Leveraging Brightness from Transportation Lighting Systems through Light Source Color: Implications for Energy Use and Safety for Traffic and Pedestrians

The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute proposes to conduct a study, with support from the University Transportation Research Center (UTRC) and with cofunding from the Louisiana Research Council's (LRC's) Transportation Lighting Alliance (TLA) industry partnership program, of brightness perception from transportation lighting systems used on vehicles, and along roadways and other facilities. The immediate objective is to elucidate the visual mechanisms underlying brightness perception under nighttime lighting conditions. This will be accomplished through a series of scale-model human factors experiments comparing the perception of brightness under lighting conditions differing in color. The second objective is to develop preliminary guidance for transportation agencies in U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Region 2 that can benefit from these findings by utilizing light sources that optimize the visual benefits of lighting against the initial and operating costs of lighting (equipment, energy and maintenance). This will be accomplished through technical analyses comparing spectral properties of light sources for transportation systems, along with their luminous efficacy to provide recommendations for tailoring light source spectra that meet driver and pedestrian needs while maximizing energy efficiency.

• Record URL:
  http://www.utrc2.org/research/projects/leveraging-brightness-transportation-lighting-systems

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $103875.00
• Contract Numbers:

  49997-49-24

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Research and Innovative Technology Administration

  Department of Transportation
  1200 New Jersey Avneue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Mooney, Deborah

• Performing Organizations:

  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

  Lighting Research Center
  21 Union Street/3rd floor
  Troy, NY  United States  12180
• Principal Investigators:

  Rea, Mark

  Bullough, John

• Start Date: 20120901
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20130930
• Source Data: RiP Project 32936

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Brightness; Color; Human factors; Lighting; Luminous intensity; Perception; Spectrum analysis
• Subject Areas: Energy; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01466621
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: University Transportation Research Center
• Contract Numbers: 49997-49-24
• Files: UTC, RIP, USDOT
• Created Date: Jan 3 2013 3:20PM