Depth analysis of the birth and landing history of intelligent lighting

A long time ago, the lights were lights, the mobile phones were mobile phones, and the Internet of Things was the Internet of Things. The three did not hook up. Luminaires are simply over-conventional from traditional energy-saving lamps to more electronic LED lights. Mobile phones, smart phones at the time were just toys for the rich. Dopod, Nokia E90 and so on are just the rich man's loaded weapon and GEEK door toy. And Jobs is still struggling to drink for iphone1. Because iphone1 is not selling well. Iphone3g directly signed a contract 0 yuan purchase in North America. The ordinary consumer's mantra is still a mobile phone, I just need to call and send a text message. Why do you want to be so versatile? The Internet of Things is mainly about playing with concepts, and some are clamoring for her NFC technology. Some allow various sensors to connect to the WAN based on 2G and 3G and then return the data. I still remember that I was an engineer in a well-known foreign company and was sent to China Mobile's Wuxi IoT Lab. The project that made me slap the drum is to use wifi for indoor positioning, which is also known as the Internet of Things.

However, each of these three unrelated worlds has had a major event. Let these industries collide and collide.

Let me talk about the lighting industry first. I don't know who it is, the legend is Mulinsen. The price of the LED suddenly pulled down. The T5 lamp was pulled directly from 200 dollars to 20 dollars. Other manufacturers are also following up. that's it. The lighting industry has entered the LED era. LED luminaires broke out. The mobile phone industry, the release of iphone3gs. Android 2.0 system release. The experience of the smartphone suddenly pulled the function machine out of the heart. Functional machines, such as Sony Ericsson's music phones, and camera phones lost their fighting power at once. And with the low-cost sea tactics of Android. The operator also followed up and quit the iphone3gs0 yuan purchase plan. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology unblocked wifi (previously only mobile phone wifi was castrated), and the smart phone industry really broke out.

What about the Internet of Things industry? Thanks to the maturity of the smartphone industry. As a result, the large area coverage of the wifi hotspot has caused the price of the core component of wifi to drop sharply. Any hardware plugged into a wifi module can be easily connected to the network through the wifi hotspot. At the same time, cloud services are maturing. A variety of dedicated cloud services for hardware are maturing. The console is done by a smart phone. So the Internet of Things has shouted the concept of N centuries. Finally found the landing method - the phone semi-automatically control the networking hardware through the cloud.

The three major industries have each completed the reform. Then the chemical reaction of intelligent lighting began. First of all, I don't know which luminaire manufacturer has raised a question about how the luminaire can be made into the Internet of Things, or the intelligence of the Internet+.

The rise of intelligent hardware has inspired lighting manufacturers. Most of the first batch of smart home hardware is connected to a wifi module through white goods to network. To complete the intelligence. and so. A group of smart lights hold the idea of ​​exploration. The technology path is also selected by means of the built-in wifi module. Therefore, most of the generation of intelligent lighting products on the market is the bulb + wifi module.

This technical idea of ​​copying smart homes quickly became a drawback.

1.wifi The way of collecting passwords by capturing packets in the air is quite complicated and the success rate cannot be 100%.

2. The power consumption of the wifi module is too high. The power of the wifi module on a 10 watt bulb may reach 10 watts.

3. Heat dissipation is a big problem. The wifi module will not work above 80 degrees Celsius. The interior of the luminaire is generally higher than 80 degrees.

4. Space utilization is also a big problem. The general space inside the bulb is relatively small. The wifi module takes up a lot of space.

5. The cost ratio is too high. The cost of a bulb can be as much as $20. The cost of a wifi module at the beginning has reached more than 40 yuan. Such a module costs more than a light.

6. Connection capacity and stability are not high. The wifi environment is not a dedicated environment. Causes a variety of signal noise is very large. And the number of lights that an ap accesses is limited.

This series of problems is reflected in the consumer side is the installation configuration complex + unstable + expensive. Let the first wave of wifi + bulb smart lights go to the beach and die. However, the vast market for intelligent lighting has prompted these lamps to continually invest in solving another problem.

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Just when the wifi lights are hot. A new character jumped out, that is zigbee

Zigbee jumped out and let go, what smart lighting you are playing now. I have been playing smart lighting control for many years. But I didn't call this thing smart lighting. Zigbee streetlights have been implemented in major cities. Large-scale park lighting controlled by zigbee has been in place all over the place. Recently, a company specializing in zigbee streetlights has also been listed on the New Third Board. Why didn't I call smart lighting before, didn't I have no contact with the phone? Why is there no contact with the phone, because the phone does not have a zigbee module. Then I am not a module for a zigbee to wifi. Isn't that smart lighting?

Then the mode of wifi to zigbee was born. The masterpiece is Philips hue.

