Richmond RAAF PAALC Installation
Quick Overview
Sectors: Airports & Aviation , Defence
Client
BGIS
End user
Department of Defence
Sector
Airports and Aviation
Location
Richmond, NSW
Man hours
500+
Status
Completed 2024
Richmond RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) base located in Richmond NSW is one of the oldest most significant military airfields in Australia. The project for the Department of Defence involved the design and install of a lighting control system that allows the remote activation of the Aerodrome Ground Lighting (AGL) by pilots and ground crews, outside of ATC operating hours.
The RAAF Base Richmond is an active aerodrome with aircraft movements continually being carried out and is controlled by the ATC Tower during its operating hours.
The RAAF Base Richmond PAALC Installation project involved the design and installation of a lighting control system that allows pilots and ground crews to remotely activate the Aerodrome Ground Lighting (AGL) system outside of operating hours.
The installation of a PAALC system has allowed the AGL to be left de-energised when the ATC is not active, with the pilots being able to activate the lights using the aircraft radio as required.
The use of the PAALC system reduces the duration that the AGL is switched on, which is a cost saving to Defence in running and maintenance costs due to the reduced amount of time the AGL is energised.
Due the location of the ALER, there was poor PAALC radio reception. Stowe Australia installed a higher mast for the PAALC transceiver antenna and made an adjustment of the transceivers squelch level to allow weaker signals to be received. Stowe also upgraded the AGL PLC and all remote IO modules to the latest hardware to provide a reliable system with supported hardware.
Stowe Australia also thoroughly identified and rectified other various challenges with radio transmissions and firmware updates, liaising with the product manufacturer where necessary and thoroughly testing updated solutions to ensure everything worked perfectly.
Image Credits: Commonwealth of Australia
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