you said 6 groups of 5 leds, that is just about 18 volts, so use a 24v input voltage which is a standard automotive voltage.
then use 5 cheap linear LED drivers which allow you to "program" the current as well for which you can use a pot. It's extremely easy and there is zero switching and will pass both radiation and conduction tests. I emphasize again: use linear drivers, not switching ones!
power dissipation would be a bit high (about 1.8 watts at 300mA which was on the schematic) or about 3 watts at 500mA (assuming a worst case scenario?) but it's nothing too crazy. you can reduce it by simply adding a few diodes from the supply input to the input of each driver which should drop the supply by about 0.7v to lower heat dissipation of the driver chip. alternatively use a zener diode in reverse orientation, then you can use whatever value that seems suitable for the leds (maybe a 3v one to drop the supply down to 21v which then puts half the load on the diode) this way you can go passive and not require any heat sinking too.