ST debuts ‘world’s first’ universal lighting controller
The world's first programmable digital controller specifically optimised for lighting and power supply applications has been touted by STMicroelectronics.
The STLUX385 is said to simplify the design of traditional power conversion topologies, enabling more efficient lighting systems to be developed in a shorter period of time.
It integrates an STM8 microprocessor core and six specially designed peripherals called SMED (state machine, event driven) circuits, which interact with each other and with external signals via a programmable switching matrix to control the power delivered to the lighting elements.
In addition to the specific application signals, ST says the SMEDs can process external commands to turn the lights on/off or set the dimming level.
This, it claims, paves the way towards intelligent led street lamps that increase their brightness gradually as daylight fades and, conversely, automatically reduce their brightness as the sun rises.
