Operation
The Runway Status Lights system uses data from airport ground surveillance systems to detect traffic on or approaching the runways.
Two subsystems, the Runway Status Lights Processor and the Field Lighting System, work together to automatically illuminate and extinguish the in-pavement lights. The processor uses surveillance data to analyze real-time airport surface operations. The Field Lighting System provides the physical interface from the processor to the runway lights.
The system commands in-pavement lights to illuminate red when there is traffic on or nearing runways. On taxiways, Runway Entrance Lights show that runways are not safe to enter or cross. On runways, Takeoff Hold Lights show pilots that it is not yet safe to begin their takeoff.
The system is fully automated and finely tuned for safety and efficiency.
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“Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known the effect cannot be produced. Nature to be commanded must be obeyed; and that which in contemplation is as the cause is in operation as the rule.”
—Francis Bacon (1560–1626)