For nearly 30 years the Goodyear
blimps have utilized a technology called "Super
Skytacular" to light up the night sky with
the companys name, inform the public with safety
messages and promote charitable causes. Recently that technology underwent
a radical change on the Spirit of Akron, ushering
in a new era of light and movement that revolutionizes
the way it looks as well as the way it is accomplished.
The new sign not only
increases the night sign resolution and brilliance, but
it also affords the blimp a daytime message application.
"Goodyear
thought long and hard about changes before moving to this
new system," said Tom Riley, manager of
global airship operations. "When you have a
highly successful operating system like the Super
Skytacular, you dont want to change it unless
there is an appreciable improvement."
Riley maintains that the
key to accepting a new night sign technology was in its
performance and reliability.
"We needed a
system that would be perceived as a great leap forward
and yet be able to withstand the rigors of
airshipping," he said. "With
the blimp sitting or flying outside in all types of
adverse weather, it is necessary that the new sign repel
rain, snow, wind and ice, as well as deflect the damaging
heat and rays of the summer sun."
To address that, the light
boards are heavily coated with a protective substance
that Goodyear prefers to keep secret.
Technicians and operations
personnel for the airship program were looking for
increased resolution, easily obtainable replacement parts
and decreased weight.
Brian Krause, airship
engineering supervisor, believes that is exactly what
they have received from the developer, Independent
Digital Consulting (IDC) of Norton, Ohio. Krause has
monitored the project from its beginning three years ago
and enthusiastically promotes its advantages.

"We gained
about 200-300 pounds of lift per side with the new sign
over the old," Krause said. On the Spirit
of Akron, the old sign required seven pieces of
equipment to be installed for each excursion. The new
sign uses only one piece -- a small, hand-carried laptop
computer.
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One side of the blimp
displays 3,780 light boards, each one 2x3 inches in size
and comprised of 12 light-emitting diodes (LED) equally
divided into red, blue and green.
This is in contrast to the
old signs 4,375 individual incandescent lights with
colored lenses.
The intensity of each LED
board can be adjusted, in effect changing their mix to
create a pallet of 256 possible colors, an option not
available on the Super Skytacular.
Programming the new sign
also is made easier. Where the old system might require a
technician to spend hours recreating freehand style
animations such as those found in Goodyears most
recent advertising campaign "Serious
Freedom," such items now simply can be
scanned into the computer.
Riley, who oversees the
blimp program, claims it was necessity that invited the
Mother of Invention to come up with the new sign.
"With new
airship envelopes coming on line, we wanted an updated
sign that had a daytime capability, and the LED system
made that possible," he said.
As part of the 3,780 light
boards, 740 are equipped with an additional 36
high-intensity, red-orange LEDs producing enough light to
make messages visible during the day.
The day sign, though quite
capable of running text messages, cannot run the popular
animations that have become a hallmark of the Goodyear
blimps nighttime shows. "This is a
nice addition to our sign abilities," said
Riley, "and is used primarily for specific
projects where we know the audience and the place we want
to flash the message."
For now the new sign
appears only on the left side of the Spirit of Akron,
which will be adding another type of sign to the right
side in the near future. "More
experimentation is on the way for the Spirit
of Akron," he said. "We
have another system coming to us for observation."
Riley explained the right
side will be a completely different type of sign, from a
different company, with different applications, but not
necessarily in competition with the left side.
"Thus far we
are happy with the results from IDC, but in development
we had two systems coming at us at once and we will be
giving both a fair look," he said.
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