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20
magazine
4
innovations
i
Philips launches SDK for Hue
Philips has launched a software developer program
for its Hue LED home lighting system. Controllable by
smartphone or tablet, Hue consists of energy-efficient
LED bulbs that can emit light in many shades and
colours and an internet-enabled Smartbridge.
The iOS software developers kit (SDK) will enable third
party developers to integrate Hue with other applications and
expand the range of solutions available to end users.
Already, these include apps that change lighting in time
with music and integrate Hue with a phone’s
calendaring system for scheduling purposes.
Philips itself offers pre-programmed LightRecipes,
which adjust bulb hue and brightness according to
whether you want to relax, read, concentrate or be
reinvigorated.
The new generation app (version 1.1) offers
additional possibilities including a geofencing
capability that senses when you are approaching or
leaving home and automatically turns the lights on
or off; and the ability to hook up to internet services
via a smartphone.
This, allied to Hue’s support for the IFTTT (If This Then That) internet automating
service, makes it possible for lighting to react to internet activity. For example, you
could programme bulbs to illuminate gradually as the sun sets; blink when you
receive an important email; or even flash in your team’s colours when they score.
Hue bulbs use the ZigBee LightLink standard to communicate with each other
and other ZigBee-based devices such as motion sensors and home thermostats.
Hue starter kits comprising three bulbs and a Smartbridge are available at Apple
stores for £179. Additional bulbs can be purchased for £49.95.
www.meetHue.com
Superfast broadband for everyone
Bringing superfast broadband to every home or business
in the UK, Avonline Broadband, the UK’s largest supplier
of the Tooway satellite broadband service, has increased
download speeds to 20Mbps and introduced the option of
unlimited data allowances.
All five Avonline packages now deliver download speeds
of 20Mbps and upload speeds of 6Mbps, with prices starting
at £16.95 per month. Monthly data allowances have been
increased and are unlimited on Avonline’s Absolute package
(£64.95 per month).
Avonline satellite broadband services are available UK-wide
and can be activated immediately without the need for any
infrastructure investment. All that’s required is a 74cm dish and
a modem.
MarkWynn, managing director of Avonline, said: “With
real 20Mbps download speeds, unlimited data allowances and
competitive pricing, our Next Generation satellite broadband
services are now substantially better than the ADSL services
available to millions of UK homes and businesses. Unlike
traditional fixed line broadband, a 20 Mbps service from a
satellite can deliver a true 20 Mbps download speed – great for
streaming High Definition video.”
Tooway Broadband from Avonline is
delivered by KaSat, a part of the Eutelsat
global fleet of satellites. Using the same
dish, users can enjoy free internet
telephone calls and subscription-free
HD TV.
www.avonlinebroadband.co.uk
A consortium of UK universities has
received funding to explore the possibilities
of Li-Fi – the transmission of internet
communications using visible light rather
than the radio waves and microwaves used
today.
Li-Fi is based on tiny LED lights that
imperceptibly flicker on and off thousands of
times a second. By altering the length of the
flickers, it is possible to send digital information
to specially adapted PCs and other electronic
devices – making Li-Fi the digital equivalent of
Morse Code.
As well as relieving pressure on parts of the
electromagnetic spectrum currently being used
to deliver WiFi-like internet communications,
the LED lights will at the same time be able
to display information and illuminate homes,
offices and other locations.
The UK consortium funded by the
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research
Council (EPSRC) is focusing on the development
of tiny, micron-sized LEDs instead of the 1mm
2
LEDs being developed by other researchers
around the globe.
Consortium members including the
Universities of Strathclyde, Cambridge,
Edinburgh, Oxford and St Andrews
believe this approach has a number of
advantages:
n
tiny LEDs are able to flicker on and
off 1,000 times more quickly than larger
LEDs, making them able to transmit data
more quickly;
n
an array of one thousand micron-sized
LEDs takes up the same amount of space
as a single 1mm
2
LED yet can communicate
one million (1,000 x 1,000) times as much
information; and
n
because each micron-sized LED acts as a tiny
pixel, one large LED array display could be used
to light a room, display information and provide
internet communications all at the same time.
Professor Martin Dawson of the University
of Strathclyde, who is leading the initiative,
said: “Imagine an LED array beside a motorway
helping to light the road, displaying the latest
traffic updates and transmitting internet
information wirelessly to passengers’ laptops,
netbooks and smartphones. This is the kind of
extraordinary, energy-saving parallelism that
we believe our pioneering technology could
deliver.”
Larger LED lights like this could be replaced by
arrays of micron-sized LEDs that will enable many
different tasks to be carried out simultaneously,
such as powering a laptop, providing illumination
and displaying information.
Multi-tasking LED lights like Morse Code for data
Eventually, LEDs could incorporate sensing
capabilities that would enable you to point
a mobile phone at a shop display to retrieve
pricing and information about products.
www.strath.ac.uk