting is IoT enabled and utilizes smart systems to control lighting based on various parameters such as occupancy, temperature, movement, amount of natural light, etc. Smart lighting can be scheduled, customized, and controlled via remote or manual, voice commands.

Smart Lighting Market Segment

Divided by components, the global smart lighting market involves: relays, controllable circuit breakers, sensors, switch actuators, dimmer actuators, power drives, etc. By light source, the global smart lighting market includes: LED light sources, fluorescent light sources, compact fluorescent light sources, high-intensity and discharge light sources. By application, the global smart lighting market includes: commercial and industrial, residential, outdoor lighting, indoor lighting, public and government buildings, and others.

According to the Verified Market Research report, the global smart lighting market was valued at US$6.56 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach US$30.85 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 21.4% from 2018 to 2025.

In China, the national smart lighting market was only 12 billion yuan in 2016, and it is close to 30 billion yuan in 2020. Driven by smart homes, the smart lighting market is expanding rapidly. According to the forecast of China Business Industry Research Institute, the market size of China’s smart lighting industry will exceed 35 billion yuan in 2021.

Figure 1: 2016-2021 China Smart Lighting Market Scale Forecast Trend Chart (Source: China Business Industry Research Institute)

The major factors driving the growth of the global smart lighting market are the increasing adoption of wireless technologies and the growing adoption of the Internet of Things. In addition, government initiatives towards smart cities have further boosted the demand for smart lighting in the global market. Furthermore, rapid urbanization, digitalization, changing lifestyles and consumer preferences, and higher disposable income are expected to further drive the growth of the global smart lighting market over the forecast period. The integration of the smartphone with the lighting system provides users with the freedom to customize, change and set different colors of lights.

Of course, there are still many problems in the smart lighting market.

First, it is difficult to interconnect and communicate between different ecosystems

At present, there is no unified standard for smart lighting, and it is basically fighting for each other, and it is almost difficult to mix products from different companies.

Second, the lack of intelligence

Most current smart lighting isn’t really smart, just simple dimming and toning controls. Only when it is scene-based, automated, and can be fully linked with other smart devices, can we call it true smart lighting.

Third, the installation cost is high

This is also one of the key factors restricting the growth of the global smart lighting market.

“Lighting” under the blessing of intelligent technology

Technology has changed life. At present, our lives are inseparable from Electronic devices. Whether studying, working, shopping or communicating, we are almost inseparable from electronic products such as smartphones, laptops, desktop computers, tablet computers, and smart watches. At the same time, these smart devices have also brought about major changes in the lighting of homes, offices and businesses, thus entering the era of smart lighting. On the whole, with the blessing of intelligent technology, the existing lighting market presents three main characteristics:

・ Lighting system can be set according to mood

With smart lighting technology, people can install and set lighting equipment according to their mood. For example, when one is celebrating a family’s birthday or anniversary, different colors of lights can be used to enhance the atmosphere of the scene. On-site operation is also very simple, we only need a simple voice command or the flick of a switch with a finger, or install an automatic control switch, and we can set the lighting scene we want as we want.

・ Lighting system can be controlled remotely

Another benefit of utilizing smart lighting technology is the ability to control lights remotely. In the home, smart lighting is an important part of the smart home. By using remote control technology, you never have to worry about leaving home only to realize that the lights in your home are on, you can turn them off on your phone. In the manufacturing industry, workers can remotely turn on lights to monitor machines through smart lighting technology.

・ Realize lighting automation

Automation is an important reason for the popularity of smart lighting technology in the market, which can greatly reduce the management and maintenance costs of lighting systems. For example, with the help of smart lighting technology, street lights on the street can be turned on at the right time according to the weather conditions at that time. For large-scale public lighting systems, turning on and off traditional lighting switches is quite cumbersome, and having smart lighting technology can effectively eliminate the dependence on traditional switches.

At present, smart lighting products are mainly distributed in four fields: industrial and commercial fields, residential and household fields, outdoor lighting fields and public lighting fields. Industrial and commercial lighting is the largest application field in the smart lighting industry, followed by home lighting and outdoor lighting, and public lighting is the smallest.

Wireless Technology: Making Smart Lighting Everywhere

There are two main ways to install smart lighting: one is centralized lighting, which is mainly used for newly built or major renovations. The other is the wireless lighting method, which is mainly aimed at the reconstruction of the existing lighting system. Its biggest advantage is that it does not destroy the existing house structure. Smart switch or keyboard. The emergence of this scheme is mainly due to the development and application of Bluetooth wireless technology.

Low-power, low-cost Bluetooth technology provides a completely decentralized architecture, which can effectively avoid communication interruptions due to single points of failure due to the relay of executable information between nodes. This technical feature is very suitable for large-scale cluster commercial lighting in large shopping malls, classrooms, parking lots, etc.

