Design and Implementation of a Wireless Sensor Network for Intelligent Light Control

We present the design and implementation of the Illuminator, a preliminary sensor network-based intelligent light control system for entertainment and media production. Unlike most sensor network applications, which focus on sensing alone, a distinctive aspect of Illuminator is that it closes the loop from light sensing to lighting control. We describe the Illuminator´s design requirements, system architecture, algorithms, implementation and experimental results. To satisfy the high-performance light sensing requirements of entertainment and media production applications, the system uses the Illumimote, which is a multi-modal and high fidelity light sensor module well-suited to wireless sensor networks. The Illuminator system is a toolset to characterize the illumination profile of a deployed set of fixed position lights, generate desired lighting effects for moving targets (actors, scenic elements, etc.) based on user constraints expressed in a formal language, and assist in the set up of lights to achieve the same illumination profile in multiple venues. After characterizing deployed lights, the Illuminator computes at run-time optimal light settings to achieve a user-specified actuation profile using an optimization framework based on a genetic algorithm Uniquely, it can use deployed sensors to incorporate changing ambient lighting conditions and moving targets into actuation. With experimental results, we demonstrate that the Illuminator handles various high-level user´s constraints and generates optimal light actuation profile. These results suggest that our system should support entertainment and media production applications.