A smart luminaire in an office environment: impact on light distribution, user interactions and comfort

A smart luminaire able to change the direction of its light beam is installed in an office environment and compared to the available LEDs fixtures. Standard lighting measures are performed and a controlled user experiment is conducted, involving 22 subjects. Qualitative results suggest that very low illuminance levels can be characterized as comfortable. Quantitative results supported by statistical significance reveal (1) wider use range of illuminance levels for the smart luminaires, (2) an interaction decrease during the experiment and (3) different usage of the luminaire depending on the subject's side. Advantages and drawbacks of digitally actuated luminaires are briefly discussed.