The advantages of zigbee: a large number of networking, low power consumption. As an agreement for industrial control, it is very stable. The protocol family also has a ZLL protocol specifically designed for lighting control. In theory, 65,535 fixtures can be accessed. And the stability is very good. Power consumption is also relatively low. It can be said that it is more suitable for use on the lamp. But the biggest problem is that it has nothing to do with the phone. There is no zigbee module on the phone. Ordinary users who want to use zigbee's lights can only connect to the phone via a wired or wifi gateway. In general, there are no more than 10 lights in the family. The demand is to control it with a mobile phone. It is not necessary for the user to add an additional bridge to connect to the phone. Therefore, zigbee is a truly reliable and reliable luminaire intelligent tool. But it can't be used by ordinary consumers. Has been in a state of tepid. After all, the phone does not have zigbee. So zigbee has nothing to do with the mobile Internet, the Internet of Things.

At this time, Bluetooth jumped out, the phone comes with more than wifi. I can do it too. And what about zigbee's features are low power and networked nodes? I can't just copy it. Bluetooth 4.0BLE was born. 1 No need to pair the connection. 2 Low power consumption. 3mesh networking. Basically it is to copy the characteristics of zigbee. Zigbee spurted out of old blood. Although Bluetooth 4.0BLE is actually not related to the previous Bluetooth. In order to make a distinction. We call the previous Bluetooth classic Bluetooth classic bt.

And the demand for lamps has gradually become apparent. People used to know only to do it. But I don't know why. Why do you need to control the lights remotely, and even why you want to control them. People discovered the use scenes of N kinds of intelligent lighting and found it. The mobile phone control lighting industry has a stock market that can be subverted. It is also the market for remote control ceiling lamps. Originally advanced ceiling lights, crystal lights are sent to a remote control. But the remote control is often lost, and it is a trouble to replace the battery without electricity. Using a mobile phone remote control to solve this problem perfectly. I want to control, I want to change the color. Take it out and control at any time. And because the phone comes with Bluetooth. There is no need to make troublesome pairs.

Even worse, the cost of Bluetooth remote control is even lower. The current popular 2.4G remote control solution includes a 2.4G receiver and a physical remote control on the luminaire. The total cost is around 11 yuan. The cost of Bluetooth in 2015 has reached about 11 yuan. Even more amazing is that Bluetooth is an important component of consumer electronics. Large shipments will make costs drop faster. In 2016, manufacturers will make a 6 yuan module. The mobile phone that the remote controller can realize can be realized. And the experience is better. The price is cheaper. By then, the remote control lamp market is likely to be washed by Bluetooth. The actions of some well-known manufacturers prove this. For example, Xiaomi's new bedside lamp is Bluetooth. Another example is GE's new product, C BY GE, which is also Bluetooth.

Boasted so much Bluetooth. Is zigbee and wifi completely eliminated? I don't think it's necessary, I still have to look at the usage scene. Bluetooth still has an advantage in the home single lamp market. There are more lights only because there is no uniform standard for Bluetooth MESH. Each family writes their own agreement. So stability is still doubtful. Therefore, it can only be used as a substitute for a remote control.

In some multi-lamps, and the use of high stability requirements. Regardless of price factors and deployment troubles. The advantages of zigbee are still quite obvious. For example, street lights, such as central control. These scenes. Zigbee still maintains its consistent industrial-grade stability advantage, and smart home manufacturers install a zigbee bridge that connects to the phone as a home smart lighting device.

The advantage of wifi is the linkage with other smart home products. If you see a set of smart home products. There are lights, curtains, and door magnets. That program except zigbee is wifi. Since each lamp can be networked separately. If the number of lights is small and you want to do a quickdemo to experience the intelligent function of the luminaire, WiFi is still a good choice. But wifi is also a strong player, because some wifi manufacturers are already studying the cost, low power, and no connection-oriented wifi module. This is also a very good technique for using the luminaire.

Intelligent lighting is such a thing.

What technology to choose, mainly depends on what kind of light you are. What use scenario. And what the software does. That is, no matter what you use zigbee. Bluetooth, or wifi. A unified and complete solution can be achieved at the software level. This is why our Zhuo Nian Lighting Cloud focuses on software solutions. Because we believe that the hardware is ebb and flow. The cost is constantly decreasing. Technology is constantly changing. Software is always the same. Because the hardware is changed to make the transmission more stable and the price is lower. The logical judgment of the real core software brain will make the lamps more intelligent and smarter. At present, APP control is definitely an excessive solution. The reason why he is currently recognized is that it is the only one that can be 100% and understand people except the wall switch and remote control. Normal communication. The current voice control solution. Whether it is Apple siri or the voice control of the domestic University of Science and Technology. Neither can understand 100% of people's instructions. The most advanced Microsoft kinnet in terms of motion judgment does not have a perfect understanding of human intentions. But I believe that some of these will be very accurate in the future. At that time, the APP exited, and the era of voice and behavioral movements came. But no matter what era. The role of software as a brain in it is always the most important. So we still insist on the software and it will change everything. Before it was a movie ticket, travel, entertainment. It is now lighting. In the future, be prepared.