ENGR 103 Project Proposal

Section 072, Group 11

ENGR
103
Freshman Engineering Design Lab

Spring

2016

dLux Lab Application

Group Members

Karanveer Singh
Daniel Drzewicki
Wangjie Qiu

Technical Advisor

Eugenia Victoria Ellis [email protected]

Abstract:
This project involves the creation of a mobile application that will program light bulbs to
simulate daylight at that specific time of day. Previous studies have shown the many negative
effects that excess exposure to blue light may cause to a persons health. Blue light also
suppresses the release of Melatonin in a persons body which then makes it difficult to fall
asleep; this can lead to a plethora of problems such as depression and lack of awareness. This
serves as the motivation to create an app that can program Philips Hue LED lights. The lights
can be manipulated using the bridge that comes with the bulbs. A mobile device can
communicate with the bridge through the use of its API and the software development kit
available on the Philips website. The most difficult tasks are implementing the API in Android
Studio and created a method to find the bridge on a local network. The application will
additionally include a user friendly interface created with XML. The culmination of all of the
tasks will lead to the final deliverable: a fully functioning Android application that will be
available to everyone on the Google Play Store.
1

Introduction

Exposure to natural daylight has a tremendous effect on a persons health. It has been shown to
increase awareness and attention as well as help those who have trouble sleeping. Many LED
lights in the built environment emit a blue light especially in smart phones and computer screen.
These lights make it much more difficult for a person to fall asleep which can then lead to more
problems such as depression and insomnia. This is due to the fact that blue light suppresses the
release of a hormone called melatonin. Melatonin is the hormone that helps people fall asleep
and should be slowly released as the day proceeds. Excess exposure to lights can deceive the

ENGR 103 Project Proposal

Section 072, Group 11

body into thinking it is still day time when in fact it is night. In fact a Harvard health study
linked night time exposure to blue light with several types of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.
Lights in a workplace or at a home that simulate the light emitted from the sun can be beneficial
for everybody. The goal of the project is to create a mobile application that can be used to
control Philips Hue light bulbs and tune them to mimic the natural light at that time of day. To
some extent this can already be done with the current existing app however it has several bugs.
One of these is that when a bulb is turned off then back on it emits the default light color. It must
be tuned again. The biggest technical challenge of the project is the implementation of the
Philips Hue API (application programming interface). The API will be implemented into the
code which will be written in the Java programming language. The desired outcome is to create
an app that can effectively tune the color of Philips Hue LED lights to mimic natural daylight.

Deliverables

The final product at the end of the project will be a fully functioning mobile application that runs
on the android operating system. The application will tune the color of the Philips Hue lights to
match the color of daylight at that specific time. It will be available to any android smartphone
user through the Google Play Store.

Technical Activities

3.1

Android Studio

The application will be made for phones running the android operating system. The most
efficient way to develop android applications is with Googles Android Studio. In this integrated
development environment the algorithms and most of the back-end code will be written in the
Java programming language. The graphical user interface and the aesthetics of the application
will be written in the XML language which is again available in Android Studio.
3.1.1

Graphical User Interface

In order for users to effectively use the application, a graphical user interface (GUI) will be
required. The GUI will be made with the XML programming language in Android Studio.

ENGR 103 Project Proposal

Section 072, Group 11

Another challenge will be creating graphics and layouts to the GUI. These graphics will need to
be made by scratch using a graphic design program such as Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator.
3.2

Philips Hue Bridge

The LED lights are controlled through a bridge that comes with the starter pack. This means that
the lights will be controlled through the bridge using the application. In order for the application
to communicate with the bridge, the Philips API and library will be downloaded from their
website. Likely the greatest challenge will be finding the bridge on the network. The application
will only work if the bridge is connected to the same internet network as the smartphone. The
code implemented will automatically find the bridge by searching for its Simple Service
Discovery Protocol (SSDP). After obtaining the SSDP the IP address of the bridge can be
accessed thus allowing the lights to be controlled.
3.2.1

Lights

The color of the lights will automatically change depending on the time of day. Instead of the
lights changing dynamically, they will instead change at a certain time. For example, when the
time reaches 12:00 PM the lights will automatically switch to the brightest daylight color. This
will decrease the amount of melatonin your body releases and thus making the user less tired.
This color will be reached at about 6,500 Kelvin. As the day progresses the color temperature
will be decreased slowly at the beginning of each hour. At around 7:00 PM the color temperature
will be around 2000-3000 Kelvin which will match the amber color seen during sunrises and
sunsets as can be seen in Figure 1. The levels of Melatonin being released by the users body
will be increased with the red light thus making it easier for them to fall asleep at night. By
10:00 PM the color temperature will be around 1800 Kelvin which is similar to the soothing light
emitted by a match or candle flame.

ENGR 103 Project Proposal

Section 072, Group 11

Figure 1 : Chart showing color temperatures for various light sources

Project Timeline

Table 1: Project Timeline

x
x

Develop Code That Will Change Light Color

10

Testing
Final report preparation

Facilities and Resources

The only facility that could be used is the dLux lab located in One Drexel Plaza across from the
Innovation Studio. This space can be used for testing as well as serve as a resource for the lights.

ENGR 103 Project Proposal

Section 072, Group 11

Other than this, no other facility will be needed, for all of the software development may be done
on a computer.

Expertise

Although there is little hands-on skill needed for the project, a large amount of experience in
programming is required. Specifically knowledge regarding object-oriented programming and
using APIs is required. Another useful skill is experience in graphic design. Aesthetics and
appearance are important factors in an effective application. The software used for the graphic
design will likely be Adobe Illustrator.

Lastly, basic knowledge of lighting is required. This

means knowing the color temperatures for various colors and the possible effects they can have
on a persons health.

Budget
Table 2: Project Budget

Item

7.1

Projected Cost

Lighting

$199.99

Miscellaneous

$20.00

TOTAL

$219.99

Lighting

The majority of the budget is dedicated to the Philips Hue starter kit which falls under the
lighting category. This kit includes three LED light bulbs and the bridge that will connect them
under the same network.
7.2

Miscellaneous

A total of about $20 will be spent on miscellaneous supplies. These supplies include items such
as Ethernet cables and adapters that can be used to hook the bridge up with the internet network.