Carlos Manuel Rodrigues Machado Autonomic Ubiquitous Computing

8.6 Small Period Light Activations Phenomenon
During data analysis, it was observed that many light sources presented small period
activations, i.e., the lights were activated and immediately (or in less than 2 seconds) deactivated.
Some activations are easily explained because of the way the system operates in order to
change the light output power from ½ (half power light) to full power output or activating the light
point from a different switch, using transition sequences on it. An example of this happens with the
bedroom light whose system activates in half-power by default and only switches to full light-power if
the user executes two consecutive transitions in the light switch. During the switch transitions, the
bedroom light flickers from half-power to full-power, resulting in a high value of the light, as it can be
noticed in Figure 43.
However, in the WC of the suite, highlighted in Figure 43 with bars with different filing, for
each light point (main light and mirror light) that has an individual switch, the explanation to the
phenomenon is different.
WC Suite - Mirror
Bedroom - Half
WC Suite - Main
Suite - Entrace
Main WC
Kitchen - Main
Kitchen - Laundry
Main WC - Mirror
Kitchen - Sink
Suite - Main
Hall
Study
Living-Room - Dinning Table
Corridor
Entrance
Living-Room - Environment
Living-Room - Main
Bedroom - Full
Living-Room - Indirect
Balcony North
Balcony South
23
11
193
173
145
124
121
454
439
413
409
355
755
730
691
909
882
1176
1138
1113
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
Small Period Light Activations (#)
Figure 43 – Small Period Light Activations (with period ≤ 2 s) (two- year interval)
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