Patent ID: 11892152
Assignee: GOODRICH LIGHTING SYSTEMS GMBH & CO. KG
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC F  B  G  H | IPC B  F  G

Claim 7:
8. An exterior aircraft light comprising:
at least one light source;
a light detector located at the exterior aircraft light and configured for providing light detection values (I); and
a controller, which is configured for determining the smallest light detection value (Imin) detected within a first period of time and storing said smallest light detection value (Imin) as an element of a series of smallest light detection values (Imin);
wherein the controller is further configured for executing at least one of the following:
determining a change of the elements of the series of smallest light detection values (Imin) over a second period of time, which is larger than the first period of time, and detecting erosion of an optical component, in particular a cover, of the exterior aircraft light based on the determined change of the elements of the series of smallest light detection values (Imin) over the second period of time;
determining, based on the series of smallest light detection values (Imin), an expectation value (Iexp) for the light detection value (I), individually comparing the detected light detection values (I) with said expectation value (Iexp), and detecting the presence of ambient light if at least one of the detected light detection values (I) exceeds the expectation value (Iexp) by more than a predetermined ambient light detection threshold;
determining a temporal fluctuation of the detected light detection values (I) and detecting the presence of fog and/or clouds if the temporal fluctuation exceeds a predetermined fluctuation threshold.