Key Research Areas

Since 2001, the LRC has played an influential role in global LED lighting research and education. Below are some of the LRC’s key research projects.

Developing a Predictive Life Test for LED Systems
The LRC continues to investigate the life of LED lighting systems in order to develop an accelerated, predictive life-test procedure that accounts for both useful life and the possibility of catastrophic failure of a system at any given environment temperature and use pattern.

Estimating LED Life
Early 21st century claims purported LED lighting to last 100,000 hours. The LRC, however, showed that LED life could be far less, depending on the luminaire design and installation. Through its Alliance for Solid-State Illumination Systems and Technologies (ASSIST), the LRC developed a recommended test method for estimating LED life for general lighting.

Understanding White Light Source Color Rendering and Appearance
The LRC and ASSIST have conducted a long-term study of subjective preferences using psychophysical experiments to understand how observers perceive white light sources and what they prefer in terms of object color rendering and the white hue or tint of a light source.

LED Lighting for Supermarket Freezer Display Cases
The LRC was one of the first to investigate the possibility of using LEDs in supermarket refrigerator and freezer display cases, where fluorescent lamps are a common but not ideal technology for cold environments.

Professional LED Lighting Education
Since 2001, the LRC has offered an unbiased, research-based workshop for lighting designers, architects, and engineers on how to build successful LED lighting products and applications.

Bringing Advanced, Energy-Efficient LED Lighting to Aviation
Aviation lighting has evolved as a result of LRC research conducted on behalf of the Federal Aviation Administration. Research in the areas of solid-state lighting and vision science are providing new lighting solutions that benefit the aviation industry.

Improving LED Light Output and Efficacy Through SPE™
The LRC’s Scattered Photon Extraction (SPE™) improves LED light output by up to 60% through the extraction of backscattered photons. The innovative package design combines remote-phosphor technology with optimally shaped secondary optics.

Tools to Evaluate Outdoor Lighting
A global trend to replace conventional outdoor lighting with LEDs led to the development of tools for evaluating and selecting both LED and conventional outdoor luminaires: a new metric rooted in the concept of application efficacy, a free online calculator based on this metric, and methods to assess discomfort glare and mesopic efficiency.

LED Aircraft Cabin Lighting for the 787 Dreamliner
The LRC partnered with Boeing to develop innovative and efficient lighting solutions for use aboard the 787 Dreamliner jet, a next-generation commercial airplane with energy-efficiency and passenger experience in mind.

 = ASSIST Project