CircadiaLux: Revolutionizing Healthcare Lighting with ML, IoT, and Human-Centered Design
2025-07-23
How we engineered an intelligent lighting system to support healing and well-being in hospital environments
🌅 The Problem: When Hospital Lights Hurt Recovery
Hospitals are meant to be healing environments—but harsh, cold lighting often works against recovery. Most facilities use static fluorescent lights 24/7, ignoring how light affects our circadian rhythm and overall health.
Our circadian rhythms—our internal 24-hour biological clock—are primarily regulated by light exposure. In nature, we're exposed to cool, blue-enriched light during the day and warm, dim light in the evening. This natural pattern helps regulate sleep, hormone production, and countless other biological processes.
Hospital lighting, however, tells a different story. Static, bright fluorescent lights shine at the same intensity and color temperature 24/7, creating an environment that actively disrupts patients' circadian rhythms.
Disrupted circadian rhythms in patients and staff can lead to:
- Poor sleep quality
- Longer recovery times
- Higher stress and medication needs
- Compromised immune function
Light isn’t just visual—it’s biological. And in hospitals, it often becomes a hidden health risk.
💡 Our Vision: Smart Lighting That Supports Healing
CircadiaLux is our answer: a smart, adaptive lighting system that uses machine learning, IoT devices, and cloud technology to create lighting environments that:
- Mimic natural daylight cycles
- Personalize lighting based on age, condition, and chronotype
- Respond to real-time environmental feedback
CircadiaLux is not just a lighting control system—it’s a biologically informed platform for circadian alignment and healing.
🔄 Why Lighting Matters in Healthcare
Lighting directly influences circadian rhythms, which in turn affect sleep quality—and ultimately, the healing process.
This chain is the core of our approach:
- Lighting Settings
- Influence Circadian Rhythm
- Which determines Sleep Quality
- Directly impacting the Healing Process
By optimizing the first link ( light ) we improve everything that follows.
🛠️ CircadiaLux System Overview
🎬 Watch the Demo Video
See CircadiaLux in action—how the system predicts, controls, and adapts lighting conditions in real-time using ML, IoT, and Supabase:
🧭 Architecture at a Glance
🖥️ Web Interface
Built with React, Vite, and TailwindCSS, the web dashboard provides an intuitive interface designed specifically for healthcare professionals:
- Patient management with personalized profiles
- Device monitoring and status overview
- Secure role-based access (admin & caregiver roles)
☁️ Backend
Supabase serves as our backend solution, delivering scalable, real-time infrastructure:
- 🔐 PostgreSQL database for storing patient data and lighting preferences
- 🔐 Real-time authentication with role-based security
- 📡 Webhook triggers that automatically generate new lighting recommendations
- �️ API endpoints for seamless communication between components
🤖 Machine Learning for Personalized Lighting
Our ML component uses a Random Forest Regressor model that achieves 96.2% accuracy in predicting optimal lighting parameters. The system predict optimal lighting parameters for each patient based on:
- Age
- Chronotype
- Gender
- Sleep information
We generate 48 lighting adjustments per day (every 30 minutes), fine-tuned to:
- Color Temperature (CCT)
- Brightness Intensity
To avoid harsh transitions, we apply smoothing algorithms to create gradual, comfortable lighting shifts.
🔌 Embedded IoT Hardware
Each lighting controller is built around the ESP32 microcontroller, equipped with:
- Dual-channel LED control (warm/cool) via MOSFETs
- Color sensor feedback for accurate CCT/intensity reproduction
- Custom WiFi management with user-friendly setup
🌍 Real-World Impact
The implications of CircadiaLux extend far beyond just better lighting:
🧑⚕️ For Patients
- Improved sleep quality through proper circadian entrainment
- Potentially faster recovery times through optimized healing environments
- Reduced need for sleep medications and sedatives
- Better overall comfort and well-being during hospital stays
🏥 For Healthcare Facilities
- Energy savings through intelligent brightness control
- Higher patient satisfaction scores
🔓 Open Source and Community
CircadiaLux is proudly open source and available on GitHub. We believe that improving human health through better lighting should be accessible to researchers, developers, and healthcare facilities worldwide.
The project demonstrates how modern technologies—machine learning, IoT, and cloud services—can be combined to address real-world healthcare challenges. It's a testament to what's possible when we apply engineering principles to human-centered problems.
Whether you're a researcher in chronobiology, a developer working in healthcare IoT, or simply passionate about tech for well-being, we'd love your input and collaboration.
🧠 Final Thoughts: Healing Through Light
CircadiaLux isn’t just a lighting system—it’s a step toward more humane, intelligent healthcare environments.
By combining embedded systems, ML, and design thinking, we created a system that supports patients not only physically—but biologically and emotionally too.
“When technology aligns with biology, it empowers healing.”
The future of healthcare lighting is personalized, intelligent, and human-centered—and CircadiaLux is helping build it, one patient room at a time.
👥 Want to connect, collaborate, or contribute? Reach out or star us on GitHub.
📬 GitHub → CircadiaLux
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