LED technology enables a wider range of lighting applications, including various types of luminaires. A German company, LUCEM, created a material of light-emitting concrete which is made of layers of transmitting optical fibers. The material allows designers to break the limitation of luminaires for more flexible and creative architecture and interior design. (Image: LUCEM) The products are mixture of fine concrete and optical fibers. The company used thousands of fine optical fibers that are only 0.5 mm diameter, put them layers by layers with the specially designed...

Throughout the development of Micro LED, the next generation display technology, cross-industry integration has always been a key. Worldwide chip vendors, panel manufacturers, process technology providers and systems suppliers and others invariably sought collaboration with each other to fully leverage their technological strengths and accelerate their way along the roadmap of Micro LED technology. Among them, equipment solution providers are no doubt the unifiers of processes and technology in each stage along the chain, from upstream chip manufacturing all the way down. If c...

The rumors of Apple using Micro LED in its Apple Watch continue. This time, it was said that the strategic appliance of Taiwan’s PlayNitride and RiTdisplay will provide their Micro LED technologies including chips and display modules for the Apple Watch, according to the report of Taiwan’s Economy Daily News. PlayNitride’s expertise is Micro LED technology has been recognized by worldwide partners. At SID 2019, PlayNitride showcased a 7.65-inch full color transparent Micro LED display, a flexible Micro LED display and a wearabl...

According to the latest Infrared Sensing Application Market Trend Report by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, seeing that smartphone shipments are predicted to decline for whole 2019 year, cell phone brands will be engaging in a 'specs -contest' with their flagship devices for the second half-year, and 3D sensing modules will become an important component in that race. Market revenue for VCSELs used by cell phones utilizing 3D sensing is projected to reach US$1.139 billion as a result of this trend. “For 2019, besides Apple, who will be implementing...

UV LEDs cover a wide range of applications including light curing, medical treatment and disinfection. And now, UV LEDs are put on drones to spew UV light in subway stations and trains for sanitization. An online magazine, Yanko Design, reported that Korean designers at Off Garage Studio created a UV LED integrated drone as a “space care system,” providing autonomous sterilization service. Equipped with sensors and UVC LEDs, the drone is designed to flies smoothly around the station and emits UV LED light in the subways to efficiently and e...

Micro LED technology moved steps forwards since 2019 with worldwide companies showcasing their Micro LED products at big trade shows. LEDinside has noted in “2019 Micro LED Next Generation Display Key Technology Report” that featured with high brightness, high contrast, high response time and power saving, Micro LED technology would suppress other display technology such as LCD and OLED. A wider range of applications including watches, mobile phones, automotive displays, AR/VR devices, monitors, TVs and large displays can also develop toward...

The HBGC-300 series is a newly developed LED driver for bay light and outdoor floodlight luminaires applications with DALI 2 dimming function which can operate with intelligently dimming control to increase the luminaire’s value and functions. Besides, the HBGC-300 is designed with MEAN WELL’s patented metal housing (Patented No. CN201220314551) and is able to operate with constant power mode to avoid the compatible issue and reduce the output models. HBGC-300 provides three in one and DALI 2 dimming function. Also the series is complian...

Unity Semiconductor (UnitySC), the France-based semiconductor inspection solution provider, announced that it has demonstrate the capability of detecting topographic defects on GaAs wafers for VCSEL in LiDAR and 3D recognition applications. On top of common Surface Scanning Inspection Systems (SSIS) and Automatic Optical Inspection (AOI) systems, UnitySC noted that it is able to find out defects that are not visible on standard optical inspection systems. These defects do not scatter or absorb light, and can only be revealed by their topography but the...

According to the latest 2019 Chinese LED Chip and Package Industry Market by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, growth in the global LED lighting market has slowed down noticeably due to the global economic recession and the US- China trade dispute. Revenues for lighting LED packages were affected as a result. In 2018, China's LED packaging market scale for general lighting applications stood at US$5.2 billion, with a visible slowdown glanced from a CAGR of only 3% throughout the forecast period, 2018-2023. “Due to the limited decline experi...

Casambi, the expert in wireless lighting controls based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), has teamed up with Seoul Semiconductor to provide lighting designers with precision control of LED lights that match the spectrum of sunlight. The development puts true human centric lighting in the hands of designers for the first time. Casambi’s wireless control technology can now be used with Seoul Semiconductor’s innovative SunLike Series LEDs, whose spectra match to real sunlight, to realize human centric lighting. “Human-centric lighting” describes...

