Industrial gases supplier Praxair announced it has signed a long-term agreement to build, own and operate an air separation plant that will supply 700 tons per day of nitrogen to Samsung’s display manufacturing complex in Tangjeong, South Korea.

Velodyne LiDAR Inc. announced that it is partnering with YellowScan to integrate its VLP-16 Puck and VLP-16 Puck LITE LiDAR sensors into YellowScan’s Surveyor for a turn-key and reliable LiDAR system for demanding UAV applications.

Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. (HPK) and Nichia on Oct. 11 have reached a basic agreement to build a wide-ranging collaborative framework leveraging the two companies’ proprietary optical and other technologies.

Philips Lighting seeks to expand its share in the construction of LED street lighting networks in India. A philips official revealed the company plans to replace over 30 million traditional street lamps with connectable LED street lights after winning a major part of government’s LED distribution scheme, covered Money Control.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced that it has unveiled a Diamond VisionTM at SOGO Department Store in Hong Kong’s iconic Causeway Bay that is expected to become Hong Kong’s largest and finest-resolution LED screen.

Velodyne LiDAR Inc., manufacturing 3D vision systems for autonomous vehicles, announced that it has more than quadrupled production for its high-performance LiDAR sensors to meet strong global demand. As a result, Velodyne LiDAR’s sensors are immediately available via distribution partners in Europe, Asia Pacific, and North America, with industry standard lead-times for direct contracts.

DENSO, Japan-based automotive technology, systems and components suppliers, today announced it has developed a thin-film transistor (TFT), liquid-crystal head-up display (HUD) to project critical driving information onto the windshield for drivers. This human machine interface (HMI) is the world's largest automotive head-up display with a nearly 24-inch projection. The product will be released in November 2017 and featured on the new 2018 Lexus LS.

Samsung Electronics, a Korean company specializing in advanced digital component solutions, and TÜV SÜD, a global technical services provider of quality, safety and sustainability solutions, today announced that the companies have developed a new testing program for Samsung’s automotive LED components. A ceremony was held earlier today at the headquarters of TÜV SÜD Korea Ltd. in Seoul, Korea, to unveil the new testing program.

Osram Licht AG announced to start the operation of its new LED chip factory in the Kulim Hi-Tech Park, Malaysia on October 23. The company claimed the new plant will be the world’s largest and most advanced 6-inch LED chip plant after the final stage of the construction scheduled to be finished in 2020.

Epistar Corporation filed a patent infringement lawsuit against All Star Lighting Supplies, Inc., d/b/a Luxrite in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey on October 13, 2017. The complaint asserts that Luxrite’s LED filament bulbs infringe eight Epistar patents and seeks injunctive relief to halt further sale of the infringing products.

Acuity Brands announced LocusLabs, Inc. has joined the Atrius™ Internet of Things (IoT) partner ecosystem. LocusLabs plans to enable its location-as-a-service platform to take advantage of the Atrius IoT platform’s location-based services (LBS) and indoor positioning services (IPS).

The ideal solution for microLED makers would be the availability of efficient nitride LEDs in both green and red. In this case, all RGB LEDs would be composed of the same material with the same behaviors and driving conditions. The challenge is to find one material capable of spanning the blue to red spectrum. 

Veeco Instruments announced that Acken Optoelectronics will receive the first shipment of Veeco’s new GENxcel™ Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) System.

Osram acquires a stake in the Swiss company beaconsmind AG. Via its venture capital unit, Fluxunit, the lighting company has gained a strategic minority interest in the start-up that offers smart software to retailers, enabling a personalized approach to customers. Fluxunit supports and develops both internal and external start-ups.

Heliospectra AB (publ), an expert in intelligent lighting technology for greenhouse and controlled plant growth environments, announces a new cooperation with NYSK Holdings, a state-of-the-art medicinal cannabis facility in Macedonia. The grower is partnering with Heliospectra to be able to supply patients with consistent, pharmaceutical-grade medicine for chronic diseases year-round. The investment is valued at around $125,000 (1,016,000 SEK).

Metropolitan Wi-Fi firm Connexin has secured up to a £10m investment to rapidly scale up and expand its smart cities business.

