Daylighting Control and Simulation for LED-Based Energy-Efficient Lighting Systems

This paper presents a simulation environment and daylighting control strategy to achieve energy-efficient lighting while providing desired lighting levels at the target points. The lighting strategy is based on a self-tuning multivariable controller, which maintains the illuminance levels at user-defined set-points while improving the energy consumption due to artificial lighting. The simulation environment utilizes the so-called layered lighting design, which allows one to evaluate the performance of different control strategies. Furthermore, the environment can be used to validate the performance of a lighting control strategy, in quasi-real-time, and assess its potential energy savings. The above approach has not been investigated in prior literature and may thus be of interest in energy-aware automated lighting systems. A case study is presented for an open-plan office space exposed to variable natural light through windows and a set of individually addressable light emitting diode luminaries.