Model predicting discomfort glare caused by LED road lights.

To model discomfort glare from LED road lighting, the effect of four key variables on perceived glare was explored. These variables were: the average glare source luminance (Lg), the background luminance (Lb), the solid angle of the glare source from the perspective of the viewer (ω) and the angle between the glare source and the line of sight (θ). Based on these four variables 72 different light conditions were simulated in a scaled experimental set-up. Participants were requested to judge the perceived discomfort glare of these light conditions using the deBoer rating scale. All four variables and some of their interactions had indeed a significant effect on the deBoer rating. Based on these findings, we developed a model, and tested its general applicability in various verification experiments, including laboratory conditions as well as real road conditions. This verification proved the validity of the model with a correlation between measured and predicted values as high as 0.87 and a residual deviation of about 1 unit on the deBoer rating scale. These results filled the gap in estimating discomfort glare of LED road lighting and clarified similarities of and differences in discomfort glare between LED and traditional light sources.