Lighting control systems feature an intelligent network of individually addressable and sensor-rich luminaires and control devices that allows each component of the system to send and receive data. Increasingly deployed in offices, retail, healthcare, factories, and other commercial facilities, lighting control solutions deliver a combination of energy savings, an enhanced occupant experience, and more efficient building operations.

Why Bluetooth Technology Standardized Wireless Lighting

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Ensuring global interoperability requires standardization across all three layers of a wireless lighting control solution – the radio layer, communication layer, and device layer. Over a decade ago, the lighting industry began a journey towards standardization of wireless lighting control using Bluetooth® technology. First, the industry standardized the radio layer using Bluetooth Low Energy (LE), bringing much-needed economies of scale that only the most widely deployed wireless radio standard in the world can provide. Bluetooth Mesh then added communication layer standardization, increasing innovation by allowing manufacturers to focus their engineering efforts on higher-level, value-added capabilities.

Yet, a wireless standard to define functionality at the device layer did not exist, limiting global mainstream adoption and preventing the market from reaching its full potential. Bluetooth® Networked Lighting Control (NLC) solves this challenge. Specifically designed to meet the scale, reliability, and security demands required in commercial settings, Bluetooth NLC is the only full-stack standard for wireless lighting control. By offering standardization from the radio through the device layer, Bluetooth NLC enables true multi-vendor interoperability and mass adoption of wireless lighting control.

FEATURED INNOVATION

Bluetooth Mesh Networking

Bluetooth® Mesh enables the creation of large-scale device networks and is ideally suited for control, monitoring, and automation systems where hundreds or thousands of devices need to communicate with one another.

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Benefits to Suppliers and Buyers

Specifically designed to meet the scale, reliability, and security demands required in commercial settings, Bluetooth® NLC is the only full-stack standard for wireless lighting control. Suppliers will benefit from lower costs, faster installation, increased market opportunity, and additional revenue models. Buyers stand to benefit from true, multi-vendor interoperability, ease of deployment, and greater scalability.

Benefits for Suppliers

  • Lower Cost & Faster Innovation: With more than five billion Bluetooth® enabled devices forecasted to ship in 2023 alone, Bluetooth NLC developers will benefit from the economies of scale that Bluetooth technology affords, and increased supplier diversity will lead to more attractive component pricing, driving down overall product costs. In addition, by adopting a standardized approach for wireless communications in lighting control systems, the need to develop and maintain proprietary technologies is eliminated, and developers can reallocate their engineering efforts to focus on more value-added, differentiating features and capabilities.

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  • Increased Market Opportunity: The establishment of a true, global standard is necessary to enable any market to achieve its full promise. Wireless lighting control is no different. Bluetooth® NLC expands the supplier opportunity by instilling buyer confidence and peace of mind and increasing the likelihood of adoption, expanding the overall breadth of the market, and unleashing its total potential.
  • Additional Revenue Models: The same Bluetooth® radio embedded in lighting control devices can also be used to implement advanced building services, such as indoor navigation, space utilization, and asset tracking. With this shift from a single-function solution to a platform for data-driven smart building services, manufacturers can add recurring revenue streams while also leveraging additional benefits beyond illumination to differentiate with prospective customers.

Benefits for Buyers

  • True, Multi-vendor Interoperability: Bluetooth® NLC is the only full-stack wireless lighting control solution that defines operations at all three layers – the radio, communication, and device layers. Bluetooth NLC establishes a true, global wireless standard that frees buyers and installers from vendor lock-in and gives them confidence that lighting components from different vendors will work seamlessly with each other.
  • Ease of Deployment: With Bluetooth® technology native in 100 percent of smartphones and tablets, installers can use simple, user-friendly commissioning apps that communicate directly with nodes on the network, eliminating the need for specialized engineering expertise or internet and cloud platforms to support installation and operation of the system. In addition, a remote provisioning feature makes adding new devices or maintaining or changing existing devices even easier.
  • Greater Scalability: The ideal lighting control system is often one that can start small and then scale, in both functionality and size, as spaces and layouts inevitably change and evolve. Bluetooth® NLC features a decentralized architecture that distributes control to all end devices, removing the need for centralized controllers and allowing Bluetooth NLC lighting systems to be more easily reconfigurable and far more extensible than other wireless lighting control options. This decentralized control architecture enables systems to easily expand or contract to meet changing business needs and occupant requirements.

By standardizing the radio through the device layer, Bluetooth® NLC enables true multi-vendor interoperability and mass adoption of wireless lighting control.

Learn more about Bluetooth® Networked Lighting Control.

FEATURED INNOVATION

Networked Lighting Control

Bluetooth® Networked Lighting Control systems are deployed in offices, retail, healthcare, factories, and other commercial facilities to deliver a combination of energy savings, an enhanced occupant experience, and more efficient building operations.

