Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center to demo human-centric lighting application at CES 2014

Jan. 3, 2014
Troy, NY - Consumers are already getting their first taste of wearable technology, including smartphone-enabled watches and personal fitness trackers that monitor everything from hours slept to steps taken. At this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show, held January 7-10, 2014, in Las Vegas, NV, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center (ERC) will showcase a prototype of a product designed to ultimately help people feel better and be more productive.

The prototype is a smart wearable based on Google GlassTM that measures light exposure and biometric signals to provide personal health insights via an Android app. The goal is to help people understand their circadian rhythm, and ultimately optimize mood, productivity and sleep cycles.

The ERC, which works to create transformative lighting systems with adaptive and controllable properties that will revolutionize lighting, will participate in CES along with other centers funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Under the banner Smart Lighting Systems that See and ThinkTM, the ERC is developing lighting systems that do everything from automatically adjusting the color, intensity and direction of light to maximize its quality, to lights that carry data, complementing and enlarging the Wi-Fi network with Li-Fi (or visible light communications).

"We're excited about attending the 2014 International CES as part of the NSF cluster in Eureka Park, because it offers an unparalleled opportunity to raise the visibility of the center with global leaders in consumer hardware and software," said Silvia Mioc, Director of Industrial Collaboration and Innovation of the Smart Lighting ERC. "We are looking forward to giving consumers a peek at what the next exciting lighting applications will be and connecting with new companies to partner with the center, so that together we can make smart lighting a reality."

Technology transfer and starting new companies is an important component of the ERC mission. ByteLight (http://www.bytelight.com), a company started by Smart Lighting ERC students from Boston University, one of the partner universities in the center is also featured in the booth. ByteLight provides the delivery of location-based content to mobile devices via LED lights enabled with ByteLight's software. This allows retailers and venue operators to offer discounts, mapping and other services, to people at precise locations within their buildings.
The Smart Lighting ERC will be exhibiting at CES in the Academia Tech section of Eureka Park, booth 73013.

Following its exhibition at CES, the ERC will host its annual Smart Spaces symposium bringing together industry and academia from February 12-13 in Troy, New York. For more information about this year's conference see http://smartlighting.rpi.edu/events/smart-spaces-2014.shtml.

About the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center (ERC)
The Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center, funded primarily by the National Science Foundation, with additional support from NYSTAR, engages faculty members, graduate students, research staff, and undergraduates to work on research leading to smart lighting systems with adaptive and controllable properties that will change the way society uses lighting. As an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional center, it joins academia, industry, and government in partnership to produce transformational engineered systems, along with engineering graduates who are adept at innovation and primed for leadership in the global economy. The Smart Lighting ERC is headquartered at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, and partners with Boston University and The University of New Mexico to achieve its objectives.

About Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1824, is the nation's oldest technological university. The university offers bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in engineering, the sciences, information technology, architecture, management, and the humanities and social sciences. Institute programs serve undergraduates, graduate students, and working professionals around the world. Rensselaer faculty are known for pre-eminence in research conducted in a wide range of fields, with particular emphasis in biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology, and the media arts and technology. The Institute is well known for its success in the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the marketplace so that new discoveries and inventions benefit human life, protect the environment, and strengthen economic development.

Contact:

Silvia Mioc, Director of Industrial Collaborations and Innovation
+1-518-276-4010