LEDs Light Up the Night at the Flick of a Wrist!
If you have attended a concert, event or festival recently you may have been fortunate to experience the use of lighted wristbands which synchronize to the rhythm of the music. Jason Regler, owner of Xylobands, developed these creative bands when he was impressed by the band Coldplay’s unique musical style which later triggered the idea for these innovative bracelets.
Inspired by the lyrics, “Lights will guide you home” from the musical group Coldplay’s song “Fix You,” Regler dreamed of a show where the lights were the guiding force behind the music. After much deliberation and trial and error, Regler was able to develop illuminating bracelets that glow in time to the beat of the music. Using LED lights, the RFID driven wristbands rely on a receiver to intake data that tells them how and when to flash based on specific codes. Each wristband sends and receives radio waves through proprietary software loaded onto a laptop and transferred to a transmitter box/antenna. The codes are then sent through radio frequencies with each transmitter ranging up to 400 meters. Other companies, like RippleLight and Glow Motion Technologies, are embracing this wireless LED technology to change the way people interact and experience various musical events.
The thick fabric of the bracelets can be printed with a logo and can be remotely controlled by a tablet, PC or other device. The wristbands contain LED lights which emit the colors the designer wishes to use. The measurement and development of these LED lights within the wristbands requires the lumens, color temperature and LED voltage to be categorized or binned. The technique manufacturers use to classify LEDs is called LED binning. There are spectrometers designed to assist in LED binning. The use of high-quality tools such as spectroradiometers as well as a detailed understanding of the accuracy and precision needed are extremely important in LED production. It is important to have the correct tools as they are the catalysts for precise binning within very tight photometric and colorimetric boundaries.
Konica Minolta Sensing offers instruments to help with high-precision LED color binning, including the new reference instrument for spectral measurement: Instrument Systems’ CAS 140D.
