The world of aviation lighting just got bigger and better. With significant advances made in the technology being used for the lighting of the airports and airfields, it has now been made possible to produce a LED based and ‘ICAO’ certified taxiway visual aid system. This type of lighting technology, which was not available earlier, has now made it easier for planes to perform a lot many curved maneuvers with panache as opposed to the dangers involved with the same earlier.
The idea has basically been to install a light system which can provide more power over a larger area to help in aircraft movement, especially at night, in difficult areas of the airfield without consuming much power.
The new technology developed uses 4 W LED’s designed in a suitable form which can provide over 7 W of power ‘per’ sq. meter, thereby significantly improving the lighting conditions. Some of the added features installed involve a metal base provide with adequate insulation which can ensure proper temperature moderation even in extreme conditions.
There have been tests conducted wherein these equipments have been subjected to extreme conditions of temperature as specifies by the Flight Authority of America. The test results have helped in providing relevant info regarding the continual functioning of these equipments even 10 degrees above the specified temperature with absolutely no effect on the lighting features.
The LED technology has been constantly put to use in different area in obstruction lighting. Thee are studies on to make it possible to run LED based visual aid systems directly from isolated power sources without the need for running them between interfaced powering devices. As such the new technology developed has raised the hopes of induction of LED’s into a lot of applications meant for usage alongside runways and taxiways in order to make aircraft movement a hassle free procedure.
