Airfield Lighting Solutions

atg airports back at Oakland

Oakland International Airport (OAK) is one of three international airports in the San Francisco Bay area but still efficiently manages 10 million passengers per year and regularly appears on America's top 40 airports in terms of overall passenger numbers. atg airports have recently returned to the airport to modify and upgrade the existing SmartControl lighting control system, which was initially installed as one of the first parts of a billion dollar expansion project at the airport. As part of further airfield developments, the flexibility of the Smart system has allowed atg engineers to quickly and easily update the system, incorporating the new SmartSwitchable segments and provide increased functionality to the airport.

Specifically engineered to ease the workload of ATC and maintenance personnel; SmartControl enables ATC to manage more traffic safely and efficiently in all weather conditions and also provide maintenance personnel with the ability to accurately identify the precise location of faults occurring in the airfield lighting system. As part of this upgrade work, atg also carried out routine maintenance and upgrades of the system, associated substation cubicles and general troubleshooting on the field AGL.

The work carried out at Oakland has increased the life expectancy of the SmartControl System and provided the airport with the knowledge that atg airports are committed to providing maintenance support and building on working relationships for future airport projects.

New switching unit for LED's

atg airports are pleased to introduce the latest development of the atg Transformer Switching Unit (TSU), the TSU 200. As the push for increased efficiency continues to drive airports and manufacturers alike, the TSU 200 is designed to provide an efficient switching solution for LED luminaires.

A significantly more energy efficient unit which has been developed for use with LED luminaires, the TSU 200 can still be used to switch many tungsten halogen fittings, providing an alternative method for greener operations at the airport. Designed to operate with any manufacturer's LED fittings, using the TSU 200 will help to reduce the need for unnecessary equipment changes as part of any development projects.

The TSU 200 consists of solid state electronic switches, designed to shunt the secondary winding of the series isolating transformer and switch individual luminaires from the same power source. Developed as both a single and dual switching version, the TSU 200 can also switch bi directional luminaires without adding any further equipment to the airfield infrastructure.

A fully encapsulated unit provides galvanic isolation of the signal input and power switching circuits, designed to maintain reliable operation under mishandling or exposure to various oils, acids and alkalis found on an airfield.

atg are currently taking bookings for a number of courses running throughout 2011, although you'll have to be quick as places are going fast:

Military AGL 5th – 9th September 2011
Module 11 – AGL Refresher 21st – 23rd September 2011

To book your place or for more information, please contact training@atgairports.com

Sydney Contract Award

atg airports are pleased to announce that it has been selected by Sydney Airport to perform the latest developments of the existing airfield infrastructure and airfield lighting control system.

Photo courtesy Sydney Airport and James Morgan

The scope of this prestigious project includes the control and monitoring of new stop bars at 49 separate locations and two runway intersection protection points, all of which are designed to improve airfield efficiency and provide a secondary indication to pilots before mistakenly entering an active runway. The works involve the installation, testing and commissioning of new taxiway and stop bar lights, primary and secondary cabling, relocation of existing CCR's, around 1000 Smart switches as well as 50 airfield micro wave sensors to detect the exact location of aircraft on the airfield.

Whilst the airfield developments are all part of the airports Master Plan to accommodate the forecasted growth in airline travel at the airport, the atg airports SmartControl airfield lighting control and monitoring system currently installed at the airport is designed to be expanded without impacting on live airport operations. The use of a topology database to hold airport specific information allows for all necessary modifications to be carried out with minimal retraining of ATC staff caused by expanding the existing system. By utilising proven SmartControl field technology, which has performed reliably at the airport for the last 10 years, enables atg airports to offer a future proof solution that will interface seamlessly with the control system technology of tomorrow.

Commenting on the contract award, atg airports Managing Director Kevin Armstrong said:

"We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded this contract and to remain at the heart of one of Australia's most prestigious and forward thinking airports."

"Having been so closely involved in many aspects of the airfield development, atg engineers have built up a detailed understanding of the complexities of the airport; we are now looking forward to continuing to work in close partnership with Sydney Airport and our fellow contractors to ensure the successful completion of this critical programme."

Work on site is due to start in October 2011 with completion expected in spring 2012.