Smart Lighting Center at Boston University (SLC/BU)

There are several notable revolutions in lighting: the transition from whale oil to gas as a lamp fuel, and the demise of gas for electricity with the incandescent bulb. More recently there have been initiatives to conserve energy by use of compact fluorescent light displacing the incandescent kind. Each transition has been driven by new technologies leading to whole new industries. We seek to create a leadership position in the drive to the next revolution in lighting using “solid-state” devices manufactured with silicon.

Today, as we embark on efforts to reduce reliance on non-renewable energy sources and to reduce carbon emissions the emerging technology is solid-state devices: light-emitting diodes or LEDs. Lighting with these devices offers great energy savings, longevity, and one more important feature: they can be used as communications devices.

Says Thomas Little, SLC Principal Investigator and BU lead, "I am excited about this project and believe it presents unique opportunities especially related to ubiquitous computing and sensor networks. Working on our prototype, we can easily imagine this to be a disruptive technology - for example, giving the traditional lighting vendors an entry into the telcom and service provision business."

In essence, if our research is successful, whenever a conventional light is replaced with a new “Smart Light,” we will enable future communications and networking within illuminated spaces. Thus, in addition to addressing strategic energy conservation and ecological needs, smart lighting will create ubiquitous communications capabilities that have many desirable characteristics not offered by current radio-frequency communications.

The Smart Lighting Center at Boston University is co-located in the Photonics Center Building at Boston University, sharing it's faculty and facilities.