The Photopic sensor integrated into the AS721x series is made of a nano-optic filter and is designed to help lighting manufacturers address challenges related to increasing energy-saving lighting standards, including daylighting control functions. These challenges are solved more cost-effectively by integrating high-granularity detection functions, including control and connectivity features such as Bluetooth, into lighting fixtures.

Sajol Ghoshal, Head of ams’ New Growth Sensor Strategy Business Unit, stated, “The AS721x family is a smart lighting semiconductor optical sensor solution that acts as an IoT (Internet of Things) sensor hub in smart buildings, enabling the creation of Internet of Awareness™ capabilities through the convergence of IoT-connected lighting and sensor fusion. The AS721X family features the groundbreaking and easy-to-use connectivity capabilities of Broadcom’s WICED™ Smart Bluetooth and SmartBridge platforms, allowing for plug-and-play IoT connectivity. This approach is well-suited for machine learning curves for big data aggregation and future prediction.”

The AS721x product family is ams's first highly integrated sensor solution platform technology that provides system-grade sensing and control capabilities, dramatically reducing system costs and accelerating time-to-market. The AS721x Smart Lighting Manager acts as an Autonomous Daylighting Manager, detecting ambient natural light and managing fine-tuning as external light levels fluctuate to achieve consistent lux levels in a space. Integrated into each lighting fixture, the sensor-based manager optimizes the overall responsiveness and efficiency of the lighting system, maximizing energy savings. This approach provides a method for maintaining precise lumens based on changes in time and temperature, and enables a fully connected lighting system to respond to command and control strategies at the building or space level.

Sid Shaw, Senior Manager of Broadcom’s Wireless Connectivity Products, stated, “ams’s groundbreaking sensor-integrated Manager Series directly addresses the lighting industry’s desire for technically feasible, highly integrated control that is efficient in terms of cost and space. By integrating standards-based BT Smart Connectivity available everywhere, this solution will bring about a true revolution in the lighting industry,” adding that it will provide a network-connected system approach that clearly demonstrates the power of the Internet of Things (IoT).

Because competitor products require individual components, including sensors, processors, memory, and I/O chips, they are essentially based on a “Build Your Own” concept where you select and implement the technology yourself. These components require design, integration, and the development of programs tailored to control and communication algorithms, and this programming process is time-consuming. In contrast, the AS721x product family provides a fully integrated solution, offering significantly lower costs than using discrete components and a simple configuration through high-density integration.

Additional features of ams's automatic natural light manager AS721x are as follows:

• 20-pin 2.1 x 2.3mm chip scale and 4.5 x 4.7mm LGA (Land grid array) package options available

• Photopic natural light sensor for accurate detection and control of ambient light

• Driving 0-10V and multi-channel PWM outputs through the integration of industry-standard 0-10V control methods

• Standard serial UART (AS7211) or integrated IR remote control decoding (AS7210) for extension to standard networking

• Network-enabled architecture - Advanced driverless smart lighting command set suitable for IoT connectivity via Bluetooth 4x (BLE), ZigBee, WiFi, Ethernet/PoE, or other networks

• I2C sensor expander providing lighting host sensor bridge performanceNeung

The AS721x automatic natural lighting manager product family is priced at less than $3 per unit for a quantity of 5,000. High-volume customers are currently testing sample devices, and mass production is scheduled for the third quarter of 2015. For further information, please contact CognitiveLighting@ams.com.