Expertise in desk lamps for command posts

ABEILLON the European leader in flexible cable solutions for industry, possesses expertise in several areas. Discover its products, including the LED control panel lighting solution. These solutions meet users' requirements for robustness and quality—two essential factors for optimal operation in demanding environments.

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

Indeed, the reliability of this type of equipment is crucial in emergency situations encountered on the battlefield by armed forces, whether it be:

• inside vehicles (aircraft, land vehicles or ships),
• decision-making locations such as headquarters or refuges (shelters).

Furthermore, they are specifically designed to optimize user comfort. Designed for environments that operate day and night, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, our LED map reading lamps have undergone rigorous quality testing. Our sole objective: to meet all the expectations of ABEILLON customers in their respective countries.

What is a control panel lamp?

To answer this question, it's essential to understand the context in which a reading lamp is used in a military vehicle cockpit during an alert situation. Light is fundamentally necessary for accessing printed information or taking notes during an emergency. ABEILLON LED cockpit lamps are designed and manufactured for use in all vehicle cockpits, ship command centers, aircraft, and so on.

Vehicle cockpits, ship command posts…

The cockpit or command post is the place where the outside view is as wide as possible (virtual or real), which allows the pilot and possibly other crew members to participate in driving the craft, navigation or ongoing combat.

The cockpit houses all the visual display and control equipment that provides the information necessary to control the vehicle, whatever its type. Decisions are made immediately by the pilot or the combatants, and are anticipated during predictive navigation management by interacting – if necessary – with external installations via the telecommunications system, surveillance, and, of course, by acting on the vehicle's mechanical components.

Clear visibility of the control console is crucial for successful field operations. For each piece of equipment, standardized requirements are met during the manufacturing of console lamps. For example, map reading in marine or underwater environments demands excellent resistance to humid and corrosive conditions.

Given this context, imagine users under stress due to immediate or impending external dangers. These are people who need to rely on ultra-dependable equipment to access data critical to their safety, even at night or in low light. This is where ABEILLON , a manufacturer of military and civilian equipment, comes in.

The desk lamp

This product is a safety element in a decision-making place where clarity is essential for reading nautical or land charts, plans, technical data sheets, GPS data, instructions, searching for orders, comfort or mechanical objects, etc.

To meet its clients' requirements, ABEILLON adheres to the guidelines and recommendations specific to the intended use of tabletop reading lamps. A number of standards must be met, and ABEILLON takes them into account to fulfill the specifications of our clients.

Regarding desk lamps, LED technology benefits from the latest innovations in terms of light quality, such as power, color temperature, and color accuracy. Some of our lamps are equipped with three high-power LEDs and a power adapter cable to ensure safe operation with all power supply connections.

As ABEILLON is the European leader in flexible, adjustable lighting solutions for industry, the ergonomics of their desk lamps have been meticulously designed to adapt to all work configurations. They feature semi-rigid flexible cables whose durability has been recognized by military and civilian users for over forty years.

In addition to meeting regulatory requirements, ABEILLON lamps offer optimal lighting quality without light loss. This feature optimizes the readability of data displayed in the cockpit by precisely targeting the areas to be illuminated. ABEILLON lamps have a lifespan exceeding 50,000 hours.

The use of desk lamps in a military setting

In a confined environment such as the interior of an armored vehicle or in a shelter, the control desk lamp must assist military personnel in their daily work by:

• The accuracy of color rendering when reading maps and plans, the visual display of the vehicle's controls,
• The ergonomics and precise targeting of light to the areas to be illuminated are perfectly ensured by the gooseneck
• Indeed, the semi-rigid flexible facilitates their maneuverability and 360° orientation.
• The lamps emit no heat or UV radiation.

The quality of the white light emitted by these lamps lies in the close proximity of their spectrum to daylight. They emit neither heat nor UV radiation, making these console lamps perfectly suited for cockpit use while also saving energy.

With a focus on performance and quality, all our LED lighting systems are designed and manufactured in our workshops in France and are subject to constant research and improvement.

Some examples of LED desk lamps

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

• MIL-STD-810F: This standard specifies the levels of requirements for mechanical strength and rainwater tightness
• MIL-STD-461 E v 1999: This standard defines the levels of requirements for radio wave emission and operation
• MIL-STD-1275: Meeting this standard ensures the lamp's compatibility with the electrical power distribution system on military ground vehicle platforms

Tabletop reading lamp compliance

We cite here the procedure for assessing conformity with regard to rainwater tightness and mechanical reliability of table reading lamps:

• They were subjected to water projections according to predefined values ​​of flow rate, distance, ejection nozzle size, water temperature and watering duration.
• The lamp was placed on a vibrating table with an accelerometer for 40 minutes and withstood shocks in all 3 directions of the plane.

The following tests allow verification of the quality of all electrical components and their connection to each other and to the parts that make up the lamp, always under normal operation:

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

Tests verifying the lamp's compatibility with the electrical power distribution system (on military land vehicle platforms) were carried out, including:

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

Transient disturbances: voltage spikes

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

Transient disturbances: overvoltages

• Imported overvoltages in the equipment: the lamp must function normally when subjected to the overvoltages described in the standard.
• Overvoltages exported by the equipment: during operation by switching of the console lamp (start or stop), the voltage must remain within the limits of the model defined in the standard.

Technological evolution of army equipment

Although the future of technology is not written as research evolves rapidly in many fields (quantum mechanics, artificial intelligence, attack and surveillance drones, satellites, the Internet network, etc.), man will undoubtedly remain at the center of decisions.

In the cockpit we discussed earlier, electronic systems for digitizing and processing data are constantly becoming more reliable. The point raised by researchers and pilots relates to the issue of lighting: cathode-ray tubes (CRTs) must adapt to the needs of users, who in a cockpit require extremely diverse lighting conditions with numerous variables.

The 21st century will see this revolution enter cockpits with LCD screen technology and touchscreens, creating innovative interaction with aircraft components, or those of any other combat aircraft. The potential is immense, as onboard technologies will enable interaction methods similar to those used by the general public with their smartphones—an essential tool for exponentially increasing the potential and ergonomics of cockpits.

A course has been set? Innovation 2035

First, the imperatives emerging in tomorrow's military strategies include the digitization of the armed forces by 2030. These plans are based on the physical reality and operational capabilities of onboard and remotely operated sensors that provide position, trajectory, and velocity data. Big data is already at the heart of our defense system. Its processing will be optimized through simulation algorithms embedded in all combat-related vehicles, and other onboard technologies.

But these computer resources foreshadow the "cybernetization" of armies beyond 2030. Robotics and self-learning algorithms, known as artificial intelligence, and nanotechnologies will develop to the benefit of increasingly autonomous equipment.

Abeillon : the European leader in flexible support solutions

ABEILLON built its success by specializing in the manufacture of semi-rigid flexible hoses for the defense, industrial, and medical sectors. For several decades, the company has developed its expertise, leveraging this single-product specialty to expand its market to other product lines, including control panel lamps and medical office lighting. Thousands of ABEILLON lamps are currently in use worldwide.

Gaining access to the Ministry of the Armed Forces market requires numerous approvals. ABEILLON has been supplying NATO industries for many years, giving it a significant advantage over its competitors in responding to tenders from the French army and other countries.

You will find useful contact information for business inquiries on their website. Don't hesitate to contact us! The agility and flexibility of ABEILLON 's structure allow us to respond quickly to all inquiries. We cater to all types of businesses, from startups and SMEs to large corporations.