Smart lighting based on AI

OpenLicht is developing the light of tomorrow: Light innovation thanks to open source and artificial intelligence (AI)

OpenLicht Project LogoMunich, Germany – March 19, 2020 – The research project OpenLicht was launched in September 2016 and stands for the design of smart, customized light solutions based on open source and new materials. OpenLicht was funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), with the goal of enabling new forms of collaboration between science, business, maker and startup community. Infineon Technologies AG is supervising the project in close cooperation with Bernitz Electronics GmbH, Deggendorf Institute of Technology and the Technical University of Dresden.

The results are now being made public and include the prototype of a smart lighting system based on artificial intelligence. It automatically adjusts the light in the room to the user’s position and activity, such as reading or watching TV, learns the person’s preferences and can even respond to a certain degree to circumstances it has not learned previously.

The solution developed in the project is based on open source approaches like openHAB, a smart home system, and machine learning libraries. Use of freely available development environments, software frameworks and low-cost hardware solutions enables integration of a wide range of different sensor data and further development of existing results by the community.

Intelligent light design is entering the smart home and – so the vision – will accompany us through our everyday life with fully automated solutions. However, the ones currently available on the market so far often pose a raft of challenges for users. It is frequently the case that they are, at most, partly automated and are complicated to program. Moreover, the systems often fail to safeguard privacy or unnecessarily consume power, since light usage is not tailored ideally to the user’s needs, which in turn has a negative impact on CO 2 emissions. OpenLicht has found answers to these challenges.

Smart light solutions with the aid of artificial intelligence (AI)

The use of AI in the local network creates smart light solutions that are safe, yet sustainable and safeguard the user’s privacy. The AI acts on a system that is closed off from the outside world and does not have to be connected to the Internet. An open source gateway based on a Raspberry Pi and an Infineon Trusted Platform Module (TPM) has been developed to enable that.

That means data does not have to be sent to the cloud, but can instead be processed locally, which ensures security and privacy for households. These factors are vital in increasing the acceptance of smart home solutions. In addition, automatic adjustment to the user’s activities makes sure the light required at a particular moment is available. That avoids unnecessary “floodlighting” and helps protect the climate without the need to appeal to users’ conscience.

Open light for everybody

Software developments have been documented by OpenLicht and published on GitHub, for example, while new light ideas have been fleshed out in do-it-yourself projects and made available for replication on platforms such as “Thingiverse” or “Hand im Glück.” The platform concept also fosters dialog within the light community. The ultimate goal is to enable everyone to develop state-of-the-art light solutions.

In the evaluation phase, OpenLicht involved various creative partners at the interface between knowledge, innovation and design in order to open up access to light development: In cooperation with Munich University of Applied Sciences and the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship, students of design, electrical engineering and economics developed light innovations, built demonstrators and created business models. At the Lichtwoche München trade fair in 2019, various workshops were able to be held – both with laypersons and professionals – to implement modern light solutions, for example using 3D printing technology. And at an event staged in cooperation with the “Technik für Kinder” association in Deggendorf, children built their own smart light in just one morning. OpenLicht therefore enables light to be grasped in a dual sense: Lighting responds to movement and can be used, developed and redesigned by everyone.

About OpenLicht

OpenLicht is one of ten research projects supported by the German Ministry of Education and Research is supporting as part of its “Open Photonics” funding program. The Open Photonics projects are pursuing a wide range of goals, including open innovation approaches for improving the use of photonic components and systems, and open source approaches for promoting their broader use. They also include approaches that will enable the public to be more directly involved in scientific projects. The OpenLicht research project ended in December 2019. Its total volume was around €4.5 million. The German Ministry of Education and Research financed 63 percent of it as part of its program “Optical Technologies – Made in Germany.” More information on OpenLicht can be found on the project site or the site on the German Ministry of Education and Research’s funding program.

