amBX has launched amBX Smart Core, a new system designed to be at the heart of new connected lighting systems enabled by the Internet of Things (IoT).

Digital LED lighting is now capable of being connected, and even powered, by IP networks and amBX Smart Core has been developed for this new application of lighting to deliver a high quality experience without the need for costly programming or complex technical interfaces.

Smart connected lighting control will mean that lighting systems will become much quicker and easier to install and faster and richer in configuration, not only delivering up to 75% energy savings in commercial and public installations switching to LED in offices and public buildings but also providing the opportunity to improve the quality of lighting for better human wellbeing and performance.

amBX Smart Core delivers effective management of this new generation of digital and network-connected lighting for offices and public buildings. Its dynamic and real-time capabilities enables new ways to setup and manage lighting and to deliver an optimum lighting experience every time in changing conditions and environments without the need for intricate, time consuming and expensive programming. The amBX system is uniquely suited to the new networked and IoT lighting applications.

amBX Smart Core works by controlling the lighting in a single space or multiple spaces based around end-user needs whilst reacting to environmental factors such as levels of daylight, time of day, temperature, whether the space is in use or not and other relevant data. The system is then able to take account of all these factors and produce, in real time, the best implementation possible of the desired outcome using the light fittings that are available. In effect the software produces the perfect virtual implementation of the desired outcome and then projects the best representation possible of that in the real world using the lighting available.

“Complex programming has long been the Achilles heel of lighting control. The amBX system supports an extremely wide range of ways to interact with lighting making it easy to manage both simple and sophisticated lighting experiences. Controlling lighting using new LED lights in this way will enable building owners and users to use richer, bio-adaptive lighting in new ways to create healthier, more productive workspaces and environments,” explains David Eves, CTO, amBX.

“This will lead to better human-centric lighting at desks, in meeting rooms and public spaces, in terms of intensity and colour changes.”

The impact of lighting on human performance and wellbeing is becoming widely understood and these new systems will be able to deliver more appropriate lighting. Bio-adaptive lighting provides artificial light controlled in such a way as to match the needs of human biological cycles, or circadian rhythms – our physical, mental and behavioural changes that follow a roughly 24-hour cycle, responding primarily to light and darkness – in the most effective and appropriate way. It supports improved health and wellbeing and aspects of human behaviour that benefit from varied and changeable lighting, whilst supporting established energy saving technologies such as presence detection and daylight harvesting.

Although transferable to other sectors and services, development of the amBX technology has been primarily concentrated on the commercial lighting market until now. amBX Smart Core represents the application of patented amBX technology for the Connected Lighting market (lighting connected on Ethernet based networks), which is expected to gain rapid adoption in the office and public building lighting sector.

amBX technology manages the optimum lighting experience using the lighting devices available and works with a very wide range of lighting control protocols for maximum compatibility. Different types of light and different lighting control standards can be harmonised within the same space to deliver the desired experience. Because amBX is a software-based solution, the outcomes it produces are scalable across just a few lights, tens of lights or even hundreds or thousands of lights. No other lighting control system is able to do this. This ability to scale is fundamental to saving commissioning time.

amBX technology is patent protected. Originally spun out from Phillips Research, the company has since completed a number of flagship commercial installations in the UK.