The bright lights
|
Posted Date: 01/03/2008
Issue: Airside International March 2008
Publication: Airside International
“The most recent significant change in modern airfield ground lighting (AGL) systems is the use of LED as a light source. This technology brings with it huge advantages,” comments Roland Maes, Technical Marketing Manager at Siemens ADB. In terms of the replacement of the light source, LED brings the same or better light output with reduced power,” he comments. Siemens says LED boasts longevity which has a positive impact on the availability of the airside infrastructure and reduces maintenance and replacement costs. Moreover, the higher light output by reduced power contributes to a lower energy bill. Their continuously improving performances, says the supplier, mean that LED lights will be used for more applications to replace lamps all over the airfield.
Christian Onselaere, ADB’s Chief Executive Officer, adds: “Exactly; these benefits open new perspectives. Now that LED lights are generally accepted, suppliers and customers alike have to reconsider the complete supply concept and not only the end product. Only once the whole chain, starting from the supply source over the circuit to the light fittings,are adapted to LED we will be able to benefit fully from their advantages.”
“We have analysed the pros and cons of different systems since quite some time, and have now started duration tests of the preferred solutions in various airports,” says Maes. “We have to deal with safety equipment so we cannot afford to jeopardise the advantages by experimenting. Our customers would hold that against us. The latest feedback is most promising though.” Onselaere remarks that the overriding concerns of the company’s customers are to improve the efficiency of the airside infrastructure and increase safety in a cost effective way. “In this respect, LED technology offers new possibilities,” he says. “Siemens ADB is focused on the challenges ahead. This is how to supply the appropriate solutions as a complete package supported with a full scope of services ranging from design, supply and installation to providing customer tailored training and maintenance.”
Keeping green
Jesper Svensson is the Sales Director of Safegate, a company which recently achieved the acquisition and integration of Thorn Airfield Lighting. The acquisition brought with it a portfolio of airfield lighting products. Svensson explains that Thorn was a good match for Safegate in terms of both products and market stronghold. “For 20 years we have been working on addressable light systems. This means that we can switch on and off individual lights on an airfield,” he comments. “This is the intelligent side of airfield lighting.”
Svensson continues: “As technology moves on, the light and the intelligence come closer and closer. They have already become an all-in-one product. It has been our view for many years that these two products will grow together and it was of strategic importance to us to become a one stop shop.”
He says the main driver in the airfield lighting product development sphere is for safety and efficiency in airports: “This means that there is increasing demand on the products every day and every year. The data needed from the lighting system is also increasing. Airports have to know the status of the systems; they do not want to drive around, looking at every light.”
This is why addressable light systems, in Svensson’s view, are vital to the future direction of airfield lights. He says the main market is still for halogen bulbs but everyone recognises there is a big drive towards LED – but that is still far from 50% of the market. According to Safegate, most of the LEDs in operation today derive their power from the existing technical infrastructure installed on the airfield. He sees the installation of completely new circuits as the next stage of market development. Svensson believes light pollution beyond the airport perimeter is very much an issue which is why airfield lighting should be restricted to only that lighting which is necessary at the time in question. He says the potential savings from curbing the use of airfield lighting – through intelligent systems – can have a much greater energy saving than the difference in energy use between LED lights and halogen lights.
“This is the addressable part,” explains Svensson. “If you are able to switch on and off the lights, you can switch on segments of the airfield lighting instead of the whole system. This is where the savings can be made.”
More M&A
Given the acquisition by Siemens of ADB and the acquisition by Safegate of Thorn Airfield Lighting, it comes as little surprise that a further acquisition has been announced in this area. At the end of 2007, ATG Airports acquired Alstom’s airport lighting business. The business is being operated as ATG Airports (Products) Ltd, within the ATG Airports group of companies. This acquisition enables ATG Airports group to offer a total solution of airfield lighting equipment and services to the aviation market worldwide. Andy Sole, Business Development Manager of ATG Airports, explains that the Alstom acquisition provides ATG Airports with the opportunity to both manufacture and install airfield lighting whereas, previously, his company was focused only on installation and a limited amount of manufacturing. “Now we can offer design all the way through to commissioning and after sales support,” says Sole, adding that this gives ATG Airports access to a much wider market.
