Intigrity & reliability presentation World Airfield ground lighting summit 2018 Singapore.

10/01/18 Ras al Khaimah International Airport,UAE 1
Integrity and Reliability of
the Airfield Ground Lighting
BY MUHAMMAD MAAZ
(AGL & Electromechanical Manager Ras al Khaimah
International Airport UAE)

• INTRIGRITY MEANS: INTIGRITY PERTAINS TO SUCH MATTERS AS SURVIVAL OF THE
OVERALL SYSTEM AFTER FAILURE.
• RELIABILITY MEANS:RELIABILITY IS A QUESTION OF MEAN TIME BETWEEN FAILURE
(MTBF) OF COMPONENTS.
INTRODUCTION

Electrical factors which effects integrity and reliability
•Failure of the Circuit;
•Failure of the Power Supply.
•Failure of the Control system.
•Failure of the Communication system.

Annex 14, Volume 1 Aerodrome Design & Operations
Refers to requirements for AGL In the following sections
Chapter 5 Visual aids for navigation.
Chapter 8 Electrical systems.
Chapter 10 Aerodrome Maintenance.
Appendix 1 Colors for aeronautical ground lights, markings, signs and panels.
Appendix 2 Aeronautical ground light characteristics.
ICAO Annex 14 outlines requirements with respect to the maintenance and serviceability of AGL
ICAO only specifies what the light intensity should be and how it should be distributed.

FAA has issued specific requirements for LED lights in
Engineering Brief 67D to make sure that LED lights will
present the same kind of behavior as halogen lights in the
same situation.
Advisory Circular 150/5345-30H states that
LED light fixtures must not be interspersed with incandescent
lights of the same type.
This means is that
“One should not mix both technologies that have the same
function, such as straight or curved sections of taxiway edge
or runway edge.
This is due to the difference in the color perception…
LED whites stay within the color boundaries for aviation white in all intensity steps.
Tungsten-Halogen lamps become yellowish-white in the lower intensity steps.

Industry professionals and experts believe LED is the future of AGL.
Airfield luminaires are designed to provide specific visual information to pilots in terms of
intensity at different viewing angles and the color of the light. Thus, the useful lifetime of
airfield luminaires could be defined as :
“The time in hours of operation until the amount of light or its color
have fallen out of specification, when operated under conditions
representative of realistic conditions”
Knowing the expected useful life of airfield luminaires allows designers, airport owners,
administrators, and operators to make informed decisions that impact initial and operational
costs, maintenance programs, and overall service reliability.
Selecting the most effective light source or lighting system for a given application requires
the comparison of a number of figures of merit for the options under evaluation.
Why switch to LED

Safety
Traditional incandescent AGL is prone to shift color at lower intensity settings and wide
angles, especially in case of Stop Bars and Runway Guard Lights.
FAA Advisory Circular 150/5345-46D5 requires that the color of
these fixtures must meet Traffic Signal red (Stop Bar) and Traffic
Signal yellow (RGL) which helps to minimize the effect of color
shift when these fixtures are viewed at wide angles or lower
intensity steps.
With LEDs, color saturation variation is minimized with intensity
step - in effect, they essentially stay the same color.
LEDs switch on instantly unlike traditional AGL which takes some
time to warm up.
This Instant On capability improves conspicuity and enhances
safety.

Lesser maintenance
LED lighting is longer lasting and requires lesser maintenance.
Incandescent lamps typically last 4,000 - 6,000 hours and need to be replaced once or twice a
year.
For LEDs, the MTBF in the same operational conditions is more than 200,000 hours.
Lesser maintenance translates to reduced movement of
maintenance technicians and vehicles on the airfield which
lowers the risk of runway incursions, and increases
operational safety and aircraft movements.

Cost-efficiency
LED lighting is more long lasting than incandescent.
With LED AGL, energy consumption is reduced anywhere
between 50% to 90% without heating.
LED lighting reduces load on the power management systems
This translates to a smaller CCR, smaller isolation transformers,
a smaller engine generator, and smaller circuit protection
devices, among others.

