Electrochromic Glazing Control System for Trailer Lab

The Radiant Lab’s new mobile trailer on the OSU Corvallis campus features one façade covered by 18 electrochromic glazing panels and 2 skylights whose tint can be adjusted electrically. Your team will design and implement a user-friendly control system that allows non-technical researchers to manually control, schedule, and monitor panel states. The trailer has a local server/hardware stack that should expose a local API (to be validated on-site). The system must operate reliably in a lab setting, support day-to-day study workflows, and be easy to learn and teach. Development will require hands-on investigation of the installed hardware, network, and API in the trailer, coordination with the Radiant Lab, and iterative usability testing with research staff.

Key constraints & realities:

  • 20 independent panels; need groupings, presets, and per-panel overrides.
  • Local control via trailer network/API; external connectivity may be limited.
  • Trailer grid connection is pending (~two weeks); current power/network may be provisional.
  • Hardware/software details are partially unknown and subject to change; expect discovery, documentation, and integration work.
  • Primary stakeholder: Dr. Clotilde Pierson (Architectural Engineering) and Radiant Lab researchers.

Objectives

Deliverables

  • Validate and document the local API/communication with the electrochromic hardware (auth, commands, status, error codes).
  • Build a responsive, accessible UI for non-technical users with:
    • Manual controls (per-panel and grouped) and safe presets.
    • Scheduling (time-based scenes, recurring rules, start/stop windows).
    • Live state visualization (panel map, current tint levels, system health).
    • Role-appropriate safeguards (confirmations, limits to prevent unsafe/rapid switching).
  • Implement a reliable control service layer:
    • Queueing/rate-limiting, retries, and safe fallbacks on network/hardware errors.
    • Local persistence of schedules and states; audit log of changes.
  • Provide installation/ops docs and a researcher-oriented quick-start guide.
  • Deliver an end-to-end demo in the trailer and a test harness/simulator for off-site development.

Stretch Goals

  • Sensor integration: real-time inputs (illuminance, occupancy, temperature) inside the trailer; optional outdoor sensors.
  • Data fusion: pull weather/sky data to inform control decisions.
  • Model-based or rule-based auto-tinting to meet target indoor lighting/glare conditions.
  • Remote access mode (VPN or secure tunnel) if lab policy permits (Tailscale or similar).
  • Research data export (CSV/JSON) and reproducible “study protocol” schedules.
  • Basic digital twin/visualization of façade for planning experiments.

Motivations

  • Enable research at scale: Provide reliable, easy controls so studies can focus on lighting science—not tooling.
  • Advance human-centric lighting: Facilitate experiments on comfort, glare, health, and energy use with precise, repeatable panel control.
  • Bridge CS and built-environment tech: Tackle a real cyber-physical system with uncertain, evolving constraints.
  • Create lasting lab infrastructure: Leave maintainable software, documentation, and a safe operational baseline for future studies.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:
  • Proficiency in at least one full-stack stack (e.g., Python/Node back end + web front end) and RESTful/HTTP API integration.
  • Experience building UIs that prioritize clarity, accessibility, and error handling; comfort with usability testing.
  • Networked systems basics: local networking, service discovery, and debugging tools (e.g., curl/Postman, logs).
  • Comfort with hardware/software integration under uncertainty: reading vendor docs, probing endpoints, iterative validation.
  • Version control and team workflow (Git, issues/PRs, basic CI).

Preferred Qualifications:
  • Experience with control systems or IoT (message queues, rate-limiting, retries, watchdogs) and logging/observability.
  • Familiarity with scheduling/cron-like services, state machines, and resilience patterns.
  • Prior work with sensors (e.g., illuminance, occupancy) and data pipelines; basic time-series modeling or rules engines.
  • Front-end strength with a modern framework (React/Vue/Svelte) and component libraries; accessibility best practices.
  • Security and deployment awareness: least-privilege design, secrets handling, containerization, and on-prem or edge deployment.


Details

Project Partner:

Alexander Ulbrich

NDA/IPA:

No Agreement Required

Number Groups:

1

Project Status:

Accepting Applicants

Website:
https://www.clotildepierson.com/
Keywords:
WebHardwareIoTConsultancy
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