JANUS

REACHING OUT TO CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS

Richard Caton, Managing Director of Janus Technology, takes a look at using light to deliver benefits homeowners can really feel.

The continuous cycle of day and night has shaped our daily rhythm for millions of years, genetically anchoring itself in our biology as a system of internal clocks. This system regulates the biological processes in our body and harmonises them with each other; known as the ‘circadian’ rhythm.

Light is the key factor that stimulates and stabilises this inner rhythm. Disturbances to the circadian rhythm can have serious consequences to well-being in the short term and to our health in the long term. Insomnia, irritability and lack of concentration are some of the immediate symptoms that result.

We spend the vast amount of our time indoors - studies suggest up to 90% of the time - and our homes often do not provide enough daylight to support these rhythms. This means that artificial light sources need to be used instead.

In recent times, there has been more and more talk in our industry around this topic, and the need for a more human-centric approach to lighting that harmonises with the circadian rhythm of our clients. As our understanding in this area has improved, this ought to present an opportunity for integrators to grow their business in lighting and improve the quality of life and well-being for clients as a result.

What’s been holding us back is the relative lack of high quality, reliable light fixtures and the capabilities of our industry platforms to then manage and control an integrated human lighting solution. Developments in both areas are opening up the market

We are seeing an increasing choice in fixtures, including DALI fittings, LED linear tape and other innovative products that offer clients both an aesthetically attractive option and the colour temperature changing performance that is needed to create human-centric lighting.

Programming for such solutions is also becoming much easier. At Janus Technology we have developed a suite of circadian lighting drivers for Control4 which allow integrators to easily program human-centric lighting for any tuneable white dimmers. A wide range of compatibility is ensured with our Enhanced Lighting interface providing integration of legacy drivers (with separate dimmer controls) and also the new temperature adjustment available in OS3.3.

Each circadian lighting controller can configure a schedule for a subset of lights to enable the creation of multiple, entirely different schedules on any one project. In this way, integrators can synchronise the colour temperature of lamps to a specific location and/ or available daylight levels or even program the sleep schedule to give warmer colours at bedtime and cooler ones during the day.

Our Circadian Controller adds to our growing range of user experience extensions that expand the capabilities of the Control4 platform, giving the end client more control over their system. Other recent advances are our Enhanced Scheduler and Visual Navigator.

Enhanced Scheduler gives the user familiar calendar-based scheduling, fully integrated into the Control4 app, allowing them to schedule their system without requiring intervention from their installer. A wide range of features are supported, including lighting, audio, climate and security, with very flexible scheduling including Astronomic time, day of week and various repeating schedules. All features are autodiscovered, so your client can be up and running in minutes once you’ve installed the driver, without any further configuration.

Visual Navigator allows integrators to visualise and control the state of devices across the entire home from any Control4 user interface. So rather than ploughing through the App from room to room, you can see an overview of your systems status, overlaid onto a background visualisation of the property – which could be a 2D floorplan or even a 3D render. Setup is simplified with advanced discovery, and it fully supports the Control4 Advanced Lighting solutions, as well as security, comfort and more. We are working on updates to fully support the latest lighting features that are coming in OS3.3, supporting native integration of colour control and temperature adjustment.

Human-centric lighting is a growing trend. To capitalise on the market opportunity requires innovation, not just in hardware but also in the software tools that are a huge part of the integrator’s skill set. For our part, Janus is at the forefront of the software innovation that will keep pace with the technology, and help installers create functional, reliable and easy to integrate solutions for their clients.