Sealite News
5th June 2009
Synchronised Radio-Controlled Lanterns Light Up the Murray River
The Murray Mouth, where the Murray River meets the Southern Ocean, is a treacherous and winding channel through dangerous shallows and sand dunes. Due to the hazardous nature of this channel, careful marking between the South Australian town of Goolwa and Hindmarsh Island is required to ensure the safe passage of vessels through the waterway.
Sealite’s new SL70 radio-controlled lanterns (SL70-RC) were the perfect solution enabling the port authority to customise the programming of their lanterns by a menu driven 2.4GHz handheld transceiver or PC interface.
Lanterns may be:
- Activated or deactivated
- Flash character changed to any of 256 IALA recommended codes
- Power/Intensity adjustments up to 8 levels
- Enable lantern group flash synchronisation
- Change colour of lantern (eg. to designate a closure of part of the channel etc)
The channel entrance marks are set up in Light Group 1, with the remaining channel lights set up in Light Group 2. The hand-held radio-controller is then able to send specific commands to each individual group, and in this case programming the Group 1 entrance lights to flash in synchronisation to ensure clear identification, with the Group 2 channel lights set to flash in flare path mode.
Traditional radio-sync systems use a master/slave relationship, where light control is dependent on a constant ‘master’ signal. In the Sealite design, once lights are activated the advanced RF platform enters a ‘mesh-mode’, whereby each light shares out the synchronisation signal – greatly expanding the operating range and reliability of the system.
Customers wishing to evaluate the latest RF-empowered lights are invited to request a complementary trial. Please contact Sealite Business Development Managers Dana Galbraith or Michael Walker today.
