The Lighting Research Center (LRC) of Renss ELaer Poly Technical Institute has recently published a research report for LED airfield lighting, indicating that airport lighting should select suitable LED lighting products according to their specific conditions.
“Issues with use of LED airfield lighting：ACRP synthesis 35” was published by LRC of of Renss ELaer Poly Technical Institute, which suggested that as the most environmental friendly and energy saving lighting technology on the earth, LED lights is so to say the best lighting equipments for air ports. Replacing traditional airfield lighting technology with LED applications can firstly reduce the costs (maintenance costs primarily) dramatically. Traditional airfield lighting systems are generally based on filament lamps.
Transportation Research Board (TRB) of National Academies and Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACPR, which is also one of the main sponsors of this project) published this report together.
LRC had a long-term co-operation with FAA. Using solid lighting technology was recently put forward between them. Dr. John Bullough, the senior fellow of LRC and also the author of this report explained that “Obviously, LED airfield lighting can save more money for airports. But filament lamps have been on service for a long time. Almost every airport power supplying system in the world is based on filament lighting technology. Applying LED airfield lighting is not as simple as we though, we may probably have to replace the entire power system as well. ” Flat lands can let LED lighting products perform better, having higher penetration.
In the early stage of LED airport lighting industry, there are some “Compatibility Problems” between solid lighting system and airports. These problems have been gradually resolved during a two-year development. This report was based on a large amount of data from the detailed examines of more than 20 air ports all over the world. This report pointed out that despite the high cost of preparation, these cost will be compensate within a few years after installation LED lamps. Upgrade electricity infrastructure can improve the energy-saving capacity and the reliability of the entire airfield lighting system. In accordance with LRC, FAA is currently on a new research report for basic airfield lighting infrastructure.