“There are only a few manufacturers of airfield lighting in the world and we’ve always seen it as a target to produce airfield lighting products ourselves,” says Sole. “We started 15 years ago and we’ve progressed over these years through acquisitions or development of our own products. When Alstom came on the market, it was an opportunity which we had to take.”
ATG Airports has undertaken a large number of system installations overseas, particularly in the Caribbean and Turkey. Sole says the challenge for airfield lighting going forward is both in advancements of the product itself and in the supply of power to the products. “There are also a lot of electro-magnetic compatibility problems and so we are developing products to get around this area to ensure there is no interference between the lighting system and other systems in the airport,” he says. “Also, many of the installed lights themselves use tungsten halogen technology and, as we move towards LED lighting, much of the new technology is running off the existing power systems but we can see this, in the future, will change to a lower power consumption. The airports are looking for energy savings and so we are pushing forward on that front too.”
Making markets
Asked just how healthy the market is looking for an airfield lighting supplier at the moment, Sole responds: “After September 11, 2001, airports put their money into airport security for a year or two. That is now coming back into the development of the runways and lighting systems.” He continues: “Many airlines – low-cost airlines in particular – are requesting that airfields are being upgraded so that they can land their aircraft in all weathers.” This, along with the increased number of military airports being employed for civil use, is helping to drive the market.
In terms of market opportunities, Maes at Siemens says airfield development continues all over the world but the Asia Pacific market is growing most rapidly. Onselaere adds that China and India are still very cost conscious and so value for money is a prime mover.
With so many of the world’s airports looking, in part, like construction sites and with so much more development on the cards, airfield lighting suppliers – despite the obvious challenges – have much to gain from perfecting their technology and addressing the entire lighting delivery system. Reducing energy consumption and adding as much intelligence as possible will make these developments much kinder to our planet too.
Siemens equips Liège Airport
Siemens’ subsidiary, ADB, is working with the Fabricom GTI consortium, Belgium, and SM Yvan Paque – VSE, Belgium, to equip Liège Airport with new airfield lighting, including a monitoring system. ADB is supplying the airfield lighting equipment for the new north apron and all four related taxiways. The taxiways will be equipped with a complete LED lighting system, including stop bars. The energy saving LED lights ensure an average lifetime of more than 100,000 hours in normal operating conditions and only require a very small amount of maintenance. The apron, which is used for positioning, parking and processing aircraft, is being fitted with yellow and red omni-directional lights, type FTO.
The lighting is controlled by an airfield lighting control system (ALCS) which is connected to the lights by ±1800 airfield ground lighting automation system remotes. This connection enables the ALCS system to switch the lights on and off individually and modify their brightness. It also enables pre-programmed settings as well as analysis and maintenance. Because each component can be controlled individually and exactly, flexible use can be made of each segment of the taxiways and of the apron as well. All the functions are controlled via a graphical user interface. The materials are supplied by Siemens ADB and the installation work is being performed by Fabricom GTI. Liège Airport is to the north-west of Liège in the east part of Belgium. It is the first European airport with scheduled destinations that are primarily selected to meet freight transport requirements and only secondarily for passengers. It is now one of the top 10 air freight airports. In the last five years, its freight and passenger transport has risen by 20%. The airport has two take-off runways (CAT 1 and CAT 2) and, since 1998, has been TNT Express’s European hub.
