CIE Components in Electronics
At Light+Building 2018, Fulham Co., Inc., a leading supplier of lighting components and electronics for commercial and specialty applications, will demonstrate new lighting control technology using the Lighting Firmware based on the core Bluetooth mesh stack provided by Silvair, a pioneer in lighting control technology. Fulham will be showing its Bluetooth mesh lighting controllers as well as software for smart luminaires in Hall 4.0, Stand A12.
Fulham’s Light+Building 2018 technology demonstration will display products including a Bluetooth to 0-10V LED controller and a 40W LED driver with Bluetooth connectivity via a Fulham Intelligent Wireless Module. The display will include a presentation of control using third-party sensors and wall switches in a Bluetooth mesh environment.
Fulham’s demonstration incorporates Silvair’s wireless lighting control technology based on Bluetooth mesh which gives users control and data gathering capabilities. Adopting Bluetooth mesh networking technology and Silvair’s wireless lighting control solution offers numerous advantages since Bluetooth is a well-defined, open standard that provides a fast, reliable performance, unmatched scalability, high-level security and out-of-the-box interoperability. Mesh networking was designed for building automation applications since it enables many-to-many communications. It is ideally suited for connected lighting as it can simultaneously connect sensors in hundreds or thousands of luminaires. Silvair’s Lighting Firmware based on Bluetooth mesh promises to offer a wireless lighting management ecosystem that can quickly pay for itself, as well as laying the foundation for centralised lighting controls using IoT (the Internet of Things).
“OEMs have been weighing the best approach to smart lighting controls and our partnership with Silvair marks a key step in Fulham’s demonstration of a new wireless lighting control,” says Russ Sharer, Vice President of Business Development for Fulham. “Our goal is to work with OEMs to give them a choice when it comes to lighting control. With our clever lighting products, we have already added programmability to solid-state luminaires. Support for Bluetooth mesh marks the next logical step in lighting communications as the industry moves toward truly intelligent lighting.”
“It is truly wonderful that Fulham joins us as one of our partners showing Silvair’s wireless lighting control solution based on the Bluetooth mesh technology. I am excited to see the upcoming changes in the lighting industry caused by our collaboration to bring a new generation of Bluetooth mesh enabled smart lighting components to the market.” says Rafal Han, CEO and co-founder at Silvair. “We cannot wait to demonstrate these products for the first time at Light + Building 2018. Silvair’s relationship with Fulham is an important step for making an interoperable smart lighting ecosystem a reality.”
In addition to lighting controls, Bluetooth mesh networking can be used for other IoT applications, working with sensors already located in luminaires to control HVAC systems, alarm systems, fire controls, and other building controls. ABI Research predicts there will be 48 billion Internet-enabled devices installed by 2021, including smart luminaires, and open standards such as Bluetooth mesh will make it possible to consolidate these devices into a central IoT infrastructure.