Scientists at Linkoping University working with colleagues from China have shown how to achieve efficient perovskite LEDs. In an article published in Nature Communications, they provide guidelines on fabricating high-quality perovskite light emitters for high-efficiency perovskite LEDs. Since solution-processed perovskites contain large amounts of defects, which are mostly halide vacancies, efficient control of the perovskite crystallinity is required for high-performance optoelectronic devices. The research group at LiU, under the leadership of Senior Lecturer Feng G...

Signify announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Diamond Developers, a Dubai-based sustainable communities builder, as part of their mutual commitment to utilize creative and innovative technologies and solutions designed to promote sustainability. The agreement is a testament to a collaborative approach that seeks to accelerate innovation in sustainable energy and vertical farming. The agreement is built on two pillars of collaboration; the first pillar is centered on providing advanced lighting solutions and innovations that contribute to the city&...

Velodyne Lidar announced Kaarta has included Velodyne’s smart, powerful lidar technology in Kaarta’s new Stencil 2-32 ground surface mapping solution. Equipped with Velodyne LiDAR, Stencil 2-32 scans ground level surfaces, mapping items such as curbs, manholes, signs, poles, and other features at a fraction of the cost of traditional mobile mapping systems. The Stencil platform helps enable city planning for infrastructure improvements as well as parking and traffic management. The 3D data generated by Stencil 2-32 can be utilized for a range of applications ...

Automotive applications including exterior/interior lighting and displays are the targeted area of several LED companies. Rising development of alternative fuel vehicles and self-driving technology push the deployment of LEDs in automobile as the features of higher lifetime and lower energy consumption have become even more critical. As results, several Taiwan-based LED companies have deepened their engagement in automotive LED applications, focusing lighting, sensing technology and display. Tesla supplier EOI continues to expand its automotive product portfolio and...

Smart glasses and AR devices have been targeted by Micro LED display technology and were considered to be the first applications entering the market. Previously LEDinside has collected news about Apple’s patent applications related to Micro LED and AR smart glasses. However, rumors said that Apple might have dropped its AR glasses project. Apple’s project of AR/VR headset development might have been suspended due to immature capability of building 5G connectivity and data, according to the report of Digitimes. The report said that the team was dis...

Telensa, the UK-based smart street lighting and smart city solution provider, announced that its smart streetlight system has been selected by Dunedin City Council (DCC) in New Zealand as part of a contract with Broadspectrum to upgrade Dunedin’s streetlighting network. There are approximately 15,000 high-pressure sodium streetlights on the Dunedin streetlight network. These lights are reaching the end of their useful life and are being converted by Broadspectrum to LEDs, which will be wirelessly connected and managed by Telensa’s PLANet system. PL...

LiDAR sensor manufacturer Quanergy announced its distribution partnership with Ingram Micro Brazil, a subsidiary of Ingram Micro for expanding it market penetration into South America. Ingram Micro will provide Quanergy’s LiDAR technology to a range of diverse industries focusing on bringing connected IoT solutions to companies across mining, transportation, security, energy, and finance. (Image: Quanergy) "Quanergy’s LiDAR solution complements our security and IoT portfolio," said Alexandre Nakano, Director of Security and Ne...

Osram announced that it Austrian company ams has approached with the interest of a public takeover of Osram with a value of EUR 38.50 (US$ 43.36) per share. However, right after Osram’s announcement, ams decided to withdraw the offer as the company did not see “sufficient basis” for continually talking with Osram. According to Osram, ams showed the interest of acquiring Osram by EUR 38.5 per share. The announcement noticed that to support the offer, ams will need a temporary bridge-loan facility of EUR 4.2 billion (US$ 4.73 billion) and a capital i...

A research team led by a professor from Department of Optics and Photonics at Taiwan’s National Central University revealed a new production method for Micro LED epitaxy wafer. The team developed GaN thin film wafer under low temperature via an approach of high-energy physic. According to the researchers, the method would cost only one tenth of the current Micro LED production cost and could be applied for mass production. (Image:NCU) By combining data analysis and semiconductor manufacture process, the researchers aim to find innovative approaches for M...

The City of Wilmington in Delaware, US and Ontario Airport in Canada, have switched to smart LED lighting system. The City of Wilmington collaborated with Delmarva Power on a new citywide smart lighting system. The project begins in July 2019 with the installation of 215 LED street lights and 50 smart sensors in West Center City, North Market Street, and Baynard Boulevard. The final goal is to convert all 7,050 streetlights to LEDs. With the project, the city aims to save up to US$150,000 per year by converting all the streetlights into sensor-equipped...

