As digital lighting control becomes central to modern buildings, a new reference design demonstrates how a DALI-compliant slave interface can be implemented for reliable, standards-based communication between lighting devices and centralized controllers.
This reference design focuses on a DALI (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface) slave interface intended for use in intelligent lighting control systems. It is designed to help developers implement a standardized DALI communication interface within embedded lighting devices that operate as slave nodes on a DALI network. The design addresses the need for reliable, protocol-compliant communication between lighting equipment and a centralized controller, enabling precise control of lighting functions such as switching, dimming, and scene management in professional lighting installations.
The reference design has been launched by STMicroelectronics to support the development of DALI-compliant lighting products using its embedded processing platform. It provides a ready-to-use software framework that demonstrates how a DALI slave device can be implemented, tested, and integrated into real-world lighting systems. The design explains how DALI communication is handled in software, including signal decoding, command interpretation, and response generation, while interfacing with the physical DALI bus. It is structured to simplify adoption by engineers, allowing them to adapt the design to their own lighting hardware with minimal effort.
The reference design offers several important features and supports a wide range of applications. It includes a complete implementation of the DALI slave protocol, ensuring compliance with international DALI standards. The software architecture is layered, separating the DALI protocol handling from the low-level input/output control, which improves flexibility and portability. Timing-critical operations are managed efficiently to meet the strict communication requirements of the DALI interface. The design also incorporates mechanisms for error detection and recovery, improving reliability in electrically noisy lighting environments. Typical applications include LED drivers, electronic ballasts, luminaires, and smart lighting modules used in commercial buildings, industrial facilities, and building automation systems. It is also suitable for retrofit projects where legacy lighting equipment needs to be upgraded to support digital lighting control.
From a functional perspective, the reference design explains the internal block structure of the system. The design is divided into logical blocks such as the DALI protocol stack, which processes received commands and generates appropriate responses, and the interface layer, which manages signal transmission and reception on the DALI bus. An application layer demonstrates how decoded DALI commands can be translated into lighting control actions, such as adjusting output levels or triggering predefined scenes. This modular block-level approach makes the design easier to understand, modify, and scale for different product requirements.
Along with the reference design, STMicroelectronics provides detailed documentation that includes a user manual, software descriptions, and example application code. The package outlines system initialization, communication flow, timing behavior, and testing procedures. It also includes guidance on integrating the software with external DALI interface circuitry and validating operation with a DALI master. The complete reference design documentation and software resources can be accessed by clicking at the link.
