LettUs Grow is an indoor farming technology provider founded in 2015 in Bristol, UK. The company is speeding up the building of two vertical farm modules in the city of Bristol to help feed vulnerable communities during the Covid-19 outbreak. The company is also forming partnership with the food redistribution charity FareShare South West to ensure the produce gets to those who need it most. LettUs Grow expects the first of the new aeroponic farm modules to be ready to start producing fresh produce from mid-April, with the first harvests ready to be delivered in ten days...

A KAIST team developed a novel wearable strain sensor based on the modulation of optical transmittance of a carbon nanotube (CNT)-embedded elastomer. The sensor is capable of sensitive, stable, and continuous measurement of physical signals and shows potential for the detection of subtle human motions and the real-time monitoring of body postures for healthcare applications. The study “Wearable Strain sensors Using Light Transmittance Change of Carbon Nanotube-Embedded Elastomers with Microcracks” was published in Applied Materials & Interfaces in ...

A joint research conducted by Japan’s Kobe University and Ushio, the Japan-based LED component maker, has provided proof for the first time in the world that direct and repetitive illumination from 222nm UVC radiation, which is a powerful sterilizer, does not cause skin cancer. This suggests that 222nm UVC is also safe for human eyes and skin. This technology is expected to have a wide range of antibacterial and antiviral applications in medical facilities and daily life. These research results were published online in Photochemistry & Photobiology, titled &l...

Acuva, the Canada based UVC LED water disinfection solution provider, shared professional understanding about how much UV radiation is required to deactivate the novel coronavirus and how UVC LED technology may support the disinfection process. Dr. Babak Adeli, Director of R&D at Acuva Technologies, explained the ways of novel coronavirus (COVID-19 virus/SARS-CoV-2) transmission and its reaction to UV radiation, showing the possible approach of using UVC LED to diminish the virus. Adeli addressed that the novel coronavirus, is a new strai...

Seoul Viosys announced that its Violeds technology has been adopted by China-based automotive component supplier Yanfeng for in-vehicle UV disinfection. Adopting Violeds technology, the Yanfeng’s in-vehicle UV sanitizer can detect for absence of occupants before activating lamps for a period of 10 minutes that can sterilize the cabin including cockpit, seating and steering wheel. The sterilization lamp is embedded in the ceiling for maximum coverage and allows for sterilization of the harmful bacteria and viruses inside. (Violeds technology adopted by Yanfeng for ...

A report of Thomson Reuters Foundation pointed out that cities lockdowns across the globe due to COVID-19 pandemic has made people to rethink the way they obtain food. Urban farming taking places in rooftops or other spare spaces in the city may be the solution for food supply. Horticulture LED lighting can thus become a critical supporting equipment for household or community farming applications. Panic buying has been reported in many countries during the coronavirus crisis. Kotchakorn Voraakom, the landscape architect who designed Asia's largest urban rooftop farm...

Environmental scientists at IGB, The Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, the research institute in Germany, found that artificial lighting at night affects melatonin reproduction in fishes. It is widely acknowledged that melatonin plays a critical role in regulating circadian rhythm of human bodies. And a research team now proved that lighting also suppresses production of melatonin in fishes. The team of IGB researchers investigated melatonin production in European perch and showed that light pollution, like nighttime urban sky glow, is bright...

At CES 2020, Taiwan-based laptop manufacturer MSI introduced its notebook product adopting Mini LED backlit display, Creator 17. The Mini LED laptop with 4K UHD resolution will be launched on April 15, 2020 at US$ 1799. Creator 17 is a 17.3 inch laptop with Mini LED backlit display, achieving a resolution of 4K and a brightness of 1,000 nits based on the 240 dimming zones. With the launch of the Mini LED laptop, many LED manufacturers are looking forward to a booming market for the display technology. (Image: MSI) Consumer products adoptin...

US Lighting Group announced it is developing a new UV LED Plug-n-Play 4-foot, commercial bulb which can be used for surface sterilization to help combat viral pathogens like COVID-19. Paul Spivak, CEO of the US Lighting Group, currently holds two patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for UV LED Light Projection Method and Apparatus using ultraviolet and LED lighting technology. (Image: Pixabay) "We are ecstatic to announce that we have engineered the latest Plug-n-Play 4-foot, commercial replacement bulb with...

Seoul Viosys and Sensor Electronic Technology, Inc. (SETi) announced that that they have succeed in achieving 99.9% sterilization of coronavirus (COVID-19) in 30 seconds. Tests were conducted with the research group of Korea University by using a compound semiconductor Violeds technology that is being mass-produced. As COVID-19 spread throughout the world, SETi and Seoul Viosys devoted resources to show how Violeds technology can directly sterilize the virus. The goal has always been to provide technology for a cleaner world, and this includes minimizing the...

