The airdrome lighting system comprises thousands of lights on an airport’s runway, taxiway and apron, which require continual verification and maintenance.
It is not uncommon for the lamps to stop working due to wear, accidents or other reasons. CANARD has developed a solution based on drones for quick and reliable inspection of the lights to detect malfunctions such as lights off or incorrect colour.
CANARD offers a fast, reliable and economic alternative to the conventional inspection of the airport lighting systems, allowing more flexibility and efficiency in maintenance activities. Drones operate both day and night and align with the airport’s specific maintenance requirements.
Solutions combine state-of-the-art hardware with custom software and procedures to fully automatise operation.
Safety is ensured with failsafes and other measurements implemented at three levels, namely hardware, software and procedures. CANARD has cleared regulatory hurdles to operate in the complex and restricted areas of the airside zones.
CANARD’s solution provides valuable information for the inspection and verification of the ALS:
- Check that all lights are operational
- Verification of the correct alignment of all lights
- Check the colour and relative brightness of lights
After the inspection, a report is generated in real time with the results and images of the lights. A video with overlay data such as date, time, and location of the drone is also generated for further analysis.
CANARD helps airports to:
- Decrease management time, and free-up maintenance staff capacity
- Significantly improve inspection accuracy and repeatability
- Comply with inspection timeframes by providing increased flexibility from operating day and night, and availability