Incursion Aversion

Incursion Aversion
An advanced cockpit display system will one day help to reduce aviation accident...before aircraft have even left the ground. Developed by engineers at the NASA Langley Research Center, the airport surveillance technology aims to prevent incidents and near-misses on runways, taxiways and terminal ramps. Apparently your 747 might be in as much danger from a catering truck as it is from other jumbos.

Close calls on the tarmac between aircraft and ground vehicles or other planes have grown steadily in the last decade, increasing by about 60 percent over the last five years. Known as "runway incursions", these events are defined by the Federal Aviation Administration as "any occurrence at an airport that involves an aircraft, vehicle, person or object on the ground that creates a collision hazard or results in loss of separation with an aircraft taking off, intending to take off, landing, or intending to land." The term 'loss of separation' refers to air traffic control (ATC) minimum distances between aircraft.

In extreme cases, runway incursions can be fatal. On a stormy October night last year, a Singapore Airlines 747 hurtled down a runway blocked by construction equipment. Eighty three people lost their lives. In March 1977, a KLM aircraft started an unauthorised take-off roll down the runway at Tenerife. A Pan Am 747 was still taxiing there and the resulting collision killed 583 passengers and crew; the worst ever accident in aviation history.

In its attempt to reduce aircraft fatalities by 80 percent over the next decades, incursion avoidance has been named the FAA's number one safety priority. NASA’s Runway Incursion Prevention System or RIPS is part of the approach. It would give pilots and air traffic controllers an early warning if other planes or even ground vehicles are about to intrude onto the runway. That will mean safer ground movements and, unusually for a security strategy, even faster and more efficient operations.

Big Brother
The RIPS integrates several advanced technologies into a surface communication, navigation and surveillance system for flight crews and air traffic controllers. It combines a dashboard mounted moving map of the airport's runways and taxiways with a head-up screen that gives the pilot real-time guidance. The system shows and sounds an alert if another plane or vehicle is about to encroach onto the runway.

Air and ground vehicles can be pinpointed is several ways. Radar is the most likely method. Equipment installed on high points can be tuned to track surface traffic. As a back-up, aircraft and automobiles could be fitted with radio tags interfaced with GPS data or receivers embedded in the tarmac. For ground controllers and pilots with a restricted field of view, blind spots could thus be virtually eliminated.

RIPS is just one component of an advanced flight deck display system that would provide flight crews with vital airborne and ground data, including terrain, ground obstacles, air traffic, landing and approach patterns and detailed airport surface maps.

Another potential tool is NASA’s Synthetic Vision System, which processes GPS signals, three-dimensional terrain databases and sensors of various types to give pilots unparalleled cockpit information. Synthetic Vision would offer flight crews a clear electronic picture of what’s outside, no matter what the weather or time of day. For example, infrared cameras may be used at night or in bad weather. Theoretically, this may lead to windowless cockpits, with the pilots relying solely on their electronic eyes.

Testing, testing…
The RIPS technologies were demonstrated at busy Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport late last year. Technicians equipped a NASA 757 aircraft with the experimental displays and computer systems. Both NASA and commercial pilots took the 757 for a number of overnight flight tests to evaluate the gear. Their observations will be used to help refine the displays for possible use in airliners.

Harry Verstynen, the chief pilot from Langley, says the RIPS display has multiple uses. "Even for the large percentage of the time that you are not having a runway incursion the displays will give the pilot significant improvements in situational awareness on the airport and taxiing in low visibility conditions."

Airline pilots have also given the concept high marks. "We have made several recommendations on some changes, but overall it's a well-thought-out system," said John Penney of United Airlines. "With a few minor adjustments, I think it’s something commercial industry and aviation industry should take and grab hold of."

Second on the left
The best thing about the RIPS idea is that it will not only save lives, but also get we members of the flying public to our destinations more quickly. As things stand, much potential travel time is wasted by waiting for aircraft to move through the required separation buffers, especially during periods of darkness or inclement weather. If aircrew and ATC personnel are given a more definitive picture of where every element of the equation is, aircraft movements could be packed closer together. Tests have also shown that pilots are confident enough to taxi at higher speeds if provided with the enhanced readouts.

To be fair, NASA is not the only party working on ground collision avoidance. Portland-based Flight Dynamics has developed its own technologies, called the Surface Guidance System (SGS). This package uses a head-up display to paint relevant ground movement information onto the cockpit windscreen. This can include arrows showing a pre-approved route to the terminal, speed limits and even virtual traffic cones to let the pilot know if he is approaching a section of the tarmac where he should not be. Warning signals will sound and flash if the aircraft crosses its approved zone or otherwise deviates from its assigned taxi path.

If only the same could be done for those wobbly-wheeled baggage trolleys.

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