Comparison of luminous intensity distributions

Abstract

Luminous intensity distributions enable an evaluation of the spatial radiation characteristic of a light source. This radiation characteristic is determined by the structural properties of the light source, its operating parameters and the properties of the measuring system. This paper describes some possible methods and rules for comparing luminous intensity distributions. The focus is on the development of calculation rules for quantifying the differences between two luminous intensity distributions. The difference measures developed allow the user to establish an objective comparison between luminous intensity distributions, this comparison being completely independent of the measuring system, the properties of the luminous intensity distributions and the users themselves. Further, the dependence of the properties of luminous intensity distributions resulting from measurement practice, such as adjustment uncertainties, regions that cannot be covered or measured, deviations of the total luminous flux, data noise and resolution differences, are discussed, and appropriate pre-processing and correction steps proposed. In addition, various visualisations of the differences between two luminous intensity distributions are demonstrated and the functionality of the difference measures developed is documented.