Drake Lighting

Redundancies in LED lighting systems and keeping active components off of the tower improve reliability and eliminate most reasons why a tower would have to be climbed to make repairs. 

Obstruction lighting systems certi­fied by the Federal Aviation Admin­istration (FAA) help businesses and government agencies of all kinds sat­isfy requirements for making physi­cal objects more obvious to aviators. Among those businesses and agencies are owners of improved real estate, airport operators and owners of telecommunications towers, such as cell towers and broadcast towers. Examples of objects that may require obstruction marking include com­munications towers, wind turbines, tall structures, chimney stacks, flare stacks, water tanks and buildings.

Towers more than 199 feet tall have to be marked as aviation obstructions. Other, shorter towers also may require marking if they are near enough to airports. FAA regulations specify distances and heights in relation to airport boundaries and flight paths. 

The regulations offer a choice between using paint or lights to mark towers during daytime hours. Lights must be used to mark towers during nighttime hours.

In everyday life, you may have noticed a wide variety of types of lights or lamps used for lighting. Examples include incandescent, compact fluorescent, halogen, metal halide, light-emitting diode (LED), fluorescent, neon, high-intensity dis­charge and low-pressure sodium. For decades, incandescent lights made up the overwhelming majority of lights used to mark aviation obstructions. More recently, the use of LED lights for obstruction marking has become popular, and the reasons are many. 

With LED lights, except for the lights themselves and wiring, the entire sys­tem is installed at ground level, elimi­nating the need for climber repair. The tower itself hosts no active components, which reduces the chance of severe damage to illumination systems.

use of on board redundancies for criti­cal components, such as the power supply driver circuit and the flash circuit, reduce the chance of malfunc­tions. With special filter design and the use of multiple small capacitors, it is possible to eliminate electro­magnetic interference and radio­frequency interference (EMI/RFI) noise from the equipment, including any noise from the antenna. 

System Reliability 

When lighting systems are strate­gically designed with redundancy in mind, each component mitigates safety problems to ensure system reli­ability. Effective steps exclude the DC power supply from the beacon and include lightning surge protection with system components to provide quicker reactions. 

Reliability is also improved when monitoring and control circuitry, the photocell and capacitors are not placed in the beacon. It also is important not to situate processor-to ­processor communications between the beacon and the power control unit. 

Redundancies increase a lighting system's longevity and offer monetary and energy-saving advantages. Light­ing systems last longer when they are specifically fabricated to maximize operability and increase longev­ity while decreasing maintenance requirements through a user-friendly interface. Engineered redundancies allow lighting systems to maintain effectiveness, even in the unlikely event of a component failure. 

Redundancies 

Some examples of useful redun­dancies in a lighting system's power control unit include the use of two DC power supplies, two driver circuits, two flash circuits and additional capacitors in case some should fail. It helps to equip the power control unit, the beacon and alarm circuits with passive surge protection of the resonant circuit type to isolate tran­sient surges that may find their way onto these inputs. A resonant circuit combines capacitance and inductance such that a periodic electric oscilla­tion reaches its maximum amplitude. According to the FAA, pilots using night vision imaging system (NVIS) equipment that filters adverse effects of cockpit lighting may not be able to see LED-based obstruction light­ing. An inability to see obstruction lighting poses a safety risk to pilots, passengers and ground personnel. The use of night vision goggles (NVGs) offsets the risk by amplifying ambi­ent light, improving pilots' vision to allow them to see terrain and other possible hazards in the dark. Infrared (IR) technology allows obstruction lighting to be seen with NVIS equip­ment. Obstruction lighting systems equipped with IR technology ensure the safety of all who rely on the light­ing systems. 

Avian Compliance 

Designing and setting flash rates and flash markers in a way that complies with avian safety helps lighting sys­tems to avoid posing risks to migra­tory birds and other avians. It is a way to improve the safety for everyone, including our feathered friends.