A wide spectral range sky radiance model

Vévoda, Petr; Bashford-Rogers, Thomas; Kolářová, Monika; Wilkie, Alexander

Abstract

Pre-computed models of sky radiance are a tool to rapidly determine incident solar irradiance in applications as diverse as movie VFX, lighting simulation for architecture, experimental biology, and flight simulators. Several such models exist, but most provide data only for the visible range and, in some cases, for the near-UV. But for accurate simulations of photovoltaic plant yield and the thermal properties of buildings, a pre-computed reference sky model which covers the entire spectral range of terrestrial solar irradiance is needed: and this range is considerably larger than what extant models provide. We deliver this, and for a ground-based observer provide the three components of sky dome radiance, atmospheric transmittance, and polarisation. We also discuss the additional aspects that need to be taken into consideration when including the near-infrared in such a model. Additionally, we provide a simple standalone C++ implementation as well as an implementation with a GUI.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Conference Name: Pacific Graphics 2022
• Acceptance Date: Sep 1, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Mar 20, 2023
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Sep 21, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 2, 2023
• Journal: Computer Graphics Forum
• Print ISSN: 0167-7055
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-8659
• Publisher: Wiley
• Volume: 41
• Issue: 7
• Pages: 291-298
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cgf.14677
• Keywords: CCS Concepts, Computing methodologies, Rendering, Applied computing, Earth and atmospheric sciences
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/9996965
• Publisher URL: https://pg2022.org/
• Related Public URLs: https://pg2022.org/; ; https://srmv2.eg.org/COMFy/Conference/PG_2022
• Additional Information: The 30th Pacific Conference on Computer Graphics and Applications, Pacific Graphics 2022, will take place at Kyoto International Conference Center, Kyoto, Japan on October 5th-8th, 2022.; Pacific Graphics is a flagship conference of the AsiaGraphics Association.; ; All accepted journal track papers will be published in a special issue of Computer Graphics Forum (CGF), the journal of the Eurographics Association, in print and online in 2022.; ; This year, Pacific Graphics 2022 is a part of CG Kyoto 2022 and will be co-located with Visual Computing 2022, a largest domestic conference on computer graphics in Japan, at the Kyoto International Conference Center.