Electronic lighting control is an emerging application in power electronics. One common driver of this market is resulting efficiency. The addition of a small, low cost, micro controller unit increases efficiency besides providing other benefits in lighting power supply systems.
For example, an MCU can be added to LED lighting system for efficiently controlling the brightness of the LED over its entire operating range. Similarly for fluorescent bulbs, which are also very efficient source of light, electronic control via an MCU allows the bulb to any level thereby increasing efficiency.
Other benefits of using an MCU are active power factor correction (PPC) to further increase the efficiency, battery charging for portable lighting applications and the opportunities to integrate communication protocols such as DALI and DMX512.