Human-centric Lighting

Exploring Non-Visual Effects of Light: An Investigation Using RGB Color Sensors for Smart Lighting Applications

This study explores the non-visual effects of light, demonstrating that low-cost RGB color sensors can accurately assess lighting conditions for both visual and non-visual benefits. The findings highlight the potential for smart lighting systems, emphasizing the need for comprehensive evaluation…

Published by LED professional ·

Examples of RGB color sensors. From left to right, the color sensor chips MTCS-CDCAF, MRGBiCS, and S11059. (Image Source: TU Darmstadt)
Examples of RGB color sensors. From left to right, the color sensor chips MTCS-CDCAF, MRGBiCS, and S11059. (Image Source: TU Darmstadt)

Key Findings of this Study:
The study underscores the importance of considering non-visual effects of light in lighting design and technology, highlighting that light significantly impacts aspects such as alertness, sleep quality, hormone production and suppression, and phase shift, all of which can affect human health and well-being. The research demonstrates the effective use of inexpensive and commercially available RGB color sensors to obtain colorimetric and photometric values with good accuracy, opening up possibilities for cost-effective solutions in lighting technology. The study emphasizes the need for a comprehensive evaluation of lighting systems, considering both visual and non-visual effects, leading to better lighting solutions that enhance user comfort and well-being. It also highlights the potential limitations of using a single sensor type, indicating the need for further research with different sensor types to generalize the findings. Lastly, the study points towards the future of lighting technology, where adaptive control systems (smart lighting) that provide optimal visual and non-visual conditions will become increasingly important, guiding future research and development in the field.

Results:

  1. The study successfully defined suitable input parameters for the description of non-visual lighting effects and determined their optimal values. These parameters can be used to describe the non-visual effects of light in their variety of manifestations such as alertness, sleep quality, hormone production and suppression, and phase shift.
  2. The research implemented a model to check the synthesized prediction model for lighting applications. The model not only conformed to the mathematical calculations, but also determined whether it can be applied in lighting systems with low-cost RGB color sensors.
  3. The study found that it is possible to obtain colorimetric and photometric values XYZ, Ev, and CCT with relatively good results using inexpensive and commercially available RGB color sensors. The maximum relative deviations were found to be in the range of ± 3.3%.
  4. The study concluded that the methodology described enables an accurate and financially justifiable assessment of lighting installations according to non-visual criteria, which will become increasingly important in the coming decades.
  • Title: Determination and Measurement of Melanopic Equivalent Daylight (D65) Illuminance (mEDI) in the Context of Smart and Integrative Lighting
  • Authors: Vinh Quang Trinh, Peter Bodrogi, and Tran Quoc Khanh
  • Affiliations:
    • Laboratory of Adaptive Lighting Systems and Visual Processing, Technical University of Darmstadt, Hochschulstr. 4a, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany
    • ERCO GmbH, Brockhauser Weg 80-82, 58507 Lüdenscheid, Germany
  • Published: 23 May 2023
  • DOI: 10.3390/s23115000
  • Journal: Sensors 2023, 23, 5000
  • Keywords: non-visual effects of light; melanopic equivalent daylight (D65) illuminance; mEDI; melanopic equivalent daylight (D65) efficacy ratio; mDER; intelligent and integrated lighting; mDER calculation model; mEDI measurement; mEDI determination
  • Pages: 21 pages
  • Link: https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/11/5000

Did you like this article?

Share this article

You could also like this

Human-centric Lighting

Sunlight, UVB and Vitamin D – Human Centric Lighting Beyond Melanopic Stimulation

by Ir. Rémy C. Broersma and Dr. Ir. Marcel P. Lucassen, Scientists at Signify Research Eindhoven UVB radiation initiates vital processes in our body, one of which is the production of vitamin D in the skin. It is well known that over-exposure to the sun may bring a risk. Less well known is that the same is true for insufficient sun exposure due to our indoor lifestyle. In Part 1 of this article, we first describe the scientific understanding behind vitamin D. In Part 2 we describe how artificial light can be enriched with a safe, low dose of UVB, to supplement natural vitamin D production in the skin. Not too much, not too little.

Human-centric Lighting

Light in the Service of Health – Bringing the Science of Light and Health into Everyday Life through Evidence-based Communication

Light does far more than let us see. In this episode of the LED professional podcast, Manuel Spitschan and Laura Kervezee, co-chairs of the Light for Public Health Initiative, explain how light acts as the master regulator of the body’s internal clock: it synchronises our physiology with the day outside, shapes mood and alertness, and times the release of melatonin, the hormone that governs sleep. The science is settled enough to act on, so the initiative has distilled it into 26 consensus statements on how light affects the body and well-being, written as practical, evidence-based guidance for individuals, employers, schools and cities. A compact 14-minute briefing on why good light is a public-health question, and what to do about it. Based on the authors’ article in LED professional Review #112.

Human-centric Lighting

deLIGHTed Talks #8: Good Light – Good Sleep

Full recording of deLIGHTed Talks #8, held online by LpS DIGITAL on 24 April 2025 (91 minutes). Dr. Renske Lok (Stanford University) shows that bright light during the day deepens nighttime sleep, reduces nighttime awakenings, improves sleep efficiency and lowers next-day sleep inertia. Dr. Jeffrey Hubbard (University of Lausanne / EPFL) compares how light and darkness drive sleep and wakefulness in nocturnal mice and day-active Sudanian grass rats. Chronobiologist Dr. Virginie Gabel, founder of Clock&Me, moderates the session and the discussion on what the findings mean for lighting design.

Human-centric Lighting

COMMENTARY: Good Light – The Next Growth Story for Our Lighting Industry

Good Light — also called Human Centric or Integrative Lighting — can become the lighting industry’s next growth story by focusing on health, wellbeing and performance rather than energy alone.

LuminusEdison optoLTF TechnologyLoreos

The latest Press Releases

Explore All

Rehm Thermal Systems

Rehm Thermal Systems Strengthens Its Presence in Spain and Portugal: Propelec Appointed as New Representative for Protecto and RDS UV LED

Zumtobel

MUTEC 2026: Light as a precision tool and world premiere for IDIA

SOLAIS

Continuing Commercial Growth, Solais Welcomes Jordan Mills as Director of Commercial Inside Sales

FEENEY

Feeney Launches LED Lighting Kits for DesignRail® Modern

Stay current with our monthly Update from the lighting industry

LEDprofessional Newsletter

You will receive a confirmation e-mail. Unsubscribe anytime.