Troy, N.Y. — The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y., has been selected by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to join its “Centers of Excellence” program. The LRC will conduct lighting research as part of the Center of Excellence for Airport Technology, which focuses on airport structures, pavement materials, wildlife issues, anti-icing, and lighting. Specifically, the LRC will apply its expertise in the area of solid-state lighting and vision science to provide new lighting solutions that benefit the aviation industry.

The Centers of Excellence program creates partnerships between the FAA, world-class academic institutions, and their industry affiliates to coordinate research and development in areas of aviation technology that are critical to the agency's mission and long-term vision. The program selects academic institutions on a competitive basis for their capabilities in research, leadership, and education.

According to the FAA’s Donald Gallagher, Visual Guidance Program Manager – Airport Safety Technology R&D Section, the LRC will be assisting the agency and its research divisions through synergistic activities that combine the LRC’s expertise in lighting technologies, applications and human factors research.

Evaluating solid-state lighting and LEDs for airports and airfields
As part of the Center of Excellence for Airport Technology (CEAT), the LRC will conduct studies to explore the potential performance and application of new light source technologies, primarily LEDs, in airport and airfield lighting. The LRC will look at how these new technologies can be applied to light runways, taxiways, approaches, and other areas of the airfield.

According to LRC Director of Research Nadarajah Narendran, Ph.D., who leads the LRC’s Solid-State Lighting Program, the aviation industry can benefit significantly from solid-state lighting technologies, which hold promise for lower energy consumption and reduced maintenance.

For its first project with CEAT, the LRC will develop recommendations and metrics that consider the brightness perception of LED lighting on the airfield. “Performance standards for LED systems based on traditional lighting metrics, like luminance, are causing problems for viewers,” said Dr. Narendran. As an example, he says a green LED approach light is typically perceived as much brighter and less comfortable to view than an incandescent green light of the same luminance. “A better metric is needed so that LED systems can be produced and used in the field without causing discomfort to pilots,” he said.

The LRC will work with the FAA to conduct psychophysical studies that compare the brightness perception of colored and white LED lighting systems with incandescent lighting systems, which use filters to create colored light. According to John Bullough, Ph.D., a lighting scientist who leads vision and human factors research for transportation applications at the LRC, these results along with other research will be used to develop recommendations that the FAA can use in selecting LEDs for airfield lighting.

To learn more about the LED and solid-state lighting (SSL) research taking place at the LRC, visit the LRC SSL Web site.

About the FAA Centers of Excellence
Legislation passed in 1990 allows the FAA to partner with universities and industry to conduct research and development toward improving aviation safety, environmental impact and efficiency, and airspace and airport planning and design. Eight Centers of Excellence have been established, dealing with computational modeling of aircraft structures, airport technology, operations research, airworthiness assurance, general aviation, aircraft noise and aviation emissions mitigation, advanced materials, and the airline cabin environment. For more information, visit http://www.coe.faa.gov.

About the Center of Excellence for Airport Technology
The Center of Excellence for Airport Technology (CEAT) is a research center with its home in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. CEAT was founded in 1995 as a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Center of Excellence focused on airport pavement issues, and has since broadened to include wildlife issues, anti-icing, and lighting. The mission of CEAT is to develop new scientific knowledge and technology for the development, maintenance and operation of airports by conducting research in cooperation with government, industry and the private sector, enriching the engineering community through technology transfer, serving a diverse student population through educational programs, and educating the public to appreciate its investment in airport infrastructure. For more information, visit http://cee.uiuc.edu/research/CEAT/.

About the Lighting Research Center
The Lighting Research Center (LRC) is part of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of Troy, N.Y., and is the leading university-based research center devoted to lighting. The LRC offers the world’s premier graduate education in lighting, including one- and two-year master’s programs and a Ph.D. program. Since 1988 the LRC has built an international reputation as a reliable source for objective information about lighting technologies, applications, and products. The LRC also provides training programs for government agencies, utilities, contractors, lighting designers, and other lighting professionals. For more information, visit www.lrc.rpi.edu.

Contact: Mary Cimo
Phone: (518) 687-7174
E-mail: cimom@rpi.edu