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照明制御システムでは、センサーを豊富に搭載した照明器具と制御装置が、それぞれアドレスを持ちデータを送受信する、インテリジェントなネットワークを形成しています。照明制御システムはオフィス、小売、医療、工場などの施設での導入が進み、省エネや施設利用者の快適性向上、建物運用の効率化に寄与しています。

なぜBluetooth技術でワイヤレス照明の標準規格なのか

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ワイヤレス照明制御で グローバルな相互運用性を確保するには、「無線層」「通信層」「デバイス層」の3層すべてにわたる標準化が必要になります。照明業界では、10年以上前からBluetooth®®技術を活用したワイヤレス照明制御の標準化を進めてきました。最初にBluetooth LEによって無線層の標準規格が策定され、世界で最も幅広く普及している無線通信標準だけが実現可能な規模のスケールメリットがもたらされました。次に、Bluetooth Meshによって通信層への標準化が加わりました。これにより、メーカーはより高度で付加価値をもたらす機能の開発に集中できるようになり、イノベーションの加速が実現しました。

この時点では、デバイス層の機能を規定するワイヤレス標準規格がまだ存在しなかったため、グローバルな主流の形成に限界があり、市場の可能性を最大限引き出すには至りませんでした。この課題を解決するのが、Bluetooth®︎ NLC(Networked Lighting Control:ネットワーク照明制御)です。特に商用環境で求められるスケール、信頼性、セキュリティに対応できるよう策定されたBluetooth NLCは、ワイヤレス照明制御に向けた唯一のフルスタック標準規格です。無線層からデバイス層にわたる標準化を提供することにより、Bluetooth NLCはマルチベンダー間の真の相互運用性を実現し、ワイヤレス照明制御の幅広い普及への道を開きます。

サプライヤーと購入者にもたらされるメリット

特に商用環境で求められるスケール、信頼性、セキュリティに対応できるよう策定されたBluetooth®︎ NLCは、ワイヤレス照明制御で唯一のフルスタック標準規格です。サプライヤーが享受できるメリットには、コスト削減、設置に要する期間の短縮、市場機会の拡大、収益モデルの増加などがあります。購入者もまた、マルチベンダー間における真の相互運用性の実現がもたらす、照明器具の導入および拡大がより容易になるなどのメリットが得られます。

サプライヤーのメリット

    • コスト削減とイノベーションの加速:Bluetooth®︎対応デバイスの年間出荷台数は、2023年だけでも50億台を超えると予測されます。Bluetooth NLCではこのようなBluetooth®技術が可能にするスケールメリットの恩恵を受けることができる上に、サプライヤーの多様化による部品価格のより魅力的な価格帯への移行と、それによる全体的な製品コストの低下につながります。また、照明制御システムの無線通信部分が標準化されることによって、各社が独自の通信技術を開発および維持する必要がなくなり、より付加価値の高い、差別化につながる機能や特徴の開発に集中できるようになります。

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  • 市場機会の拡大:どの市場においても、最大限の可能性を実現するには真のグローバル規格の確立が不可欠であり、ワイヤレス照明制御も例外ではありません。Bluetooth® NLCが購入者に与える信頼感と安心感によって製品の採用可能性が高まり、市場の全体的な拡大によって潜在的な可能性を最大限に解き放つことができるようになるため、サプライヤーのビジネスチャンスが拡大します。
  • 収益モデルの増加:照明制御デバイスに搭載されるBluetooth®︎無線は、屋内ナビゲーションや空間活用、資産追跡などの先進的なビルサービスの導入にも活用できます。単機能ソリューションから、データを活用したスマートビルディングサービスに活用できるプラットフォームへとシフトすることにより、メーカーは定期的な収益を期待できます。同時に、単なる照明を超えた付加価値によって、購入検討者に差別化をアピールすることもできます。

購入者のメリット

  • マルチベンダー間における真の相互運用性:Bluetooth®︎ NLCは、ワイヤレス照明制御で唯一、「無線層」「コミュニケーション層」「デバイス層」の3層すべてにわたり、フルスタックで仕様が規定された標準規格です。Bluetooth NLCは購入者および設置者をベンダーロックインから解放する真にグローバルな無線規格を確立し、異なるベンダーの照明製品を組み合わせてもシームレスに機能するという安心感をもたらします。
  • 導入が容易:Bluetooth®︎技術はスマートフォンおよびタブレットの100%に標準で搭載されているため、簡単で使いやすく、ネットワーク上のノードと直接通信するコミッショニングアプリが利用できます。システムの導入と運用に、特別な専門技術やインターネット上のクラウドプラットフォームは必要ありません。加えて、リモートプロビジョニング機能によって、新しいデバイスの追加や既存デバイスの保守と変更も容易です。
  • 高い拡張性:空間やレイアウトの変更や進化は必然的に発生するため、照明制御システムは、まずは小規模なものから始め、その後の変更に合わせて機能と規模の両方において拡張していけることが理想です。Bluetooth® NLCは、すべてのエンドデバイスに制御を分散させる分散アーキテクチャを特徴としているため、中央のコントローラを必要としません。また、Bluetooth NLCの照明システムは他のワイヤレス照明制御の選択肢に比べ、構成の変更がより容易で、はるかに高い拡張性を備えています。この分散型の制御アーキテクチャにより、ビジネスニーズや施設利用者の要件の変更に合わせてシステムを容易に拡大、縮小できます。

無線層からデバイス層にわたる標準化によって、Bluetooth®︎ NLCはマルチベンダー間の真の相互運用性の実現と、ワイヤレス照明制御の幅広い普及を可能にします。

Bluetooth®︎ NLCに関する詳細はこちらをご覧ください

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