Since last year, manufacturers of LEDs, panels, and systems across the globe have displayed Micro LED-related products at major international exhibitions. Applications include automotive and indoor fine-pitch displays. This has kick started a Micro LED trend across the world. At the beginning of this year, leading industry players including Taiwan’s ITRI, Japan’s Sony, and Korea’s Samsung, LG, and Seoul Semiconductor have all presented the latest Micro LED technology at CES 2020. As one of the major focuses in the display industry, Mi...

Cree Lighting announced that it will collaborate with lighting control expert Lutron Electronics to introduce a variety of new connected lighting products to the market. Based on the partnership, Cree Lighting’s indoor and outdoor fixtures are connected with Lutron wired and wireless digital fixture control technologies. (Image: Cree Lighting) The connected lighting portfolio includes the integration of Cree Lighting’s architectural and outdoor lighting series with Lutron’s wireless and digital LED drivers, as well as the ZR Series LED troffers...

The Global LED Summit, focusing on the LED video wall market, will be held in London on May 13, 2020, during London Digital Signage Week from May 11-15. The Global LED Summit invites experts of the industry to share their insights of LED video walls, covering technology progresses, application techniques and the current trends of the market. The event will gather industry professionals and researchers focusing of the technology and industry to address on the opportunities of LED video wall applications in the West Europe market. As the display technology ...

Applied Optoelectronics, an optical products manufacturer, announced the release of a high power and narrow linewidth laser specifically designed for LiDAR applications, particularly for automotive use. Current automotive LIDAR systems are based on near infrared lasers, however these lasers are not eye safe and therefore are limited in terms of emitted power. This power limitation, in turn, restricts the effective sensing range of the LIDAR system. AOI’s laser operates at longer wavelengths near 1550-nm where eye-safe emission limits are much higher and therefore...

Plessey, the UK-based Micro LED display developer focusing on AR/MR display application, announced that it is collaborating with Facebook, providing its technology to support Facebook building prototype and develop new technologies for potential use in the AR/VR space. (Image: Plessey) Plessey has been focusing on Micro LED-based AR display technology and it was rumored that Apple had plan to acquire Plessey with its interest in AR smart glasses. However, now Plessey teams up with Facebook and will license its technology to the social media giant for cr...

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is threatening all over the globe with continuously surging cases in nearly every countries. In order to reduce the risks of infection, disinfecting applications utilizing UVC radiant have attracted attentions in both the medical and consumer market. UV light solution providers across the world are offering their expertise to help medical institutions eliminating bacteria and viruses to prevent healthcare-associated infections. Bolb, the U.S.-based UV LED company, provided their UVC LED products to decontaminate infectious disease...

AR applications and devices are one of the major focuses of Apple at the moment. The company has shown its interests in AR technology development and considered that AR wearable glasses may replace smartphones in the near future. Rumors about Apple to reveal its AR smart glasses soon have been going on as well. Apple launched the new iPad Pro adopting LiDAR Scanner and releases the latest ARKit 3.5 which enables app developers to take advantage of the new LiDAR Scanner to capture 3D features of the surrounding environment. ARKit 3.5 also includes instant A...

Signify launched the upgraded portfolio of compact Philips Xitanium Sensor Ready Xtreme LED drivers with the recently granted D4i certification for wider adoption of IoT connectivity in lighting and aid smart city or building projects. (Image: Signify) By Q2 2020, Signify will also upgrade the complete non-isolated Philips Xitanium Dimmable Sensor Ready drivers portfolio for indoor applications to the new D4i standard, to facilitate the rapid market adoption of energy-saving technologies and drive standardization. Launched by the Digital Illumination Inter...

The National Lighting Bureau (NLB), through its members, is offering free LED lights for the remote sites being set up across the U.S. to test for the coronavirus. (Image: Pixabay) The Bureau provides its services to the public free of charge with the funding of the organization's sponsors, which include individuals, professional societies, trade associations, labor unions, manufacturers, and agencies of the U.S. government. The participated associates include: BIOS Lighting Finelite GE Current, a Daintree Company Healthe by Lighting...

GE Current offered some advices for LED horticulture grow lights for how to choose the most suitable LED lightings for controlled environment. A few concepts were proposed by the company regarding the idea of full-spectrum. The first thing GE Current pointed out that it is critical to learn that “full spectrum” actually has no strict definition and is not specific to any industry, standard or code. The term, according to GE Current, is rather a marketing label to describe light sources that emulate natural daylight (“white” light). As such, full ...

