These signaling devices are used by a certain alien civilization to send signals to their space fleet. The signals are encoded in the section between the red and white light. Here is the clever thing about these devices. The alien message transmission has a very narrow beam and these devices often occur in multiple arrangements with very slight differences (about 0.5 degrees) in the elevation of the beam. That means that the transmission to the space vehicle can be directed to the device in the array that is best aligned with the ship. Now here is the really clever part, these types of devices are installed throughout the world on airport runways with all possible compass orientations. There are so many of them that at any given time one of the literally hundreds of thousands of them will have its beam aligned with a distant deep space target and therefore they can maintain communications in an uninterrupted manner. Over the years these devices (at small airports) have been modified with PCL, pilot controlled lighting, which mneans they can be activated remotely by anyone transmitting on certain frequencies. And let me tell you, that anyone could be ANYONE! Several times recently I have been at LaPorte very early in the morning and have witnessed the PCL being activated without an airplane in sight. I even turned on the aircraft radio to listen for the tell tale clicks of the PCL. There was nothing on the radio and still the signalling was going on. It really makes you think!
I was a passenger in a Piper Warrior when one of these arrays failed to respond to the PCL. After several tense minutes (we would be on the ground imminently, runway or no) it finally responded. Obviously, during the lag time it was dedicated to some sort of process that prevented a response. I remember thinking, "it will be my life's work to solve the riddle of what happened here." Thank you for the reminder.
What concerns me is the non-linear fratostatic radiation emanating from those anodes. If the photographer was not wearing the proper protective clothing, his or her mental faculties could be affected in a manner that is most undesirable when in flight. The Invasion is well under way.
