AIRFIELD MONITOR · Safer Monitoring of Runway Conditions

The Airfield Monitor project aims to develop a novel system to support planning, control and assessment of airport runway and taxiway conditions, while significantly enhancing aviation safety. The system will be based on comprising a mobile polarization and spectroscopy based optical sensor device, complemented by a stationary CMOS-based camera and combined with a methodology to calculate the friction index of runway surfaces under winter conditions. The realization of project objectives will benefit the participating SME manufacturers by providing them with a state-of-the-art solution that significantly reduces the overall cost of monitoring airport runways and at the same time enhances aircraft safety. Moreover, the project will contribute to the development of new and safer standards for flight safety, and support European and Member State policies in the areas of air travel safety, technological development of infrastructures and Air Traffic Management systems to encounter capacity problems; environmental policies, and, not least, both EU and national efforts to enable liberalization of the European air transport industry. The primary activities in the project relate to: - Definition of the system requirements - Development of an algorithm based on mathematical relations between the surface conditions and skid resistance - Development of stationary polarization cameras and optimization of the detection of polarized light - Research on adding new optical wavelengths to the sensor - Development of algorithms to compensate the estimated optical friction index - Integration, Demonstration, Project management, Exploitation and Dissemination.