Antonio Peña-García

A new methodology for calculating roadway lighting design based on a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm

Highlights? The problem of uniformity and installation efficiency in public lighting is optimized. ? The most accurate values of height and spacing have been determined with NSGA-II. ? The results have been successfully compared with a well-known and reliable free software. This paper presents a new method for calculating the design of roadway lighting. Apart from its accuracy, this method, which is based on a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm, has the added advantage of enhancing the energy efficiency of lighting installations. This is positive because the economic use of energy resources is evidently a priority in the world today. In our study, an exhaustive calibration process was used to fine-tune the accuracy and precision of the new method presented. The results obtained were then compared with those of DIALUX, a well-known free software program that is frequently used for the design of lighting installations. In the second phase of this research, the lighting installation was made more complex in order to verify the applicability of this new method to a wide range of different contexts.

A simple method for designing efficient public lighting, based on new parameter relationships

Abstract New parameter relationships for public lighting design (i.e. average illuminance, luminaire spacing, and mounting height) were calculated from a large sample of data sets optimized with a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm. Optimization criteria included maximum energy efficiency and overall uniformity. The relations thus derived are a simple and elegant method for designing any type of public lighting installation without the need to use complex, expensive and/or unavailable software. It would therefore be desirable that manufacturers include such parameters in the product datasheet in order to make the calculation easier.

Influence of daytime running lamps on visual reaction time of pedestrians when detecting turn indicators

INTRODUCTION This article describes one experiment that studied the influence of Daytime Running Lamps (DRL) on pedestrian detection of turn indicators. METHOD An experimental device including one DRL and one turn indicator was used in order to determine Visual Reaction Times (VRT) of 148 observers in different situations involving turn indicator activation. Such situations were combinations of three main variables: color of DRL, separation between DRL and Turn Indicator, and observation angle. RESULTS Significant changes in VRT were found depending on the configurations above, especially the observation angle and the color of DRL. This second result demonstrates that amber DRLs inhibit the detection of Turn Indicators. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY One of the main targets of this paper is to recommend that carmakers introduce only white DRLs on new vehicles. We also intend to advise regulatory bodies working on automotive regulation about the consequences of allowing amber DRLs and also about the danger of introducing constrains on the distance between DRL and Turn Indicator without further experimental evidences.

New rules of thumb maximizing energy efficiency in street lighting with discharge lamps: The general equations for lighting design

New relationships between energy efficiency, illuminance uniformity, spacing and mounting height in public lighting installations were derived from the analysis of a large sample of outputs generated with a widely used software application for lighting design. These new relationships greatly facilitate the calculation of basic lighting installation parameters. The results obtained are also based on maximal energy efficiency and illuminance uniformity as a premise, which are not included in more conventional methods. However, these factors are crucial since they ensure the sustainability of the installations. This research formulated, applied and analysed these new equations. The results of this study highlight their usefulness in rapid planning and urban planning in developing countries or areas affected by natural disasters where engineering facilities and computer applications for this purpose are often unavailable.

Personal factors influencing the visual reaction time of pedestrians to detect turn indicators in the presence of Daytime Running Lamps

Abstract Daytime running lamps (DRL) on vehicles have proven to be an effective measure to prevent accidents during the daytime, particularly when pedestrians and cyclists are involved. However, there are negative interactions of DRL with other functions in automotive lighting, such as delays in pedestrians’ visual reaction time (VRT) when turn indicators are activated in the presence of DRL. These negative interactions need to be reduced. This work analyses the influence of variables inherent to pedestrians, such as height, gender and visual defects, on the VRT using a classification and regression tree as an exploratory analysis and a generalized linear model to validate the results. Some pedestrian characteristics, such as gender, alone or combined with the DRL colour, and visual defects, were found to have a statistically significant influence on VRT and, hence, on traffic safety. These results and conclusions concerning the interaction between pedestrians and vehicles are presented and discussed. Practitioner Summary: Visual interactions of vehicle daytime running lamps (DRL) with other functions in automotive lighting, such as turn indicators, have an important impact on a vehicle’s conspicuity for pedestrians. Depending on several factors inherent to pedestrians, the visual reaction time (VRT) can be remarkably delayed, which has implications in traffic safety.

Application of Translucent Concrete for Lighting Purposes in Civil Infrastructures and its Optical Characterization

The discovery of translucent concrete some years ago, opened a new horizon in Civil Engineering. Many researchers have looked for applications in matter of structural mechanics in order to replace classical concrete by this new and challenging material. However, the scientific and technical communities working in Civil Engineering seem to be still far away from clear ideas and strategies to take profit of one of the main properties of this material: its possibility to transmit light. The reason is complex: on one hand, most of the researchers are mainly interested in the mechanical properties and other researchers, more interested on lighting, maybe find it as a decorative element, but not as a functional one from the point of view of lighting. In this work, two lines concerning its optical characterization (which must be always the first step) and some applications to road tunnels are presented. We will see that more active and multidisciplinary research is still needed before fully understanding and accurately use this material for lighting purposes.

Teaching methodologies to promote creativity in the professional skills related to optics knowledge

We present the methodologies proposed and applied in the context of a teaching-innovation project developed at the University of Granada, Spain. The main objective of the project is the implementation of teaching methodologies that promote the creativity in the learning process and, subsequently, in the acquisition of professional skills. This project involves two subjects related with optics knowledge in undergraduate students. The subjects are “Illumination Engineering” (Bachelor’s degree in Civil-Engineering) and “Optical and Optometric Instrumentation” (Bachelor’s degree in and Optics and Optometry). For the first subject, the activities of our project were carried out in the theoretical classes. By contrast, in the case of the second subject, such activities were designed for the laboratory sessions. For “Illumination Engineering” we applied the maieutic technique. With this method the students were encouraged to establish relationships between the main applications of the subject and concepts that apparently unrelated with the subject framework. By means of several examples, the students became aware of the importance of cross-curricular and lateral thinking. We used the technique based on protocols of control and change in “Optical and Optometric Instrumentation”. The modus operandi was focused on prompting the students to adopt the role of the professionals and to pose questions to themselves concerning the practical content of the subject from that professional role. This mechanism boosted the critical capacity and the independent-learning ability of the students. In this work, we describe in detail both subject proposals and the results of their application in the 2011-2012 academic course.

Reflectance of interurban-road pavements from radar-based measurements

Reflectance measurements in interurban-road typical pavements are essential for traffic security. The reflectance of interurban-road pavements presents high variability due to such variables as climatic and atmospheric conditions and the presence of foreign materials on the road (e.g. dirt, fuel or oil). For this reason, the recording of real-time measurements for these kinds of pavements is a complex task. However, its critical importance in traffic safety demands precise measurements under all the possible conditions. In this context, the use of remote-sensing systems working in the radar spectral range is of great interest. With active sensors that receive their own radar signal, the reflectance measurements made by the remote-sensing system are not influenced by the atmospheric conditions. In this work, we present a radar-based methodology to develop real-time measurements of the reflectance in typical interurban-road pavements. We are engaged in extending this new method to study the reflectance of interurban-road pavements within the visible spectrum.

Extension of the Rotating Planar Waveguide Model to Formation of Interference Patterns in Optical Fibers

After the successful extension of the rotating planar waveguide model to Wave Optics, where a clear identification between the angular velocity of one hypothetical waveguide and the phase differences between two points on the path of one bounded mode was found, an application of the model to explain the interference theory is presented. We demonstrate that, for two bounded modes to create an interference pattern, a constrain to the relative parameters among both is imposed by the fiber optics. This result, not reported in the literature up to date, provides a new horizon to understand the interaction light-light when propagated within optical fibers.