A new device for dynamic luminance mapping and glare risk assessment in buildings

High dynamic range imaging has been shown to be a reliable tool to assess luminance maps and glare risk probability in buildings. However, there are some limitations of image capturing time, especially when dealing with highly dynamic and contrasted daylight situations. We used a newly developed prototype of a digital camera which contains a high dynamic range pixel array chip, with a logarithmic scale for encoding. This type of camera allows to effectively assessing luminance, contrast and contrast directions, by taking only a single image or by performing real time recordings. The device was equipped with a fisheye lens and V-lambda filters to adapt the camera’s spectral sensitivity to the human eye. After spectral as well as photometric calibration and vignetting correction, the device was tested to perform luminance mapping of real scenes. The results showed that luminance maps of a room can be efficiently assessed under dynamic daylight and mixed day- and electric lighting conditions in a very short time (i.e. 100 ms), when compared to classical HDR imaging techniques. This allows us to calculate glare indexes of a scene simultaneously. The camera opens a variety of new applications as a useful tool for architects, building designers and lighting experts. The device can be used to easily monitor daylight availability and glare indexes in existing buildings and further developments for advanced (day-) lighting control can be envisaged.