Lighting systems take a bow
John Anthony is the Export Sales Director of Abacus Lighting in the UK. He explains that Abacus Lighting specialises in apron lighting, more specifically, flood lighting towers. His company has worked with airports in the Caribbean which experience extreme weather conditions during the hurricane season. “To avoid damage to the flood lights and the mast structure we have supplied them hinged at the base. These are lowered when hurricanes come through. The islands in the Caribbean receive warnings of severe weather so that precautions can be taken, including the securing or protecting of structures,” comments Anthony. He continues: “There has been a lot of damage caused by severe weather when masts and flood lights are exposed to these high winds and our system allows the mast to be hinged down to ground level out of harm’s way.”
Harnessing the sun
Given the environmental impact of airfield lighting systems, one cannot ignore the progress made in solar powered airfield lighting products. Allister Wilmott is the Aviation Division Manager of Carmanah Technologies Corporation of Canada. He explains that solar technology within the aviation industry is very definitely a niche market – in fact he estimates that less than 1% of the total airfield lighting market can be attributed to solar technology.
“Nevertheless, solar technology forms an important niche in both the civil and defence industries, even though the technology was introduced to the civil industry as recently as 2002 through initial contact with the FAA and later to international airports in the summer of 2002,” comments Wilmott. “The international aviation lighting industry got its first look at the technology at the Canadian Airport National Electrician Workshop followed by the FAA’s acknowledgement of the technology in the fall of 2002 at the Illuminating Engineering Society Airport Lighting Conference in Nashville.”
By 2003, the conflict in the Gulf brought this technology to the fore. Both the US forces and the Coalition forces harnessed solar power to light up military airfields at forward operating bases war zones and, today, Carmanah Technologies Corporation boasts more than 75,000 solar LED lights, operating in more than 100 countries for both civil and military applications (in terms of both airfield lighting and obstruction lighting). Originally, this solar lighting technology was designed as a portable and virtually maintenance-free lighting product for the marine industry in 1996-1997. “The beauty of this technology is that it is self-contained,” says Wilmott. “You can place it anywhere, be it permanent, temporary or emergency lighting. In the marine industry it was designed for use on navigational buoys in the remote locations of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to assist the Canadian Coast Guard, the US Navy and the US Coast Guard navigational requirements.”
But the economics of choosing solar power over electric circuit lighting, despite the lack of maintenance attention required, are installation and performance dependant. All costs have to be evaluated on a case by case basis. Wilmott points to the case where a military airfield, say in the Middle East, is faced with minimal infrastructure and zero access to power, making the economics of harnessing solar power a no-brainer. “When lighting an airfield in the mountains or remote desert of Afghanistan, the cost savings can be as equal to or greater than a 10:1 benefit ratio,” he explains. “But if you are looking at a small regional airfield in the US which may have access to power, cheap labour and infrastructure, that ratio could be much lower.”
Nevertheless, Wilmott believes the 1% penetration of the market for solar products is increasing with room to expand. “The obvious limiting factor is that the technology is new to the industry or in the early adopter stage of widespread use. The first hurdle in progressing through the early adopter stage is standardisation and certification. The FAA and ICAO are both reviewing, and in some cases accepting, the technology for certain applications where they see fit,” remarks Wilmott. “Right now the technology can meet or exceed a selection of airfield lighting specifications but overall, there are few standards that allow solar power as an acceptable technology source or are capable of solar power meeting them.”
Wilmott continues: “The scenario where the technology adds value or makes sense is usually seen in instances where power is inaccessible, where power is unreliable and where power is simply too expensive to acquire.” Going forward, the future development of markets for solar powered airfield lighting relies heavily on the standardisation and certification of products using solar as an energy source. Continuous improvements in all sorts of technologies, not just the solar technology aspects to the products, can enhance the potential for solar LED lighting technologies moving to the mainstream. After all, wireless technologies have advanced the intelligent use of the energy stored from solar sources immeasurably. Finally, the management of the stored energy itself is a big issue for solar technology developers and users; getting it right will go a long way towards the acceptance of solar power in the airfield.
Related Headlines
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
Issue Advertisers
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > |
