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Blue Iris Labs™ is a pioneer in the precise measurement of spectral, biological, and circadian light in everyday environments. Our mission is to improve human circadian health by developing tools that accurately measure personal light exposure. This allows researchers, caregivers, building managers, and individuals to monitor and modify light exposure and, therefore, improve human health.
The Problem
The benefits of healthy light exposure (“bright days and dark nights”) are widely recognized. Light exposure is the primary mechanism by which our circadian clocks are reset (or “entrained”) every day.
However, though we know that not enough light during the day and/or too much light at night disrupts our circadian clocks, medical science does not have precise understanding of what levels of light exposure are significant, because we still lack tools to accurately measure personal light exposure.
Until now, laboratory-grade spectrometers have all been large and unwieldy, suitable for stationary placement in experimental settings. But light, as experienced by a person, is complex and ever-changing as we move in and out of shade, indoors and outdoors, and toward and away from light sources. Measuring this complex play of light needs a wearable, laboratory-accurate spectrometer: it needs the Blue Iris Speck!
“Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. If you can’t measure something, you can’t understand it. If you can’t understand it, you can’t control it.”
H. James Harrington
Author and Quintessential
Tech Trender
The Solution
The Blue Iris Labs Speck is the first miniature spectrometer that can affordably, yet precisely, collect full SPD measurements. Whether you want several Specks to measure light distribution within a room, or a Speck as a wearable to measure personal light exposure indoors and out, there is no comparable portable device that combines small size with big, accurate SPD data.
The Technology
The Speck is:
Simple
A secure, cloud-connected sensor streaming real-time data analytics.
Fast and Secure
Measure full spectral power distribution (SPD) and key lighting metrics (lux, CCT, CRI, CS, EML, and more).
Affordable
Far less costly than most laboratory spectrometers.
Compact
Wearable, small (44x44x16mm; 29g) and discreet.
Wireless
Battery powered, Thread or BLE connected.
See a sample of our Data Dashboard
Blue Iris Labs’ customers can manage their devices, view, and download their data on an end-to-end encrypted, secure, and customizable data portal. The data portal provides real-time and time-series information and graphing of spectral power distribution (SPD) and parameters derived from SPD, such as lux, CS, EML, and PAR.
The Validation
Blue Iris Labs is funded by the NIH (National Institutes of Health) to develop the Specks and conduct clinical trials with them.
Additional trials have been conducted by the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine (OHSU), the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and future projects are underway with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai.
“Over the past years, we have worked on several research scopes with the Blue Iris team as they have refined their technology. I think the latest wireless sensor, with added spectral data, a form factor, and communication strategy that makes it easy to deploy, could be a very useful research tool for lighting measurements in conjunction with costlier lab-grade photometric meters.”
– Jordan Shackelford, Senior Scientific Engineering Associate, FLEXLAB at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.