Evaluation of Light Emitting Diode Linear Source Devices

摘要

With rapid advances in the light emitting diode (LED) design and production arena realized in the latter half of the 1990s, increases in intensity and reduction in cost made the use of LED source devices practical for airport use. In particular, airport engineers and designers realized that the LED, when configured in a linear array, might well serve to enhance and embolden the conventional paint markings on the airport movement area. This report describes the evaluation that was conducted to determine the effectiveness and applicability of the LED configured in a linear array to enhance paint markings on the airport surface, and to develop specifications and certification procedures for these sources. The evaluation was conducted over a 5-year period at the Federal Aviation Administration William J. Hughes Technical Center, and elsewhere, by subjective visual inspections and pilot opinion of various configurations, sizes, and colors. During this time, two different products were evaluateda flexible strip of encapsulated LEDs and a rigid strip of encapsulated LEDs. The results of the investigation showed that both the flexible and rigid linear LED strips enhanced the visibility of the paint markings as indicated by the increased acquisition distances. However, the installation and robustness of these sources needs more attention from the vendors to enable the use of this product on airports.