Sengled, makers of intelligent lighting products that integrate consumer electronics with energy efficient LED light bulbs, announced on October 12 that their Element smart lighting family now offers further convenience through voice control using the Google Assistant.

Businesses and non-profit organizations across Michigan are snapping up rebates and grants offered by the Michigan Agency for Energy (MAE) to help them reduce their energy usage and cut energy bills.

OLED patent holder Samsung Electronics now also steps into the realm of Micro LED, reported the Investor. It is also looking to acquire PlayNitride, a Taiwan-based Micro LED developer in an attempt to offset the sluggish sales of its QLED TVs.

The first Micro LED product is Crystal LED Display that Sony showcased at CES 2012. Outwardly similar to a regular TV, it was an ultimate combination of the most state-of-the-art technologies back then. However, Sony, after its first success, had gone silent for quite a while until 2016.

The introduction of solid-state lighting using light-emitting diode (LED) technology has ignited widespread interest in the ways that lighting can offer benefits to people, including improved visibility at night, enhanced perceptions of brightness and security, and spectral tuning for management of circadian rhythms. Yet, as illustrated in a recent report from the American Medical Association (AMA), the increasing popularity of LED lighting is also raising new questions and reviving older concerns about unwanted impacts of these light sources, such as light pollution, discomfort glare, circadian disruption, and retinal damage via a mechanism known as blue-light hazard.

The U.S. Department of Energy has released a new Snapshot report on LED outdoor area lighting. Based on DOE's LED Lighting Facts®database, the report focuses on outdoor area/roadway luminaires (including street lighting and wall packs), parking garage luminaires, and canopy luminaires (e.g., those used for gas station fuel pump areas). Retrofit kits and dedicated luminaires in these categories are not considered separately, as only in the area/roadway category did retrofit kits make up a notable percentage (8%) of the products listed in the category.

The next generation display technology Micro LED draws lots of attention, but Micro LED will take time to reach the mass production (MP) phase. Before that happens, mini LED with lower technical barrier will enter its MP phase first. Sources said, panel makers and LED die manufacturers already started their collaboration. Initially, mini LED will be used for two major categories: signage and TV panel backlight source. The cooperative effort will launch ultra-fine-pitch signage and super energy-saving, ultra-slim direct lit mini LED backlight TV panels.

The U.S. Department of Energy's GATEWAY program has released a new report on a trial installation of tunable-white LED lighting systems in three classrooms in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District in Carrollton, TX, which provides valuable insights into the use of this technology in a real-world setting.

AIXTRON announced today that Elite Advanced Laser Corporation (eLASER), a Taiwan-based provider of electronics manufacturing services (EMS) for advanced optoelectronic and radio frequency (RF) components, has placed a repeat order for an AIX G5+ C system to produce gallium nitride (GaN) epitaxial wafers and devices for power electronics applications.

Plessey announces a partnership with leading Dutch alstroemeria grower Together2Grow, following a successful trial of its LED grow lights combined with existing high-pressure sodium (HPS) lighting in a hybrid installation.

Veeco Instruments announced that it has shipped multiple TurboDisc® EPIK® 868 Gallium Nitride (GaN) Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) systems to several leading Chinese LED manufacturers for the production of light emitting diodes (LEDs) for solid statelighting applications.

Philips Lighting has expanded its collaboration with Amazon to create an easy way to start with a voice-controlled smart home. While supplies last, customers who purchase an Echo Plus will receive a Philips Hue white connected light bulb, which can be controlled using your voice and Alexa.

Most people agree that athletic activity is healthy for mind and body, but harmful bacteria in locker rooms, restrooms and on equipment introduces the risk of infection. To combat these infections, Kenall has incorporated Indigo-Clean technology into two of the company’s best-selling sealed, high-abuse, LED light fixtures: the Millenium™ Stretch MLHA and SimpleSeal™ HASEDI Luminaires. These luminaires combine white ambient light with 405nm Indigo light in order to kill harmful bacteria, including staph, such as MRSA, and are part of a comprehensive portfolio of lighting products that Kenall has developed utilizing this revolutionary new technology.

Kenall continues to expand its offering of white LED luminaires using Indigo-Clean Technology (ICT) with the recent introduction of new luminaires for behavioral health and correctional applications, along with three new downlights.