DEVELOPMENT OF FIBER OPTIC APPROACH LIGHTING SYSTEMS

NEW LIGHTING TECHNOLOGIES, INCLUDING FIBER OPTICS AND HIGH EFFICIENCY ARC SOURCES, WILL BE APPLIED IN THIS PHASE I PROJECT TO DEVELOP INNOVATIVE APPROACH LIGHTING SYSTEMS (ALS) FOR AIRPORT RUNWAYS. THE GOAL IS TO REPLACE THE LARGE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUAL INCANDESCENT SPOT LIGHTS PRESENTLY IN SUCH SYSTEMS WITH REMOTE SOURCES COUPLED TO OPTICAL WAVEGUIDES THAT WILL TRANSMIT AND PROJECT THE REQUIRED HIGH INTENSITY LIGHT BEAMS. ANALYSES WILL BE MADE OF THE CAPABILITIES OF THE NEW TECHNOLOGIES AS COMPARED TO ALS REQUIREMENTS. AN OPTIMIZED SYSTEM, MATCHING THE OPTICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF EXISTING ALS, WILL BE DESIGNED. VARIOUS REQUIRED ELEMENTS WILL BE DEVELOPED OR ASSEMBLED FROM COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE COMPONENTS, AND THEN TESTED IN THE LABORATORY. A BREADBOARD MODEL, EMULATING A PORTION OF THE LIGHTS IN AN ALS, WILL BE CONSTRUCTED AND TESTED UNDER BOTH LABORATORY AND FIELD CONDIITIONS. THE PHASE I WORK IS AIMED AT CONFIRMING THE APPLICABILITY OF THE NEW LIGHTING TECHNIQUES, THUS LAYING A FIRM FOUNDATION FOR THE DEBVELOPMENT OF A PREPRODUCTION PROTOTYPE APPROACH LIGHTING SYSTEM IN PHASE II.