Researchers at The University of Manchester in the UK discovered that blue light may not be as disruptive to our sleep patterns as originally thought. According to the team, using dim, cooler, lights in the evening and bright warmer lights in the day may be more beneficial to our health. The scientists claimed that twilight is both dimmer and bluer than daylight and the body clock uses both of those features to determine the appropriate times to be asleep and awake. In the research on mice, the team used a specially designed lighting whose color can be adjusted without changin...

École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) together with Geneva School of Art and Design (HEAD – Genève) developed a wearable sensor that measures how much light an individual is exposed to along with the spectral resolution of that light. The wearable sensor, named “Spectrace,” can detect the amount of light one person receives by being put around the neck like a pair of headphones or attached to an item of clothing with a magnetic pin. (Image: EPFL) Scientists have taken a growing interest in how a shortage ...

Korean media etnews covered that Samsung is planning to make an investment in Micro LED facilities in the first half of 2020 to kick off mass production of Micro LED. According to the report, Samsung has been in contact with equipment manufacturers and pending on the scale of the investment. The Korean giant might make its final decision for the Micro LED investment after CES 2020. Samsung was said to reveal the specifications of the Micro LED product at CES 2020 and decide further on the production volume afterwards. The company has showcase its Micro...

Many leading companies in across the world have proactively dedicated to setting up and achieving sustainable goals with the awareness of climate change and other environmental issues. Signify recently announced that it has achieved carbon neutrality in five more market; while AIXTRON reported its certification as a climate neutral company. Osram, also unveiled its intension to become climate neutral by 2030. Signify has achieved carbon neutrality in the market of ASEAN, Far East, India, Indonesia and Pacific, boosting its number of markets with carbon-neutral operati...

Researcher at the Lighting Research Center (LRC) found that tailored lighting intervention can significantly help Alzheimer patients to improve sleep quality, and reduce depressive symptoms and agitation behavior. In addition to memory loss, people diagnosed with Alzheimer disease also suffered from sleep disturbances, depression, and agitation. Dr. Mariana Figueiro, the Professor and Director at LRC, has been investigating how lighting intervention can lessen the impact of these symptoms in older adults living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADR...

The Chinese government aims to push innovative display technology development and revealed a new regulation of subsidy.  The Guangzhou government published a notice pointing out that with the goal to upgrade the display technology of the province, the government will support companies investing in novel display technologies including OLED, AMOLED, Mini/Micro LED, QLED, printing display, laser display, 3D display, holographic display, e-paper flexible display, grapheme display and others. (Image: Pixabay) The government will provide a one-time subsidy ...

MaxLite announced that it has filed an additional petition for inter partes review (IPR) before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) seeking to invalidate U.S. Patent No. 9,807,826 (’826 patent), owned by Jiaxing Super Lighting, a Chinese contract manufacturer. This IPR is in addition to the two that were filed last month by MaxLite to invalidate Jiaxing Super Lighting’s 9,897,265 (‘265 patent) and 9,723,662 (‘662 patent) patents. (Image: MaxLite) Like the...

Integrated Device Technology, (IDT), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Renesas Electronics Corporation, announced that it has been tasked by the City of Campbell, California, with making one of its parking lots "intelligent" as part of its efforts to be environmentally friendly, reduce light pollution, and make the lights more interactive for the city's residents. The effort began in June with four overhead lights in the City Hall's employee parking lot and will soon expand to six additional overhead lights in the adjacent fenced Police Department parking lo...

Trump said on December 13 that the U.S. has reached “phase one” trade deal with China including the pause of the additional tariffs on Chinese products which was scheduled to come to effect on December 15, 2019. Several LED lighting products on the list are thus free from extra tariffs for now. (Image: Pixabay) With the new agreement, the U.S. said it would delay or cancel the new tariffs on the US$160 Chinese goods and reduce the tariffs from 15% to 7.5% for the products imposed with extra tariffs in September. However, according to the United States...

LiDAR sensors and sensing solutions developer Quanergy Systems reported that it was selected as a LiDAR partner for China’s Geely Automotive Group (Geely). Geely and Quanergy will have a deep collaboration in developing and commercializing solutions for the broad deployment of smart city and autonomous vehicle systems. (Image: Quanergy/Geely) This announcement follows an initial deployment of Quanergy’s LiDAR-based smart city solution at intersections across the Hangzhou Bay Area, Ningbo City, and Zhejiang Province. This is the first smart ...

