Increasing helicopter visual dominance at night using helicopter landing and approach operation lights

Reduced visibility during nighttime or obscurants such as dust, snow, fog, or other visibility-degrading conditions, may pose serios landing hazards to helicopter aircrew. In these situations, it becomes difficult for the aircrew to see the horizon, judge movement, and stay oriented to the landing area. Airplanes often use runway guidance systems to help with landing, but helicopters often land on heliports that do not have the same kind of visual approach guidance.

This thesis explores a possible solution called HALO Lights, which stands for Helicopter Approach and Landing Operation Lights. HALO Lights are a ground-based lighting system designed to help guide helicopters during approach and landing. The system uses aircraft position data from ADS-B, a local wireless network, and a group of programmable light units placed around a heliport. These lights can display different colors and patterns to provide approach guidance and improve the pilot’s outside visual references.

The main goal of this work was to design and build the system, not to test pilots or prove that one lighting pattern is best. Instead, this thesis shows that a relatively low-cost, modular, and customizable lighting system can be built using commonly available hardware and software. The system is intended to serve as a test platform for future research on how ground-based lighting may help restore visual dominance and improve helicopter landing safety in degraded visual environments.