Why is fast restart of airfield lighting critical?

In a power outage, rapid restoration of airfield ground lighting is vital to maintain pilot visual guidance — especially during take-off and landing. ICAO standards require light restoration within 1 second for critical circuits in certain categories. 

How is this achieved?
With advanced Constant Current Regulators (CCR), OCEM Airfield ensures reliable recovery of lighting systems.
🔹 CCR output is restored within 500 ms of power returning.
🔹 Lab tests show recovery times under 500 ms for brief interruptions.
🔹 Even case of longer outages, up to 300 ms, recovery of light emission meets ICAO’s strict requirement, which prescribes 1s max of light interruption for the most critical circuits. 

What affects performance?
Recovery time depends on: 

• Power interruption duration 

• Power source switchover speed 

• Detection time of primary power failure 

• CCR and light bootstrap time after prolonged outages 

This is one of the many advantages OCEM Airfield brings to the table — engineered performance, ICAO compliance, and reliable safety where it matters most. Contact us to understand more: marketing@ocem.com