With LED-based lighting lamps now being popularized all over the world, the concept of Internet of Lights (IoL) on existing LED illumination network using Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) including the visible light communications (VLC) was proposed aiming at creating Information and communication infrastructure. IoL improves the lighting efficiency and indoor lighting comfort level and can support value-added information services by modulating the light intensity yet further investigation of its impact on human beings is needed. This well suited SDG of UN in terms of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all, and building resilient infrastructure, promoting sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation.

This project showcased IoL concept with several pilot trials demonstrating how intelligent lighting can be supported and have won international recognition. Further investigation on feasibility of regulating human physiological rhythm, especially to alleviate degenerative neurological diseases using mice experiment can potentially bring light therapy treatments to patients in a non-intrusive way. This suggests that future standardization of VLC needs to consider not only the system transmission performance but also its potential impact on human beings for indoor applications. IoL is a new paradigm generating all the benefits to the end users including illumination control, information services, and the treatments.

https://www.tsinghua.edu.cn/en/

• China
• United Kingdom

• Youth
• Older persons
• Women
• Indigenous and nomadic peoples
• People with disabilities
• The unemployed
• The poor
• Migrants
• Refugees and internally displaced people
• Remote and rural communities

The project provides a new paradigm of IoL (Internet of Lights) using the existing illumination network as the platform with the integration of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) to support value-added services for the well beings of human’s needs.

There are no very costly devices, complicated technologies, sophisticated network or system structure, and fancy applications. It basically offers three different major functionalities, intelligent or smart lighting, pure information services such as locationing and data transmission, and non-intrusive optical intervention therapy in the future (at this moment, we believe this can be taken as the complementary of traditional medication in a preventive way).
Since those individual devices are available, and those integrated control and communication technologies are quite mature, some preliminary demonstrations have been done and some sub-systems have already been trialed, all with published results, we are highly confident that those work can be handily duplicated and eventually implemented by other parties who are interested in our work. Besides, on top of this IoL design, more applications can be supported with slightly modified solutions.

With advances of ever-increasing demand for the applications and advances of ICT technologies, more newly designed devices and developed techniques suitable or even designated to IoL paradigm can be incorporated and this application-driven development can drive the research and implementation of this IoL project for a long term, which will greatly accommodate people’s need by improving the living conditions, especially for the senior and disabled persons.

We have noticed the technical trends in semiconductor lighting may take a shift from LED to the Laser Diode illumination, we feel the similar concept and design principle are also applicable to this new trend after slight modifications. Besides, the research focus may also go to the outdoor illumination networks which apparently have different objectives and goals. Yet still, incorporating illumination networks with ICT may bring new dimensions for outdoor networks. For example, sensors for air pollution can be built into the lamps across the city and then provide the air quality report by a distributive manner. Also light color can be adoptively adjusted to alert the drivers in an appropriate way.

The dramatic development of information and communication technologies (ICT) has revolutionized the way people work, interact and conduct their daily lives. It has transformed the global economy and heralded a new and dynamic “information society”. Our understanding on the goal of WSIS is to promote ICT to our society as a whole to ensure the sustainable growth worldwide. The key words here are human-centric ICT and corporations. By introducing ICT to illumination networks to improve people’s living conditions in a human-centric way and also through the international collaboration, to conceptually prove the feasibility of IoL idea, we believe IoL project actually covers these aforementioned key areas and excellently reflects the WSIS value to society. Furthermore, value-added services such as non-intrusive optical intervention therapy on IoL platform in the future are also explored to bring more benefit to the society.