About Infineon

Infineon Technologies AG is a world leader in semiconductor solutions that make life easier, safer and greener. Microelectronics from Infineon is the key to a better future. In the 2019 fiscal year (ending September 30), the company reported sales of 8.0 billion euros with around 41,400 employees worldwide. Infineon is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX) and in the USA on the over-the-counter market OTCQX International Premier (ticker symbol: IFNNY).

Information Number
INFXX202003-041

Source: Infineon Market News
Read more about the OpenLicht Project.

OpenLicht Update auf Deutsch lesen

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OpenLicht Research Project

Light intelligence for everyone: Research on lighting systems of the future, for Smart Home, Smart City, Smart Factory, and Smart Art

Joint press release by the partners in the “OpenLicht” research project

OpenLicht LogoMunich, Germany – March 28, 2017 – Nearly 20 percent of all the electricity consumed in the world is for lighting. And about 80 percent of that lighting is attributed to professional applications such as building, office, industry or street lighting, and about 20 percent to private residential lighting. Today, individually adjustable lighting applications are rather the exception than the rule. No matter the time of day or season, whether inside or outside, at home, school, the factory or at the office: there usually is only one continuous brightness level or lighting color to be set.

With the project “OpenLicht”, Infineon Technologies AG (FSE: IFX / OTCQX: IFNNY) and its three research partners, Bernitz Electronics GmbH, the Deggendorf Institute of Technology, and the Technische Universität Dresden, want to change all that. The OpenLicht project aims to make the creative use of light a possibility for everyone: just as much for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from the lighting industry as for design studios, interior designers, artists, and electronics hobbyists – also known as “makers”. The result would be innovative, flexible, and individually adjustable light solutions for a wide range of applications.

Lighting development made easy: Open source platform for intelligent lighting

The three-year OpenLicht research project is dedicated to creating an open development platform for smart lights and lighting systems that can be used intuitively. This will include the self-learning networking of light sources with sensor data in the network and with the profiles of individual users. In a smart home, for instance, one could individually adjust the light settings (such as brightness, warmer or colder light, etc.) for every single light source and for every single room in the house – adapted to the particular time of day. Due to self-learning components, brightness and light color will automatically adapt to current temperature and weather data and the personal preferences. The open source platform of the four project partners will help develop creative light solutions faster and at less cost than today, even for small-scale production and single installations.

Complex, electronically-controlled lighting systems with OpenLicht

The OpenLicht project is exploring three particular application scenarios: “professional lighting”, for the industrial users target group, “mood lighting”, for the home, and “light modeling” for designers, architects, artists, and makers. By project end, the partners will present one demo for each of these scenarios.

The four research partners are dedicated to making complex, electronically-controlled lighting systems usable for the largest possible user group. To that end, their research will focus on developing an open source platform consisting of hardware and software on the one hand, and creating a smart, intuitive, self-learning light control system on the other. Another key element of OpenLicht will be the establishment of a simple networking technology for sensors and actuators using man-machine interfaces for a smart building infrastructure.

The OpenLicht research project will run until August 2019. It amounts for around Euro 4.5 million. The German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding it as part of its program “Optical Technologies – Made in Germany”, at a funding rate of 63 percent.

OpenLicht is one of ten research projects the BMBF is supporting as part of its “Open Photonics” development program. The Open Photonics projects are pursuing a wide range of goals, including open innovation approaches for improving the use of photonic components and systems, and open source approaches for promoting their broader use. They also include approaches that will enable the public to be more directly involved in scientific projects.

Press Contacts:

Bernitz Electronics GmbH, Unterhaching near Munich
Franz J. Bernitz, Managing Director
Phone: +49 89 4141 7007-0
Cell: +49 171 19 888 11
Weblink: www.dled.eu

Deggendorf Institute of Technology
Theresa Kappl, Public Relations and Events
Phone: +49 991 3615-285
Weblink: www.th-deg.de

Technische Universität Dresden, Fakultät für Informatik
Institute of Software and Multimedia Technology
Rene Schoene
Phone: +49 351 463 38209
Weblink: https://www.st.inf.tu-dresden.de/

Infineon Technologies
Monika Sonntag
Phone: +49 89 234 24497
Weblink: https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/