Last week LEDinside reported that more and more vertical farming startups have received funds from worldwide investors, marking the great potential of the high-tech farming business. Within a week, another US-based vertical farming company, AeroFarms, announced that it has raised US$ 100 million in the Series E funding round. According to the report by the Financial Times, the funding round was led by IKEA’s parent company, Ingka Group, bringing the total funding to US$ 238 million. Other investors include Wheatsheaf, ADM Capital, Mission Point Cap...

Current, powered by GE announced Hort Americas as its sole distributor for LED horticulture lighting solutions in North America. At Cultivate 2019, Hort Americas showcased Current by GE’s new Arize Element Top Light, which is an one-for-one LED replacement for a double-ended 1000-watt high pressure sodium (HPS) fixture. Current worked closely with its customers to design a top light with efficacy levels up to 3.5 micromoles per joule that supports universal installation, enabling growers to grow more and consume less in any region. Combined with advan...

Vertically integrated LED manufacturer Lextar released its revenue of June 2019, which came to NT$845 million (US$27.2 million), up by 15.1% MoM and down by 7.02% YoY. Lextar began restructure in 2018 by drastically cutting off fixtures business and turning into high margin products including Mini LED backlight, display, automotive products and other. Currently, the company is processing Mini LED shipment steadily and plans to increase the share of Mini LED backlight product to 10% by the fourth quarter of 2019. It was also reported that panel manufacture...

US-based LiDAR startup Luminar announced that it is entering the consumer automotive and commercial trucking markets with a sensing and perception platform called Iris. After three years of stealth development and continuously increasing funds, the company revealed its perception software built on its LiDAR sensing platform. (Image: Luminar) A recent addition of US$100 million, along with previously unannounced capital, brings the company’s total raised to date to more than $250 million. Major financial investors include G2VP, two of the most prominent sover...

Juganu, an Israeli company developing and manufacturing innovative LED lighting systems, announced the completion of a financing round, led by Viola Growth, totaling about US$23 million. Other investors include OurCrowd and a Mexican investment fund. Juganu integrates LED lighting technology, sensors and infrastructure with AI, building a proprietary "Digital World" technology in cooperation with software and hardware technology market leaders. The company provides a response for communications and services challenges in public and commercial spaces. (I...

In 2008, MEAN WELL officially released the first LED power supply – CLG-150 series and stepped into the potential LED market. Until now, the selling quantity of LED related products is uncountable. Having a special opportunity, MEAN WELL received several pieces of the CLG-150 products which were manufactured in 2008. A detailed investigation and analysis were executed, and the result is shared below. The number of the components could be from dozens to hundreds depends on the wattage and topology of power supply. Each component is applied to the ...

The evolution of automobile including changes in energy source and improvement of driving technology is also bringing advances in automotive lighting. The leading photonic technology provider Osram has continued to accelerate its development in automotive lighting and other innovative automotive technologies. Mike Godwin, OSRAM’s Director of Automotive LED Marketing, shared his insight of how automotive LED lighting has improved with the progress of autonomous vehicles. (Mike Godwin, OSRAM’s Director of Automotive LED Marketing. Image: Osr...

Velodyne Lidar announced that Idriverplus, a China-based company who commercialized driverless technology, is using Velodyne’s groundbreaking LiDAR sensors in a range of autonomous driving products. Velodyne has strategically teamed with Idriverplus to help Idriverplus with its efforts for mass production of commercial autonomous vehicles, which include street cleaners, passenger cars, and logistics vehicles. Velodyne LiDAR sensors are used in all Idriverplus self-driving vehicles, providing rich computer perception data that allows real-time object and free space ...

WiSilica, an IoT solution provider, and Samsung Electronics’ LED Business Team, announced their strategic partnership in developing next-gen IoT solutions for lighting. With the affiliation, the companies aim to create unified experiences in human-centric lighting, wireless controls, and energy efficiency. WiSilica is known for its location-aware IoT platform, ARIXA, which combines smart lighting and real time location services. The platform integrates hardware, middleware, cloud, and application interfaces to power a wide range of business applications. W...

Seoul Semiconductor (Seoul) filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Conrad Electronic, a European retailer of electronic products, in the District Court of Düsseldorf in Germany. Seoul reported that the LEDs in backlit mobile phones sold by Conrad are infringing the company’s patent for LED light extraction technology. The patent covers fundamental LED chip fabrication technology to extract light efficiently, significantly enhancing brightness. Conrad is currently selling hundreds of different models of Korean, U.S. and China mobile phones. Ac...