From needs to control: a review of indicators and sensing technologies for occupant-centric smart lighting systems

Abstract

The light environment, a vital element of the built environment, profoundly influences occupants’ physical and mental well-being. Recent artificial intelligence advancements have given rise to the concept of smart lighting systems, which hold the potential to dynamically regulate indoor lighting to optimize visual and non-visual benefits. Existing research lacks an occupant-centric smart lighting indicator framework and fails to integrate advanced sensor technologies for indicator sensing, resulting in insufficient studies on intra-individual differences and a lack of foundational sensing systems. This paper reviews current research on occupant indicators in lighting systems and their sensing methods and significance. The occupant indicators can be divided into two categories: demand-side, which relates to visual and non-visual needs of occupants, and output decision, which relates to the required output of the lighting system. There are signals and sensors that can be shared among multiple indicators, with vision-based sensors and bioelectrical signals having the best universality. The study proposes a smart lighting indicator system framework that integrates occupant and environmental indicators, and further summarizes its current application approaches and potential future research directions. Future research should focus on the development of non-contact devices, such as vision-based sensors and nearable physiological signal sensors, addressing issues related to privacy and deployment convenience, while also validating their effectiveness in occupant indicator sensing.