LED Lighting Visibility in Low-Visibility Conditions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing LED lighting systems, including those using LEDs, struggle to provide sufficient visibility in low visibility conditions such as fog, smog, dust, and storms, as they offer little to no improvement over traditional lighting systems, particularly in aviation and other mobile carrier applications.
Innovation Solution
A bistatic or monostatic LED lighting system that employs a light-transmitting and light-receiving subsystem using modulated light-signal pulses synchronized with a reference signal, such as GPS, to enhance contrast through intensity, wavelength, and polarization modulation, allowing for improved visibility by processing and displaying enhanced contrast imagery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If LED lighting is used, then energy efficiency and lifetime are improved, but visibility in low visibility conditions remains insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies periodic action by modulating the LED light source to emit light in pulsed sequences rather than continuous emission. The light source is activated in periodic bursts synchronized with the imaging device's exposure timing, allowing the system to accumulate light signals over multiple pulses while maintaining energy efficiency. This periodic modulation enables detection of LED lights at extended ranges (up to 20+ miles) without requiring continuous high-power emission.
2Illumination intensity
If traditional lighting systems are replaced with LED, then color purity and saturation are improved, but visibility enhancement in fog, smog, dust, and storms is not achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by synchronizing the light-receiving device's exposure timing with the modulated light source's emission pattern. The system uses a reference signal to coordinate the periodic emission of light pulses with the imaging device's capture cycles, allowing optimal accumulation of light signals while rejecting ambient background light. This feedback mechanism enhances visibility in atmospheric conditions by selectively detecting the modulated LED signal amidst fog, smog, dust, and storm conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies parameter changes by modulating multiple characteristics of the light signal including intensity (pulsed emission), wavelength (specific LED spectral bands), and polarization states. By varying these parameters in a coordinated fashion and detecting them with synchronized imaging, the system achieves enhanced penetration through atmospheric obscurants while maintaining the color purity advantages of LED technology.
3Use of energy by stationary object
If LED light sources are used, then energy consumption is reduced, but detectable range in low visibility conditions is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses periodic action to extend detectable range while maintaining low energy consumption. By emitting light in synchronized periodic pulses and accumulating signals over multiple cycles in the imaging device, the system achieves effective detection ranges exceeding 20 miles in low visibility conditions. The periodic pulsed emission allows signal accumulation without requiring continuous high-energy output, thus maintaining energy efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements continuity of useful action through synchronized periodic operation of the light source and imaging device. The modulated light source and light-receiving device operate in continuous coordinated cycles, with each pulse sequence contributing to cumulative signal detection. This continuous synchronized operation extends the effective detection range far beyond what single-shot or unsynchronized systems could achieve, while keeping the LED energy consumption low through efficient pulse timing.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system significantly enhances visibility in low visibility conditions, increasing the detectable range of LED lights from a quarter mile to over 20 miles during the day and from a quarter mile to 25 miles at night, surpassing human visual capabilities, thereby improving safety and operational efficiency in aviation and other mobile carrier operations.
Implementation Method 1
an LED light source to emit light-signal pulses
Implementation Method 2
an imaging device to receive the light-signal pulses
Data Source
AI summary
A light-transmitting subsystem can include an LED light source including a first to LED light to emit a first wavelength of light with a first center-emission wavelength and a second LED light to emit a second wavelength of light with a second center-emission wavelength that is offset from the first center-emission wavelength. The system can include a first reference oscillator to receive a reference signal from a remote or broadcasting source, and can also include a synchronous modulation and power system to convert the reference signal from a synchronous relative high frequency signal to a synchronous relative low frequency signal and provide synchronized power pulses to the first LED light and the second LED light in synchronous correlation with the synchronous relative low frequency signal to generate a stream of modulated light-signal pulses which includes a first modulated wavelength of light and a second modulated wavelength of light.