Solutions | Optical Systems
Distribute a set quantity and color of light across a scene, and judge it against regulatory and standards metrics as well as by eye. What decides predictive accuracy is not the ray tracing itself but measured source data and measured scattering data.
Design challenges
Illumination design is the inverse problem of imaging. Efficiency, uniformity and chromaticity are only the entry point: for luminaires and automotive lamps, the light distribution required by regulations and standards has to be met while avoiding glare and unwanted reflections. Because the quality of the input decides the result directly, sources must be driven from measured ray files and surface and volume scattering from measured data.
Design and simulation workflow
Settle efficiency, light distribution and surface uniformity, chromaticity, and the regulations and standards to work to.
Build the source from measured ray files or light distribution data.
Build the geometry of reflectors, lenses and light guides, and optimize it against the target distribution.
Apply surface and volume scattering and texture from measured data.
Trace in a 3D environment and evaluate illuminance, luminance and intensity against the regulatory and standards metrics.
Confirm glare and unwanted reflections with rendering that includes luminance adaptation.
The stages differ by project. Simulation is an evaluation at the design stage; final conformance is decided by testing and certification of real hardware.
Related analysis technologies
The principles and scope of each method are explained on the Analysis Technologies pages.
Related products
The capabilities and coverage of each product are described on its own product page.
Handles analysis of the emitter. STACK and FDTD give light extraction from the multilayer structure and the fine structure.
Stage / 02
Handles design and optimization of the optical components. Non-sequential ray tracing brings reflectors, lenses and light guides in line with the target distribution.
Stage / 03
Handles the application of material and scattering properties, photometric evaluation and verification of appearance. Covers scene ray tracing with measured scattering data, and human vision simulation.
Stage / 04-06
Related technical information
Tell us where the design stands, whether CAD exists, what measured source data you have, and the criteria you want to evaluate against, and we will propose a way forward.