LED Lights Get Smarter

At the industry conference Lightfair International next week, Marvell will be showing off chip sets that will allow light makers to add networking to light bulbs China Solar bag Offers additional two dollars, a cost that will help spur consumer sales of connected lights, says Kishore Manghani, vice president of green technology products.It's conceivable that by the end of the year, a package similar to Hue could be sold for $99 and half that price by the end of next year, according to Manghani. "We're enabling OEM to make a connected bulb at a consumer price point, not an early technology adopter price point," he says.

Marvell also developed a chip set that will make it cheaper to add wireless drivers to commercial lighting. The all-digital system, developed to work with Daintree's lighting control system, means additional features, such as dimming China Motion Sensor Lights Offers color control, can be added with a software upgrade, says Manghani.In another sign of digital convergence in lighting, LED maker Bridgelux tomorrow will introduce a product to make it easier to add features, such as wireless controls and sensors to commercial lighting. The company changed the packaging that accompanies its LED light enginesthe semiconductors that give off light to give light fixture makes more design flexibility, says Aaron Merrill, the director of marketing. For example, lights could be connected to corporate networks to measure energy usage, include motion sensors, or dim to take advantage of natural daylight.