AU Optronics (AUO), the Taiwan-based panel manufacturer, held an annual press event displaying its new products and applications in 2020 including 8K TVs, Micro LED automotive displays, Mini LED backlit displays. (Image: LEDinside) The wide range of displays target diverse fields covering medical applications, gaming displays, public information displays, automotive displays and more. AUO noted that orders for medical and educational applications such as electronic whiteboards and digital X-ray panels have increased with rising needs in home education and med...

UV light exposure not only kills microorganism, it can also assess meat quality. A research team with scientists of Sechenov University in Russia, Macquarie University and University of New South Wales in Australia proposed a method incorporating UV light emission to classify meat into standard quality categories. The study was published in Journal of Biophotonics under the title “Autofluorescence excitation-emission matrices as a quantitative tool for the assessment of meat quality.” Conventionally, to evaluate the quality of beef, specialists pay attentio...

85,000 lights points in the city of Cologne, Germany, are connected with Signify’s Interact City lighting management system to make the city smarter. The installation is expected to increase the city’s energy efficiency and reduce costs while improve the safety and quality of life of the citizens. The system can also accommodate the integration of sensors into the luminaires, providing data that offer environmental benefits that go beyond lighting. RheinEnergie, which is responsible for the city’s lighting, will replace all the light points with connected luminaire...

A multi-departmental research team at Taiwan’s National Chi Nan University (NCNU) collaborated with local famers and developed a LED lighting system for water bamboo (Zizania latifolia) cultivation to improve the growth with a new design of LED lenses. The advanced technology tackled the existing issues and proved to benefit the harvest. The results were published Applied Sciences in February 2020, titled “Optimized LED-Integrated Agricultural Facilities for Adjusting the Growth of Water Bamboo (Zizania latifolia).” The optimized LED...

Signify launched new Philips IoT sensor bundles that collect and deliver data via the Interact Office connected lighting system and Environmental monitoring API’s. The new sensors that are being launched enable businesses to monitor their office environment and optimize conditions for employee health and wellbeing. (Image: Signify) The new sensor bundles can monitor occupancy, the number of people, temperature (at room and at desk level), noise levels, daylight levels, relative humidity and are Bluetooth enabled, to provide indoor positioning and navigation capabil...

Velodyne Lidar announced a multi-year sales agreement with NAVYA, an autonomous driving system provider. NAYVA is a French company expert in autonomous driving system. The company has put into service autonomous mobility solutions in 2015 and used Velodyne’s LiDAR sensors in production for its autonomous shuttle fleet that provides mobility services to cities and private sites. (Image: Velodyne Lidar/NAVYA) With the sales agreement, NAVYA plans to pursue the worldwide expansion of its shuttle with Velodyne’s sensors for precise real-time...

The coronavirus has now declared a worldwide pandemic by the World Health Organization and the infected numbers continues to rise all over the world. Products used for preventing infection thus became bestsellers everywhere. Featuring disinfecting function, UVC LED embedded products are also drawing attentions in the market. LED companies who have been progressing UV LED technologies now leverage their strengths to launch UV LED products for meeting the surging demands for disinfection applications. (Image: Pixabay) Lextar, the vertical integrated LED ...

A new type of light emitting textile may enable innovative wearable applications. Researchers at the University of Windsor in Canada published their development in the journal Matters, revealing a stretchable, lighting emitting fabric based on typical ultrasheer pantyhose coated in a thin gold film. (Image: Matters) The new development tackled some of the limitations of existing light-emitting fabrics and use the textile structure as an integral part of the wearable device design. With effective power sources, the light emitting fabric could be further developed into more fun...

Scientist at University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) have created a blue LED from a new semiconductor material halide perovskite, overcoming a major barrier to employing these cheap, easy-to-make materials in electronic devices. Published in Science Advances on January 24, the study demonstrates the technology breakthrough of applying the unstable material as halide perovskite changes with temperature, humidity and the chemical environment and their optical and electronic properties are thus disrupted. Making semiconductor diodes that emit blue light has always b...

Osram announced that it has decided to shut down server support for smart lamps from the Lightify lighting system. Osram and its system distributor LEDVANCE noted that customers are now using comprehensive Smart Home solutions with intelligent assistants to control smart lighting, instead of using a separate lighting control system or gateway. Osram will therefore be shutting down the cloud server for controlling the Lightify gateway on August 31, 2021. In the beginning of 2019, LEDVANCE finished selling the gateway while part of the Smart+ products are still s...