A practical device for measuring the luminance distribution

Various applications in building lighting such as automated daylight systems, dynamic lighting control systems, lighting simulations, and glare analyzes can be optimized using information on the actual luminance distributions of the surroundings. Currently, commercially available luminance distribution measurement devices are often not suitable for these kind of applications or simply too expensive for broad application. This paper describes the development of a practical and autonomous luminance distribution measurement device based on a credit card-sized single-board computer and a camera system. The luminance distribution was determined by capturing High Dynamic Range images and translating the RGB information to the CIE XYZ color space. The High Dynamic Range technology was essential to accurately capture the data needed to calculate the luminance distribution because it allows to capture luminance ranges occurring in real scenarios. The measurement results were represented in accordance with established methods in the field of daylighting. Measurements showed that the accuracy of the luminance distribution measurement device ranged from 5% to 20% (worst case) which was deemed acceptable for practical measurements and broad applications in the building realm.