New wireless LED driver platform advances commercial lighting applications and meets future demands

石榴姐

New wireless LED driver platform advances commercial lighting applications and meets future demands [Copy link]

Increasing pressure on businesses to improve energy efficiency, reduce operating costs and meet strict government regulations has driven a sharp increase in the use of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) around the world. According to a January 2021 Mordor Intelligence report, the LED lighting market was valued at $75.81 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $160.03 billion by 2026.

Existing LED technology outperforms traditional incandescent lamps in terms of efficiency and flexibility. However, today end users, installers and lighting companies are looking for commercial lighting systems that are more flexible, more durable, and easier to implement, use and control than existing wired lighting systems.

Recent focus has been on smart, wireless commercial lighting networks that can reduce carbon footprints through demand-driven lighting, daylight harvesting, occupancy detection, higher light quality, and flicker-free/glitch-free dimming. In the future, these networks may even serve as the backbone for Internet of Things (IoT) applications such as asset tracking and building utilization analytics.

RediSem, a leading semiconductor supplier of LED controller integrated circuits (ICs), is steadily advancing the development of wireless commercial LED technology. The company has partnered with Qorvo, a leading provider of innovative RF solutions, to enable a new generation of smart lighting that integrates high-performance control with wireless connectivity. Finally, RediSem has launched a new product designed to address the key challenges of implementing smart LED lighting in commercial environments, such as cost, reliability, future flexibility and size.

challenge

End users as well as manufacturers of lamps and LED drivers face high technical cost barriers when entering the smart lighting space. This is due to the wide variety of wireless transmission technologies, the lack of standardization in the lighting field, and the rigidity of traditional wired solutions.

In addition, end users as well as manufacturers of lamps and LED drivers face high technical cost barriers when entering the field of smart lighting. This is due to the variety of wireless transmission technologies, the lack of standardization in the lighting field, and the rigidity of traditional wired solutions. The demand for excellent reliability also poses challenges to the commercial application of existing lighting products. For example, once the lighting system in an office building is installed on the ceiling, its maintenance costs will be high. In IoT networks, the reliability of RF links is also critical because control messages must be transmitted with as few packet drops as possible.

Related to reliability, LED commercial lighting networks need to adapt to future needs, supporting both current wireless standards and emerging standards. For example, in addition to allowing regular updates to the widely used Bluetooth and Zigbee standards, the infrastructure must also be able to meet the needs of new initiatives, such as the Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) using BLE. In addition, the infrastructure needs to be flexible to ensure that IoT LED drivers can be easily reconfigured to meet the needs of changing usage and layout scenarios.

Beyond technology, end customers are looking for compact and attractive lighting solutions without the added bulk of wireless connectivity, so all these features must be integrated into a small space.

solution

Having shipped more than 200 million ICs to tier-one commercial lighting brands, RediSem has a unique understanding of these challenges. When looking to create a new LED driver solution that would meet the current and future needs of its customers, the company partnered with Qorvo’s Wireless Connectivity business, which develops wireless semiconductor system solutions for connected devices supporting Wi-Fi as well as low-power Zigbee, Thread and Bluetooth Low Energy for the Internet of Things.

The two parties have collaborated to launch a reference platform using RediSem's RED2822 controller IC, which is a flexible turnkey solution that can drive all common light sources in the commercial and industrial fields with a power of up to 250W. It consists of a fully integrated high-performance dimmable LED driver with high efficiency, low standby power consumption and no flicker, and a simple digital dimmable wireless platform. A flexible software development kit (SDK) enables customers to further build their own BLE and Zigbee lighting applications.

RediSem controllers enable seamless interoperability across different wireless standards through the integrated Qorvo QPG6100 IoT system-on-chip (SoC), the first communications controller to integrate Qorvo ConcurrentConnect technology. ConcurrentConnect enables devices to virtually listen to multiple protocols, such as Bluetooth Mesh, Zigbee and Thread, simultaneously without noticeable latency. This means that a single SKU can support multiple standards, and luminaires can be upgraded to new control standards, such as DALI using BLE or Matter, and wirelessly reassigned to different control systems without having to access the electrical wiring in ceilings and walls.

The QPG6100's small form factor and low power consumption make it easy to integrate into the RediSem RED2822 LED driver platform. In turn, designers can use RediSem's LED driver solutions to reduce components and BOM, resulting in smaller, sleeker devices. The entire solution still fits into a single industry-standard small driver box without adding bulk.

Wireless LED Driver Reference Platform Block Diagram

In addition, the QPG6100 features Qorvo’s patented IEEE 802.15.4/Zigbee packet switching antenna diversity, a unique technology that maximizes a reliable RF link. It provides a stable, low-latency connection and enables simpler installation because fewer gateways are needed to cover the same area.

result

The way we think about lighting in commercial spaces is changing rapidly for a variety of reasons, from government directives to public opinion to the need to improve operational performance. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a similar impact, prompting the need for social distancing and staggered work hours, which has forced us to rethink the use and lighting of office, manufacturing, retail and hospitality spaces.

By implementing demand-driven lighting, smart, wireless commercial lighting networks will further reduce energy consumption in commercial buildings while improving light quality. Smart lighting networks will even become the backbone for Internet of Things (IoT) applications such as asset tracking and building utilization analysis.

By leveraging the built-in flexibility of the RediSem RED2822 controller IC and the Qorvo QPG6100, which supports multiple protocols simultaneously, the LED driver platform means that LED driver manufacturers, luminaire manufacturers and other companies can easily design attractive smart commercial lighting solutions. Now, they can offer their customers the most future-proof smart lighting solutions that are not only easy to install, maintain and reconfigure, but also save up to 50% of energy while providing better light quality.