2008 saw the advent of new PAPI devices manufactured using solid state [[LED lamp]]s instead of [[incandescent lamp]]s. The LEDs produce sufficient brightness to satisfy ICAO light intensity and beamspread standards, and average lifetime with the LED based systems is 50,000 hours or more. By using LEDs, the device's power consumption is lowered considerably. The LED systems run internally on DC voltage, so the DC voltage requirements, along with the LEDLEDs'sinherentinherently low power consumption, now allow for solar-powered PAPIs, completely removingenabling them fromto thefunction completely independently of a power grid.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.flightlight.com/airportlighting/4.0.1/4.0.1.html |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2012-04-10 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111230132434/http://www.flightlight.com/airportlighting/4.0.1/4.0.1.html |archivedate=2011-12-30 }}</ref>
The PAPI system is co-opted for use by the [[final approach (aviation)|finalFinal approachApproach]] runwayRunway occupancyOccupancy signalSignal (FAROS) system being introduced<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.faraim.org/aim/aim-4-03-14-87.html|title=Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM) - Page 87|website=www.faraim.org|access-date=2019-12-24}}</ref> atby several major airports in the United States for the purpose of allowing pilots to resolve a [[runway incursion]] without requiring ''a priori'' notice of an occupied runway from the [[control tower]]. In FAROS, automated line-of-sight runway sensors detect if a vehicle has committed a runway incursion, and if so, will flash the PAPI lights to alert the pilot of an aircraft on final approach that the runway is currently occupied. The pilot then becomes responsible for resolving the conflict by notifying the [[air traffic controller]] and executing a [[go-around]]. Once the tower has ascertained that the runway has been cleared, the ground controller resets the PAPI so that landing operations may resume normally.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ato/service_units/operations/td/projects/faros/solution/animation.cfm |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2010-06-07 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100209024258/https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ato/service_units/operations/td/projects/faros/solution/animation.cfm |archivedate=2010-02-09 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim_html/chap2_section_1.html |title=Section 1. Airport Lighting Aids |accessdate=2019-09-19 |df= }}</ref>
