Allow me to use the first project log to give a big shout out to Kris Winer and his Compact, $25 Spectrometer project. I first noticed his project when it was announced as one of the 20 semifinalists of the Open Hardware Design Challenge of the 2018 Hackaday Prize (alongside my team's 2018 project entry, the Flood Fault Circuit Interrupter).

I've personally had a lifelong interest in the principles behind artificial lighting. What does that have to do with a low-cost spectrometer? Well I hope to explore that in future project logs! The short version is that spectrometers provide key insights into understanding how artificial lighting works and, specifically, what differentiates compact fluorescent lights, LED sources, and even incandescent lighting and the sun itself... not only between the different source types but also among individual examples within each category.

This project looks to leverage these differences to create a unique lighting solution using common, off-the-shelf, household LED lights. Monitoring and management of the light output level and color quality will incorporate tools including a spectrometer. This could find use in applications for efficiency, such as daylight dimming to minimize the unnecessary use artificial light, but also in human centric lighting applications where lighting can be part of a system to manage or promote productivity or circadian rhythms.