Enhancing Flight Path Separation to Reduce Bird Strikes with Ultraviolet Radiation

In the autumn of 2018, a pilot study using a prototype (PAR46 size) landing light that incorporated ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UVLEDs) was attached on a one-quarter scale remote controlled (RC) plane. The plane was flown in the direction of birds to measure their behavioral response to the approaching plane with landing lights either turned ON or OFF. Data were collected from multiple sources including cameras on the plane and the ground and a bird radar unit to measure the flight path separation between the plane and the birds. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of using UVLEDs integrated into a PAR46 landing light to trigger bird avoidance behavioral responses that would increase flight path separation to reduce the incidence of bird strikes. The findings showed the mean distance of the avoidance response was statistically significantly greater when the PAR46 landing light with UVLEDs was turned ON versus OFF. Field test data were used to create a three-variable model based upon recent neuroscience research corresponding to visual image capture, retinal neural response, and cognitive neural processing of the avian brain.