Comparison of LED and TH technologies
Comparison of the principal differences between LED and Tungsten Halogen AGL over a
range of attributes – namely
•Technology/mode of operation
•Unit life
•Maintenance performance
•Color
•Intensity
•Power consumption
•Winter operations/EFVS
•Future potential

Technology/Mode of operation
A Halogen lamp consists of a tungsten filament sealed into a compact transparent
envelope filled with an inert gas.
The Halogen cycle increases the lifetime of the bulb and prevents its darkening by re
depositing tungsten from the inside of the bulb back onto the filament.
A light emitting diode (LED) is an electronic light source. The LED is constructed from a
Semiconductor with specific properties such that when current passes through the Device
light is emitted.
About 90% of the energy of an LED Is converted into visible light, and no more than 10%
into heat.
The Opposite is true for TH lamps, where most of the energy input is radiated as heat.

Unit life
If run at the highest power setting
The life of a TH fitting is around 800 --- 1000 hrs.
Standard use depending on what kind of fitting and where it is.
The life of a TH fitting is around 2000---4000 hrs.
LED Luminaires are expected to have lives ranging from 50,000 - 200,000 hours.
Maintenance performance
TH requires periodic re---lamping.
White runway lights appear yellow at low CCR current settings, and progressively become
whiter as the lamp is run at higher intensity.
Colors Other than white are achieved by shining the light through a colored lens.
LED do not requires re---lamping, much less likely to suffer from complete failure.
White lights are white, yellow is yellow, green lights are devoid of yellow tinges. Red is true
red.

Intensity
The Intensity (brightness) Of TH Lights is dependent on the current passed through them.
Progressively larger currents are required to achieve a noticeable change in brightness.
For a standard TH circuit, the lamp intensity (brightness) is controlled by varying the output
from the CCRs in a number of steps.
The brightness of an LED is determined by the frequency that the unit flashes on and off.
The brightness perception curve of LEDs varies linearly with frequency.
Crudely, twice the frequency will be perceived by the human eye as twice the brightness.
LED lights are capable of being operated on much lower power to provide equivalent
brightness.
LEDs, particularly when used in a mixed installation with TH fittings, will require to be
“tuned” to provide equivalent light output at the present CCR current “steps”.

While the initial investment in LED
AGL might seems higher than
traditional AGL, it is important to
note that this investment can be
recovered from two to four years,
and in some cases, as low as six
months.

CASE STUDY :
Xi’an Xian yang International Airport’s LED Taxiway Lighting installation
Background:
To meet growing passenger throughput and air traffic, Xi’an Xian yang International Airport
embarked on a Phase II expansion project to build a 3,800-meter long and 60-meter second
runway.
In 2014, the airport handled 29 million passengers, making it the ninth busiest airport in
China.
Objective:
To build a greener and safer, more environment-friendly and efficient airport.
Installation:
Xi’an Airport’s second runway expansion project thus saw the selection and installation of
LED light fixtures for the entire taxiway.
Results ???

The Taxiway LED lighting has been running more than a year.
From an operational perspective, the airport is achieving significant savings on
energy/maintenance time and cost.
From a sustainability perspective, the taxiway uses a greener, more efficient lighting source,
and this helps the airport reduce carbon footprint.

Maintenance
The airport has two runways and the operating time per-day is more than 16 hours.
After deducting the time taken for all internal processes, preparation and driving, this leaves
only about 4.5 hours for maintenance and repair.

LED technology for AGL is relatively new.
Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) regularly publish reports on current best
practices.
One of its reports ACRP Synthesis 35 - Issues with Use of Airfield LED Light Fixtures
“the study findings confirm that LED airfield light fixtures reduce energy use and maintenance
requirements, compared with conventional airfield lighting technologies.
LED airfield lighting systems have been in use for a number of years, and most feedback on
their visibility and performance is positive.”

Airport using LED Lights…
London’s Heathrow Airport, the world’s busiest international airport has recently selected LED
lights for its southern and northern runways.
In the US, Chicago O’Hare Airport has more than 10,500 elevated taxiway LED fixtures (ETES)
Denver International Airport has close to 7,000 in pavement taxiway LED fixtures.
Other notable references include Charles De Gaulle Airport in France,
Manchester Airport, UK,
Frankfurt Airport in Germany
Treviso Airport, Italy.

Remember…
If you are not the part of solution, your are the part of
problem.
Any Questions ???

Intigrity & reliability presentation World Airfield ground lighting summit 2018 Singapore.

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