Night Flight/Strobe Light Test

 Date: 9/5/2023 9/6/2023

Objective: Test compliancy of strobe light with part 107 regulations

The light in question is the Firehouse Technologies Arc V strobe light. Part 107 requires a strobe light visible from three statue miles with a flash rate sufficient to avoid collision. Our method used to test this was to hold the light up in the air and see if it is visible at a location 3 miles away. Using Google Earth, we measured the distance from the entrance to the Purdue Wildlife Area to a gravel road downhill. I observed a truck driving on the road from the entrance to the PWA, which confirmed the visibility of the location. To ensure the clearance of the light from surface level obstructions such as crops, the light was taped to a 7ft fishing rod and held by my lab partner Westin Miley. The rod was held with arms extended above his head, standing on the floor of his car as demonstrated by me in the picture below. Once I arrived at the viewing location, I called Westin and instructed him to turn the light to the brightest setting. Once I confirmed the light was visible at this setting, he turned it down to the dimmer strobe, and I confirmed it was still visible.

After testing the strobe light, I attached the light to a DJI Mavic 2 Pro and conducted a one hour night flight with Westin as a visual observer. Given that this was my first night flight, I kept the drone within 50ft of myself and no more than 40ft of altitude.