Seoul Semiconductor announced that it has achieved smart lighting design with SunLike Series natural spectrum LEDs in cooperation with Casambi Technologies; and it has been adopted for the Italian designed architectural lighting brand formalighting for a new product line which offers motorized luminaire with smart wireless controls. The SunLike COB LED packages have been adopted by formalighting for the new fixtures in track mounted motorized spotlight range targeting lighting applications in museums, art galleries and commercial spaces. Adding the smart control syste...

The goal of launching fully autonomous vehicle as well as advanced driver assistance systems is driving LiDAR developers to accelerate their technology developments. Draper, a U.S. LiDAR producer, unveiled its LiDAR with MEMS beam steering technology. Also, Aeva, founded by two former Apple engineers, introduced 4D LiDAR-on-chip. The two companies both focus on scaling down and simplifying LiDAR system. Draper has developed and advanced, a LiDAR-on-a-Chip that uses patented, all-digital MEMS optical switches for beam steering. According to Drap...

In November, Seoul Semiconductor announced that it will auction its patent portfolio of radio frequency (RF) and LED package. As the market response has been enthusiastic since the company released the auction, Seoul Semiconductor reported extension of the auction until February 28, 2020. In the first auction, Seoul Semiconductor is seeking the top bidder for 98 patent assets related to power amplifiers and gallium nitride (GaN) RF semiconductors, including 55 U.S. patents. In the second auction, Seoul Semiconductor will auction 177 patents, including 76 U.S....

Lighting Research Center (LRC) announced the partnership with Eaton to work on a project of additively manufactured LED-integrated luminaire, which is to use 3D printing technology to produce LED luminaires. The 3D printing luminaire development project is under funding from the United States Department of Energy and aims to address the main barriers to widespread adoption of 3D printing technology as applied to solid-state lighting. (Image: LRC/Eaton) Over the next two years, the project partners will conduct material science, electronics, optics, and adv...

Due to the extra tariffs, many US-based lighting companies turned to business expansion in North America to alleviate the impacts. Architectural LED lighting manufacturer Luminii announced the acquisition of Senso Lighting, a Canadian lighting producer who specializes in designing environmentally conscious lighting solutions. (Image: Luminii) Luminii also purchased Optic Arts in August 2019 to complete its product lines. Meanwhile, Blue Highway Capital announces that it has placed a first institutional investment into LEDdynamics for the company to under...

Lighting Research Center (LRC) continues to conduct studies to learn how light impacts alertness during the day and sleep quality at night in daytime office workers. In its latest press release, LRC revealed that using blue light in the morning and red light in the afternoon helps office to increase energy. The study field tested a novel luminaire developed by the LRC to promote circadian entrainment and alertness in the office environment. 19 participants from three U.S. Department of State office buildings in Washington, D.C., completed the 3-week study. During ...

As the holiday season arrives, major cities worldwide are setting up decorative lighting to bring the holiday atmosphere even closer. However, according to a survey in Germany, a majority of Germans are considering to cut down their Christmas lights for environmental reason, reported Deutsche Welle (DW). Since the beginning of December, many cities as well as global landmarks are switching on the Christmas lights. In London, the iconic lights on Regent Street, Oxford Street and the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square all begin shining. New York’s famous winter ...

The legalization of medical and recreational use of cannabis in North America has opened a wide door for LED lighting in horticulture application for cannabis cultivation. An increasing number of cannabis growers and cannabis grow light suppliers are joining the market. ecofarm from Massachusetts, U.S., announced the launch of the largest indoor cultivation sites in the country at Marijuana Business Conference (MJBizCon), the cannabis industry's most respected global trade show. (Image: ecofarm) ecofarm will operate as a Tier 11 marijuana cultivator and produc...

Chinese companies proactively joined Micro LED development and production to catch up with the competitors in Taiwan and South Korea. LED chip producer Sanan Optoeletronics and panel manufacturer BOE both reported that they are putting focus on Mini LED and Micro LED production. Other China-based industry players also revealed their progress in the past year. Refond Refond completed a Mini LED autonomous production line and will expand its capacity if once the demands grow. The company has supplied its Mini LED products to several display producers ...

AIXTRON announced that PlayNitride has qualified its AIX G5+ C MOCVD system for the manufacturing of GaN-based (gallium nitride) Micro LEDs, concluding the joint collaboration agreement signed in January. The German equipment provider and Micro LED specialist PlayNitride reported their partnership in January 2019 to speed up Micro LED mass production with AIXTRON’s AIX G5+ C platform. According to AIXTRON, PlayNitride ordered another tool for expanding its capacities for high-volume production of Micro LEDs. The M...

