Due to the increased performance and reduced prices of workstations and personal computers, highly advanced, computerized analysis has become a common procedure, including simulations such as the generation of virtual road surface images on CRT displays - images generated by irradiating the road with headlamps.
Analysis of this type is carried out based on many thousands of illuminance value points scanned over a wide angular range by a goniophotometer. The accuracy of the analysis is dependent on the angle resolution of the scan data, the number of data, and to carry out the scan at the desired resolution, it is not uncommon to require several hours or more for a single lamp. Therefore, in order to achieve a realistic scan time, there is a tendency in the field to settle for a reduction in the scan points and a corresponding decrease in the accuracy of the analysis.
In response to this situation, we have developed a system which scans tens of thousands of illuminance values in hundredth or less of the time previously required, in order to fully exhibit the power and efficiency of a high-performance analysis system. While previous systems required five hours to scan 27,000 points at 0.2-degree resolution, the new system completes the same scan in two minutes without any practical loss of accuracy.
This new system utilizes the same geometry as the previous one, in that it employs a goniometer and one photometer set at a position of 10m, 25m, or 60 feet, and it retains complete compatibility in terms of angle and accuracy of illuminance values.