July 21, 2006—Cree, Inc., the Federal Aviation Administration, and Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. are new sponsors of the Alliance for Solid-State Illumination Systems and Technologies (ASSIST), a collaboration of researchers, manufacturers, and government organizations designed to identify and reduce major technical hurdles and help light-emitting diode (LED) technology gain widespread use in lighting applications.
ASSIST was established in 2002 by the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The LRC conducts a wide range of research projects, demonstrations and evaluations, and educational activities on behalf of ASSIST.
LED lighting offers many benefits, including energy and maintenance savings, long life, durability, safety, and flexibility. As a first step toward establishing the means for product consistency and reliability, ASSIST created ASSIST Recommends, a research initiative to develop formal recommendations about issues important for LED performance and applications. ASSIST published its first set of recommendations in 2005 for defining and measuring LED life for general illumination.
The Lighting Research Center (LRC) is part of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of Troy, NY, and is the leading university-based research center devoted to lighting. For more information, see the Web site.
