Synthesizing Light for the Benefit of Humanity

Imagine a world where efficient, digital lighting makes us healthier and more productive, produces significant energy savings, and even provides wireless, optical access to the Internet. The NSF Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center is developing new technologies and applications to change the way society uses lighting.

Engineered Smart Lighting Systems will optically sense the environment to provide energy efficient, comfortable illumination when and where it is needed. Beyond illumination, Smart Lighting Systems will simultaneously provide high-speed data access and scan for biological and biochemical hazards.

ERC Highlights:

• Learn about: “Privacy-Preserving Smart-Room Analytics”.
• September 2015: Emerging Technologies Track: Light-Based Communications and Positioning,
• Mobility and Activity Recognition in Smart Rooms
• Postdoctoral Research Opportunity
• Optical MEMS for Dynamic Lighting
• MIMO Optical Communication.
• Reverse Polarity O-OFDM.
• Smart Spaces – Applications of Smart Lighting Technology

The NSF Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center (ERC) was founded in 2008 by the NSF as one of the first Generation 3 ERCs, where the role of industry is even more important than in Generation 2. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is the lead institution, and core partners are Boston University and The University of New Mexico. Outreach partners are Howard University, Morgan State University, and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

The ERC, funded by the National Science Foundation, is a partnership among Boston University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and University of New Mexico.