A study led by researchers of the University of Exeter and Peruvian conservation organization ProDelphius proved that placing LED lights on fishing nets can reduce the chances of sea turtles and dolphins being caught by accident. The research result was published in the journal Biological Conservation, titled "An illuminating idea to reduce bycatch in the Peruvian small-scale gillnet fishery." The research group have conducted experiment by attaching LED lights on fishing nets with small-scale vessels departing from three ports in Peru between 2015 and 2018. T...

When arriving a new place, Google Maps usually helps to locate our destinations and lead us there. However, some of the route might include streets and roads that are too dark or narrow which we would avoid when traveling at night but we could not find out until reaching there. To enhance travel safety, Google Maps is reportedly working on a new layer of “lighting,” which marks brightly lit streets on the maps, reported XDA Developer. (Image: Tridonic) XDA Developer found codes in Google Maps v10.31.0 beta indicating that Google is adding a new feature t...

Smart glasses are expected to replace smartphones in the coming three to five years. Global big names pushing their development in smart wearable applications particularly headset or glasses combining AR technology with the ultimate goal to make them function like smartphones. In the past 10 years, the invention and usage of smartphones have changed the ecosystem of the technology industry as well as our daily life. But as new developments in smartphones become limited, the smartphone market shows tepidity recently. Trendforce analysis pointed out that market demand of smartphone i...

Samsung has provided its LED displays for MSC Cruises and its collaboration in the indoor LED installation was awarded by Daily DOOH for the prize of Best Overall Customer Experience. Samsung provided interactive touchscreens, digital signage and over 2,400 in-cabin TVs throughout MSC Grandiosa, the latest and largest flagship of MSC Cruises, as part of its longstanding partnership with the company. MSC Cruises had launched the MSC for Me digital ecosystem in 2017 to bring the latest connected cruise experience to its guests. (Image: Samsung) ...

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) published “American National Standard for Roadway and Area Lighting Equipment - Luminaire Four-Pin Extension Module and Receptacle—Physical and Electrical Interchangeability and Testing.” This new Standard provides mechanical and electrical specifications for interfacing street and area lighting with controls and sensor accessories. (Image: Pixabay) According to NEMA, the standard was developed for use by roadway and area lighting manufacturers, municipalities, and utilities. T...

Austrian sensor company AMS has successfully takeover Osram with its EUR 4.6 billion (US$5.9 billion) bid in the second attempt by achieving the acceptance threshold of 55% of share. Both AMS and Osram published the final result on December 6, 2019. AMS first offered Osram a bid at EUR 38.5 per share (US$ 42.6) in July, 2019 and raised the price to EUR 41 per share later in October to compete with other bidder. However, the first takeover failed as AMS did not achieve the minimum acceptance threshold of 62.5%. The sensor specialist soon launched new...

SiLC Technologies, the provider of integrated single-chip FMCW LiDAR solutions, and vehicle lighting supplier Varroc Lighting Systems announced that they will join force to demonstrate a LiDAR integration into a production automotive headlamp at CES 2020. The Varroc Lighting Systems headlamp combines its LED design and four of SiLC's silicon photonics FMCW vision chips providing a full 20 x 80-degree field of view (FOV) per headlamp. (Image: Varroc Lighting System/SiLC) According to SiLC, its compact LiDAR chip architecture c...

PMOLED specialist RiTdisplay announced that the company plans to launch Micro LED and Mini LED products in 2020 with volume production and expects profit boom in the coming year. On top of its PMOLED technology, RiTdisplay has extended its business to automotive OLED lighting and Mini/Micro LED. The company established joint venture with Luminit for OLED based automotive lighting in December 2018. Its products have been verified by six automobile companies in Japan, Europe and the U.S. As for Mini/Micro LED, RiTdisplay collaborated ...

The British Micro LED technology developer Plessey reported that it has successfully developed the world’s first GaN on Silicon-based red LED. (Image: Plessey) Whilst InGaN-based blue and green LEDs are commercially available, red LEDs are typically based on AlInGaP material or color converted red. For AR, achieving high efficiency ultra-fine pitch red pixels (< 5 µm) remains elusive due to severe edge effects from AlInGaP material and cavity losses from color conversion processes. InGaN-based red is attractive as it offers lower...

Global leading display producers are shifting the production focus from LCD display, cutting down manufacture facility or even quitting the business, majorly due to the fierce price competition and market transformation. The new display technologies, OLED, Mini LED are now competing to take over the role of leading display technology. Micro LED might also join the competition in the near future. (Image: Lextar) According to WitsView, a division of TrendForce, TV panel prices generally have been lower than the cash costs leading to business loss for global pane...