Making flight safer than ever.

Landing and Taxi Lights

• Visibility Enhancement: The technology includes non-visible light positioned to the right and left of the primary beam of both landing and taxi lights. This non-visible light is non-visible to humans but can help scare off birds, which can see in the non-visible spectrum, thus reducing the likelihood of bird strikes. These would most likely be strobed.
• Ground Operations The non-visible light also illuminates phosphorescent materials like runway edge lights and safety vests worn by personnel, improving visibility during night operations. This non-visible light cuts through low visibility conditions like fog or rain without blinding the human eye, making it seem as though it penetrates deeper into the environment.

Beacons and Strobe Lights

• Bird Deterrence: On aircraft strobes or beacons, the technology leverages the off-cycle to emit non-visible light, providing a deterrent to birds. When the visible light turns off, the non-visible light turns on, which is visible to birds but not to humans, encouraging them to steer clear.

Military Operations

• Formation Lights: In military settings, formation lights can be replaced with phosphorescent strips. These strips illuminate when another aircraft flies in formation, that has the IR/Non-visible strobe technology, as seen in the HINVII technology, which provides the visual cue of aircraft position but with reduced maintenance and energy costs.
• Night Vision Operations: The technology can be adapted as IR/Non-visible strobes, which are ideal for night vision operations, enhancing safety without the need for any visible lighting.

Research Support Documentation

• Promising research suggests non-visible lights mounted on helicopters and planes deter birds from aircraft.
• FAA Researching Non-visible LED Lights for Prevention of Increasing Bird Strikes
• Non-visible Lighting – Rotocraft-FAA Tech CTR Ronning 2021.pdf – A study by the FAA tested non-visible LED landing lights on various aircraft, including remote-controlled models and agricultural planes. Results showed that birds responded at significantly greater distances when non-visible lights were active. The study underscores the potential of non-visible lighting as a cost-effective, scalable tool for wildlife hazard mitigation.
• Minimizing Risk of Bird Strike to Rotorcraft
• 2019 Dwyer et al 2019 non-visible light and sandhill cranes. Birds respond more effectively to non-visible illuminated obstacles, making non-visible lighting a promising mitigation strategy. This study on Sandhill Cranes evaluated a non-visible lighting system to reduce power line collisions. When non-visible lighting was applied, collisions decreased by 98%.
• Assessing bird avoidance of high-contrast lights using a choice test approach: implications for reducing human-induced avian mortality
• A study published by Purdue University demonstrated that birds detected aircraft more effectively when non-visible or visible light tuned to their visual systems was employed. Specifically, lights with a wavelength of 470 nm were effective in alerting birds to the presence of aircraft earlier, reducing the likelihood of collisions. Pulsing lights were shown to mitigate the “speed effect,” wherein faster aircraft are harder for birds to notice.
• Research published in Avian Research revealed that non-visible lights at 365 nm and 400 nm displaced birds from the vicinity of light sources. These lights caused birds to adjust their flight altitude, suggesting that non-visible lighting could influence flight behavior to avoid aircraft. http://j-avianres.com/article/doi/10.1186/s40657-017-0092-3?viewType=HTML

Conferences

• Aviation Wildlife Management Conference: Portland, OR from August 25–28 for the 2025 Aviation Wildlife Management Conference. This year’s theme is Environmental Sustainability, Compatibility, or Conflict: The Good, The Bad, The Snarge! Attendees will observe informative presentations on strategies and site-specific approaches used to reduce the risk that wildlife pose to safe airport operations. There will be several opportunities throughout the conference to interact with a wide variety of stakeholders, subject matter experts, and partners in the industry.