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For illumination sources designers is important to know the illumination distribution of their products. They can use several viewers of IES files (standard file format determined by Illuminating Engineering Society). This files are necessary not only know the distribution of illumination, but also to plain the construction of buildings by means of specialized softwares, such as Autodesk Revit. In this paper, a complete portable system for luminaries’ characterization is given. The components of the systems are: Irradiance profile meter, which can generate photometry of luminaries of small sizes which covers indoor illumination requirements and luminaries for general areas. One of the meter´s attributes is given by the color sensor implemented, which allows knowing the color temperature of luminary under analysis. The Graphic Unit Interface (GUI) has several characteristics: It can control the meter, acquires the data obtained by the sensor and graphs them in 2D under Cartesian and polar formats or 3D, in Cartesian format. The graph can be exported to png, jpg, or bmp formats, if necessary. These remarkable characteristics differentiate this GUI. This proposal can be considered as a viable option for enterprises of illumination design and manufacturing, due to the relatively low investment level and considering the complete illumination characterization provided.

The semi-spherical meter uses a photo-detector mounted on a mobile rectangular arc, which by means of two stepper motors describes the semi-spherical trajectories required. For controlling motors and data acquisition, a Peripheral Interface Controller (PIC) is employed, which helps keeping the low cost of the overall system. One of the stepper motors is located on the lateral axis of the device; that displaces the sensor along a semi-circular trajectory of 170°, almost complete meridians. Another motor located at the base of the device enables 360° rotation of the illumination source under test. The precision is increased by the using of two angle sensors located on the opposite lateral axis and on the mobile base of the illumination source. Additionally, before the data obtained from the photo-detector arrive to the PIC, a stage of signal conditioning is used. This step allows us to increase not only the precision, but also the versatility of the meter to analyze illumination sources of different sizes and fluxes. The communication protocol between the data acquisition stage and the computer is USART. A graphical user interface (GUI) is employed on the base of the hyperterminal. The number of measurement points is determined by programming the two motors. The mechanical structure provides enough rigidity for supporting the accuracy required by the data acquisition circuitry based on a PIC. Measurement of illumination sources of different sizes is possible by using adjustable lengths of the mobile base and the ring.