Cockpit Map Light Expertise for the Command Room

ABEILLON, the European leader in orientable hose solutions for the industry, has several areas of expertise, including LED lighting solutions for control panels. These meet user requirements in terms of robustness and quality, essential for optimal operation in a constrained environment.

The LED technology used by ABEILLON benefits from the very latest innovations in terms of light qualities (power and color temperature). They combine performance, durability and ergonomics.

The reliability of this type of equipment is indeed crucial in emergency situations encountered on battlefields by the armed forces, whether inside vehicles (aircraft, land vehicles or ships), places of decisions such as headquarters or shelters. They are also specially designed to optimize user comfort.

Designed for places that operate night and day, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, our LED bulb card reading lights have been quality tested to meet the expectations of ABEILLON customers in their countries. respective.

What is a command room cockpit map light ?

To answer this question, it is necessary to understand the framework of the use of a reading light in a control console of a military vehicle in an alert situation. Light is essential for accessing printed information, or for taking notes during a situation. ABEILLON LED desk lamps are designed and manufactured to be used in all vehicle cockpits, command posts of ships, aircraft, etc.

Vehicle cockpits, ship command posts …

The cockpit or command post is the place from which the outside view is the widest possible (virtual or real), which allows the pilot and possibly other crew members to participate in the operation of the machine, navigation or combat in progress.

It is in the cockpit that all visual display and control equipment are installed, providing the information necessary to control the vehicle, whatever it is. Decisions are taken immediately for the pilot or the combatants, are anticipated during the forecast management of the navigation by interacting – if necessary – with external installations by the telecommunications system, by the surveillance and obviously by acting on the elements mechanics of the machine.

With the context in place, one must imagine users in a state of stress for external reasons of immediate or future dangers. People who need to rely on ultra-reliable equipment to be able to read, at night, in the dark, the data essential to their security. This is where ABEILLON comes in as a manufacturer of military or civilian equipment.

The desk lamp

This product is an element of safety in a place of decision where clarity is essential for reading marine or land charts, plans, technical sheets, GPS data, instructions, search for controls, comfort or mechanical objects, etc.

To meet the requirements of its customers, ABEILLON complies with the recommendations and recommendations related to the context of use of the table reading lamp. There are a number of standards to be respected and ABEILLON takes them into account to meet the specifications of our brokers.

Regarding desk lamps, LED technology benefits from the very latest innovations in terms of light qualities such as power, temperature emission, respect for colors). Some of our lamps are equipped with 3 power LEDS, mains adapter cable to ensure safe operation on all connection systems to a source of energy.

As the ABEILLON company is the European leader in orientable flexible hose solutions for the industry, the ergonomics of the desk lamps have been particularly careful so that they adapt to all work configurations. They are equipped with semi-rigid hoses with resistance recognized by all military and civilian users for more than forty years.

In addition to the normative qualities, lamps from the ABEILLON company offer optimum lighting quality without loss of light. This option optimizes the reading of the data present in the cockpit by perfectly targeting the areas to be illuminated. ABEILLON lamps have a lifespan of over 50,000 hours.

The use of desk lamps in a military environment

In a confined environment such as the cockpit of an armored personnel carrier or in a shelter, the control desk lamps should help military personnel in their daily work by :

• The accuracy of the color rendering when reading maps, plans, the visual of the machine’s controls,
• The ergonomics and the targeting of the light on the places to be lit is perfectly ensured by the swan neck,
• Indeed, the semi-rigid flexible arm facilitates their handling and their 360° orientation,
• The map light emit no heat or UV rays.

The quality of the white light emitted by lamps lies in the proximity of its spectrum to daylight. They emit neither heat nor UV, which gives these lamps perfect adaptability in the cockpit while saving energy.

For the sake of performance and quality, all of our LED lighting systems are designed and manufactured in our workshops in France and are subject to constant research for improvement.

