Honeywell Aerospace and the City of Phoenix are working together to develop a new technology to prevent collisions between aircraft and airport vehicles on the ground.
The collaborative research agreement seeks to integrate surface alert technology to ground vehicles to alert of potential collisions. SURF-A technology uses GPS and automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) data to pinpoint the location of a collision before it happens, and alerts operators with an auditory and visual warning.
Thea Feyereisen from Honeywell Aerospace said it can alert operators of an imminent collision seven to 10 seconds earlier than air traffic control.
“Seconds can be the difference between life or death in a situation like this,” Feyereisen said. “And so getting the alert to the vehicle driver or to the pilot as soon as you can gives the operators the most chance to avoid the disaster.”
The technology will be tested at Phoenix Sky Harbor, Deer Valley and Goodyear airports. This is the first time any airport in the world will use this type of collision avoidance technology on ground vehicles.
Earlier this year, an Air Canada regional jet collided with an aviation fire truck at LaGuardia airport in New York after it was given clearance to cross the runway.
Feyereisen said this project is inspired by that tragedy, and will improve the safety of airfield operations.
“NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) has recommended that pilots get direct alerts of a potential runway collision,” Feyereisen said. “But we also think that vehicle drivers should also get those direct alerts. They're also at risk when they're operating in this dynamic environment.”
Feyereisen said the technology will be installed on ground vehicles at Phoenix airports this month, and testing will go through the end of the year.
“Phoenix leads on innovation and has always embraced technology that makes our city safer and strengthens our position as a global leader in aviation,” Mayor Kate Gallego said. “By partnering with hometown innovator Honeywell Aerospace, we bring first-of-its-kind collision-avoidance technology to ground vehicles on runways. This collaboration will help protect airport employees, passengers, and flight crews while advancing next generation runway safety around the world.”
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