Jason Lomberg, North American Editor, PSD
Lighting/illumination/optoelectronics has come a long way – from back when solid-state lighting was a novelty to today, when it’s the norm. And this is a great month to lighten up, what with Lightfair on the horizon (or possibly now, depending on when you read this).
In 2022, Lightfair is set to return to Sin City (for the first time in eight years), in the Las Vegas Convention Center’s brand-new West Hall expansion, and June’s print issue will complement that nicely, but before we delve into June, it’s worth pausing to appreciate just how wondrous it is that so many important trade shows have gone live again.
The PSD staff just returned from Nuremberg and PCIM Europe, which in 2022, welcomed 11,306 live visitors, 384 exhibitors, and 704 conference participants. PCIM Europe has called Nuremberg home since 1979, and it bills itself as “the leading international platform showcasing current products, topics and trends in power electronics and applications,” making its continual live presence heartwarming.
The most important lighting show of the year (Lightfair) will be in-person, and by that time, the consumer juggernaut, Hanover Messe, should’ve successfully concluded a live extravaganza, while the normal slate of fall and winter shows – including The Battery Show in Novi, MI – will all be in-person.
Our “new normal,” whatever that is, feels pretty good.
Meanwhile, our June issue covers the many facets of “Lighting + Illumination,” including two specific aspects – and articles – I’d like to touch on.
First off, Analog Devices covers laser imaging, detection, and ranging (LIDAR) with “Cancelling Ambient Light for LIDAR Receivers.”
As the author, Noe Quintero, states rather succinctly, “One of the more difficult challenges of time of flight (ToF) LIDAR is the high sensitivity required for the receive signal chain.”
If all works as intended, the LIDAR sends out a narrow pulse of light, which hits a target and reflects back, and by knowing the speed of the light and round trip time, one can account for distance.
But as the amplitude of the pulsed laser goes up, the return signal gets larger, necessitating higher bandwidth for the receive signal chain. Quintero discusses how to properly account for the higher requirements.
The other piece I’d like to highlight provides a great primer on the “Five Essential Types of Industrial Lighting Solutions.”
Russ Freeman, with Allied Electronics & Automation, explores the aforementioned five, including overhead lighting; assembly, inspection and workstation lighting; machine and equipment lighting; automated lighting control systems; and indication and communication lighting.
No surprise, but LEDs make frequent appearances throughout the list.
For example, “LEDs are ideal for automated lighting systems because they are very low maintenance, deliver high brightnesswith no warm-up time, as well as varying light intensities to satisfymultiple application needs, and have extremely long lifetimes.”
Best Regards,
Jason Lomberg
North American Editor, PSD
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