Some examples of LED lamps for lecterns

The ABEILLON bi-color dimmable table reading lamp has been designed to meet the following standards:

• MIL-STD-810F: this standard gives the levels of requirements in terms of mechanical resistance and waterproofing to rainwater,
• MIL-STD-461 E v 1999: this standard defines the level of requirements in terms of emission and operation under radio waves,
• MIL-STD-1275: meeting this standard ensures compatibility of the lamp with the electrical power distribution system on military land vehicle platforms.

Compliance of table reading lamps

We quote here the progress of the conformity assessments for rainwater tightness and the mechanical reliability of table reading lights :

• They have undergone water projections according to predefined flow, distance, ejection nozzle sizing, water temperature and duration values.
• The lamp was placed on a vibrating table with accelerometer for 40 minutes and withstood shocks in the 3 directions of the plane.

The following tests are used to check the quality of all the electrical components and their connection between them and the parts that make up the lamp, still in normal operation :

• Conduction of radio waves emitted by power cables and current and voltage measurements linked to the conduction of radio waves.
• Radio wave radiation from the lamp with measurements of magnetic fields emitted from several positions and areas of the lamp.
• Radio wave radiation from the lamp, here under the different operating modes with measurements of the electric fields emitted, along the vertical and horizontal axes of lamp polarization and in an appropriate frequency range.

Tests verifying the compatibility of the lamp with the electrical energy distribution system (on military land vehicle platforms) were carried out including :

• Steady state operation: the table reading lamp should operate normally when subjected to the lower and upper limits of the power supply network.
• Voltage ripple: The lamp should operate normally when subjected to a voltage ripple superimposed on the power source.

Transient disturbances : voltage peaks

• Voltage peaks exported to the equipment: the lamp must continue to operate normally without degradation or damage when subjected to voltage peaks (described in MIL- STD1275 §5.4.2.3)
• Voltage peaks exported from the equipment: during the switching operation of the lamp (start or stop), the voltage must remain within the limits of the model defined in the standard.

Transient disturbances : overvoltages

• Overvoltages imported into the equipment: the lamp must operate without normally when subjected to the overvoltages described in the standard.
• Surges exported by the equipment: during operation by switching the lamp (starting or stopping), the voltage must remain within the limits of the model defined in the standard.

Technological evolution of army equipment

If the future of technologies is not written, so much research evolves rapidly in many fields (quantum mechanics, artificial intelligence, attack and surveillance drone, satellite, Internet network, etc.) man will remain without any doubt at the center of decisions.

In the cockpit of which we spoke above, the electronic systems for digitization and data processing are constantly becoming more reliable. The point raised by researchers and airplane pilots joins that of the problem of lighting: CRT cathode-ray tubes (cathode-ray tubes) must adapt to the needs of users, who in a cockpit need to Extremely diverse lighting with many variables.

The 21st century will see this revolution enter the cockpit with LCD screen technology and touch screens creating an innovative interaction with the components of the aircraft, or those of any other combat machine. The potential is immense, because on-board technologies will activate means of interaction similar to those of the general public and their smartphone. An essential tool today to increase the potential and ergonomics of cockpits.

A target is given? Innovation 2035

The imperatives that appear in the military strategies of tomorrow are first of all the digitization of the armed forces by 2030. These plans are based on the physical reality and the operational capacities of onboard and remote sensors making it possible to provide data from position or trajectory and speed data, big data are already at the heart of our defense system and their processing will be optimal, on-board simulation algorithms on all the machines useful in combat, and others on-board technologies.

But these IT resources foreshadow the “cybernetization” of armies beyond 2030. Robotics and self-learning algorithms, known as artificial intelligence, nanotechnologies will develop in favor of increasingly autonomous equipment.

Abeillon: the European leader in flexible gooseneck solutions for the industry

ABEILLON has built its success by specializing in the manufacture of semi rigid hoses intended for the defense and industrial sectors and also for the medical sector. Over several decades, it has developed its know-how in order to take advantage of this single-product specialty to open its market to other product ranges, including lamps for control panels and those intended for medical practices. Thousands of ABEILLON lamps are currently in service around the world.

Opening up the Ministry of the Armed Forces market requires many approvals. ABEILLON has been supplying NATO industries for many years, giving it a head start over its competitors in responding to calls for tenders from the French military and other countries.