In the smart lighting market, Bluetooth mesh has repeatedly proven to be an efficient, easy-to-use wireless technology in professional lighting applications and has become the wireless communication platform of choice for lighting control systems.
The “Bluetooth Market Update 2020” shows that since the release of Bluetooth mesh technology in 2017, the number of qualified products related to Bluetooth mesh has grown rapidly, doubling every six months. As of December 2019, there are nearly 500 Bluetooth mesh certified products, 90% of which are end products focused on lighting. Annual shipments of Bluetooth residential lighting devices are expected to grow 4.5 times by 2023.

At present, Bluetooth technology has been widely used in the field of smart homes, and commercial lighting control systems based on Bluetooth mesh technology have received strong support from many industry-leading companies. As a lighting company, Osram has developed a Bluetooth mesh-based lighting control system, HubSense, to provide professional solutions for various lighting scenarios.

Figure 2: Bluetooth switching products in the HubSense solution (Image source: OSRAM)

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors’ HubSense wireless lighting control system uses Bluetooth mesh technology, which is also the practice of Bluetooth mesh in the field of commercial lighting control. This lighting control system provides a flexible and customizable software interface. With HubSense software, developers can easily create an energy-saving and comfortable light environment and digitally manage all lighting scenes.

Due to the use of Bluetooth wireless communication between lighting equipment, users do not need to re-wiring during use, and installers do not need to have much lighting control engineering expertise, with greater scalability in project planning and equipment layout and flexibility. During the installation and commissioning process, the impact of the project on the daily business operation can be minimized.

In the European market, OSRAM’s HubSense lighting control system has successfully completed the upgrade of several lighting projects. In China, the system was officially released in May 2020 and was heavily promoted in the market.

The scalable performance of Bluetooth mesh expands the HubSense system to thousands of nodes, while the application range can be extended from a single light to an entire room, or even an entire floor or multiple floors, without the hassle of wiring and a single point of failure. restrictions, and no need for a gateway. The newly released Bluetooth 5.1 standard has built-in indoor positioning technology. Next, through the lighting control system based on Bluetooth technology, new applications such as indoor navigation and asset management can be further explored.

Voice Control: Creating a New User Experience

For us, smart lighting is one of the smartest and most convenient components of every smart home. By adding control and communication capabilities to any basic lighting system, smart lighting systems can improve flexibility and efficiency while reducing costs.

NXP Semiconductors’ EdgeReady MCU solution for local voice control is optimized for intelligence and ease of use.

Figure 3: i.MX RT local voice control MCU hardware schematic (Source: NXP)

NXP’s MCU-based local voice control solution leverages the i.MX RT106L crossover MCU, enabling developers to quickly and easily add local voice commands to their products. This ultra-small form factor, production-grade hardware design runs on FreeRTOS with fully integrated software for rapid out-of-the-box evaluation and proof-of-concept development. This turnkey solution minimizes time to market, reduces risk, and reduces development effort, allowing OEMs to easily add voice to their smart home and smart appliance products without the need for Wi-Fi and cloud connectivity Features.

Figure 4: i.MX RT106L Crossover MCU

After decades of development, the lighting industry has entered a relatively mature stage, and the industry is gradually experiencing stock competition. Smart lighting is becoming a market segment that lighting companies focus on, and it is also a satisfactory technology.

On the one hand, the bulbs used in smart lighting technology are CFLs or LEDs, both of which are very energy-efficient, about 90% less energy-efficient than old-fashioned incandescent bulbs, safer and more energy-efficient. Homes, offices and businesses save energy and money.

On the other hand, intelligence provides more possibilities for our work and life. There is nothing like the light that will automatically turn on for you when you come home from get off work, the light will automatically dim and warm up when you are reading, and the light will gradually turn off when you go to bed… More people feel a sense of belonging and fully appreciate the power of technology.

Epilogue

After decades of development, the lighting industry has entered a relatively mature stage, and the industry is gradually experiencing stock competition. Smart lighting is becoming a market segment that lighting companies focus on, and it is also a satisfactory technology.

On the one hand, the bulbs used in smart lighting technology are CFLs or LEDs, both of which are very energy-efficient, about 90% less energy-efficient than old-fashioned incandescent bulbs, safer and more energy-efficient. Homes, offices and businesses save energy and money.

On the other hand, intelligence provides more possibilities for our work and life. There is nothing like the light that will automatically turn on for you when you come home from get off work, the light will automatically dim and warm up when you are reading, and the light will gradually turn off when you go to bed… More people feel a sense of belonging and fully appreciate the power of technology.