Microprocessor-based photometric light intensity sensor for airport lamps quality testing

The paper presents a design and performance analysis of a photosensor device enabling the measurement of the visible light illuminance. The sensor is designed for use in the light metering matrix of a mobile measurement platform allowing the correct operation of inpavement airport lamps. This kind of control can be required by regulations and must meet the standards defined by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). An important assumption of the solution was to obtain the highest possible speed of a measurement acquisition so that the control process would take place in a relatively short time. The proposed module concept is dedicated to the task of testing the quality of airport lamps, due to the characteristics of the photosensitive elements matching the light beams emitted by luminaries. The device is based on a VTP1220FBH photodiode and an ATmega328P microcontroller, which, in addition to the analogue-to-digital conversion and correction, sends the results back to the master unit via the I²C bus.

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This research was funded partly by the 2022 subvention and partly with the SMART4ALL EU Horizon 2020 project, Grant Agreement No 872614.