News & Events

Enhancements to Lutron’s Athena Lighting Control System Answer the Need for Connected Software, Accessible Data Analytics, and Fixture-Level Control Capability.


Coopersburg, PA (FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE): As design professionals expect more versatility from their building systems, Lutron introduces an improved Athena lighting control system, offering designers greater flexibility while providing their clients with tools and insights to support better business decisions.

The upgraded, cloud-connected Athena system allows designers to do more with a single system and expands data-analytic capabilities. System enhancements support the need for connected solutions that deliver building management insights, simplify ongoing system adjustments, and continue to add value over time.

Two powerful new features make Athena systems even more capable, simple, and versatile:
• Athena wireless node is an ultra-small, individual, wireless fixture control packed with technology to ensure you can easily and quickly adjust light settings by fixture, zone, or a combination of both. With this new option, the Athena system can be wired and/or wireless and controlled with granularity down to the individual fixture.
• Athena dashboard is analytical software that visualizes complex occupancy and energy data in intuitive reports and makes them easily accessible to inform business decisions and occupant-friendly lighting adjustments. Designed to be cloud-connected, the Athena dashboard offers automatic and continuous updates.

“For years, we’ve specified Intelligent, addressable lighting solutions to promote more flexible workplace designs. The new Athena wireless node gives us that granular control, and then takes it to the next level with many more features including wireless control of tunable white. The contractors only need to land power wiring at each fixture – they love the simplicity, and our clients will enjoy the benefits through years of change. And all software based!” – Stephen Margulies, Partner, One Lux Studio

New System Features and Capabilities

New Athena wireless node enhances design flexibility –
With the Athena wireless node, lighting designers have unlimited freedom to change, redesign, and rethink lighting strategies throughout the design process – making it easy to accommodate changing customer requirements.
• This ultra-small, individual fixture controller is engineered to fit a standard fixture knockout and is designed to meet the open, globally accepted D4i standard – adding digital, wireless control communications to a wide range of fixtures.
• Control each fixture separately – redesign and rezone lighting easily, and at any time.
• It works with a wide variety of communication protocols including DALI-2 (DT6 and DT8), 0-10V with electronic off, and Lutron Clear Connect Type X.
• The Athena wireless node works with tunable white and static white fixtures. A single device does both, so as designs change prior to construction the controls don’t have to.
• It can be mounted on the top or bottom of the fixture, or remote mounted, to minimize visual impact. Plenum-rated in most regions, it can also be hidden in the ceiling.

New cloud-connected dashboard enables data-driven decisions –
Using the new Athena dashboard, building owners and managers can access the system data they need to make business decisions that enhance the value of their properties. The new dashboard offers system-level analytics and the ability to access all your properties in a single view. It complements the companion Athena app (now available on both Android and Apple devices), which continues to offer localized control and programming of lighting and shades. With cloud connectivity, the dashboard will gain new features and capabilities with continuous software updates.

Advanced, intuitive reporting allows the building management team to:
• Manage multiple buildings from any major browser.
• Use the floorplan view to see how different areas of a space are performing visually.
• Monitor patterns of occupancy to make real-estate decisions with space utilization reports.
• Access energy usage data to support sustainability goals with energy reports.
• Look at live data or historical trends daily, weekly, yearly, and in custom time ranges.
• Easily export data in a number of formats to create custom reports.

A system that keeps getting better
In an era when building technology can struggle to keep up with the pace of innovation, the connected Athena system will continue to become more valuable and more flexible over time.

“The future of lighting control is a connected one. As the features and capabilities of networked lighting control systems continue to expand, our customers expect that their systems will evolve as seamlessly as today’s smart phones do. The Lutron Athena system is cloud connected – it is an appreciating asset that becomes smarter and nimbler over time.” – Chris Udall, Senior Product Manager, Lutron Electronics

The Athena wireless node is available for specification in the U.S. and Canada today, shipping in late 2022. The Athena dashboard is available for specification globally, shipping in early 2023. For more information about the Athena system, visit Lutron.com/Athena

About Lutron Electronics (www.lutron.com)
Founded in 1961, Lutron Electronics Co., Inc., is headquartered in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania. From dimmers for the home to lighting management systems for entire buildings, the company offers more than 15,000 energy-saving products, sold in more than 100 countries. In the U.S. alone, Lutron products save an estimated 10 billion kWh of electricity, or approximately $1 billion in utility costs per year. The company’s early inventions— including the first solid-state electronic dimmer invented by Lutron’s founder, Joel Spira—are at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.