Lighting – Safer landings

June 2, 2015 – Airport runways could be highly visible under even the worst conditions with a lighting technology being developed by a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The prototype fixture features infrared and white light generators packaged in the industry standard PAR 38 configuration and uses ORNL’s graphite foam. This provides cooling for the light emitting diodes and separately emits infrared light. While the LEDs that have replaced incandescent bulbs at many airports are efficient and bright, they aren’t compatible with the enhanced vision systems (IR thermal cameras) onboard many planes. In addition to not being detectable by these systems, “Federal Aviation Administration-sponsored test pilots have reported ‘blooming’ and ‘blinding’ when the white light is produced by LEDs,” said ORNL researcher James Klett. The light being developed in collaboration with Spectrum FML eliminates this problem. Evaluations of the new lights are slated for runways in Memphis.