STUDY ON VISUAL PERCEPTION OF FLICKER FROM LOW-HEIGHT MOUNTED LED LUMINAIRE FOR ROAD LIGHTING

摘要

Taking the advantage of small size, long lifetime and high reliability, LEDs enable new innovative lighting solutions for both indoor and outdoor application. A new method to lit-up roads, namely by means of LED luminaires mounted at a height of around 1 meter above the road surface, is recently introduced to the market. Since the luminaires emit light on the side of vehicles, a scrolling light is perceived by their users while driving along the road. The resulting luminance fluctuation - hereafter referred to as flicker - may affect the comfort of the driver, and thus, traffic safety in general. Therefore, a perception study is carried out in the laboratory to investigate how flicker from lateral illumination affects people's comfort. As expected, the study results show a significant impact of flicker frequency. As a consequence, luminaire spacing of low-height mounted road lighting luminaires should be carefully selected to avoid driver's discomfort.