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In 2007, I managed a graduate student design team in the conceptualization and specification of a direct warning system to alert pilots and ground operators that an aircraft is approaching the runway and/or if a runway is occupied. This design was spurred through a series of FAA-sponsored national design challenge, one of which was designing a method to increase situational awareness of pilots and ground operators on the airfield in preventing runway incursions.

The resulting design (which we named the Runway Incursion Monitoring, Detection and Altering System, or RIMDAS) won first place in the 2007 National FAA Airport Design contest, and was presented at the 79th Annual AAAE Conference and Exposition, GMU Innovations 2007, & the Business Alliance of GMU: SmartConnect Student Conference. For more information, see the publications, media appearances, and presentations below.

Preventing Runway Incursions

Runway incursions (defined here as a loss of separation or potential collision between an aircraft, person, or object in an airport) have resulted in some of the most catastrophic aviation accidents in history. Multiple solutions have been leveraged to reduce runway incursions, but the solution’s costs restrict usage to only the largest and busiest airports. This approach becomes especially disconcerting when considering that a great majority of runway incursion incidents involve general aviation aircraft, many of whom fly out of smaller, regional airports.

Our system design is focused on addressing this gap. By leveraging wireless sensor technology (MOTES), our design team proposed a method for deploying an inexpensive detection network that can directly warn pilots of potential runway incursions. This system could prove to be an effective low-cost alternative for small to medium-sized airports who can not justify the cost of more expensive detection systems.

The system works by using a network of small, passive sensors that are activated by some stimulus. Several field trials of these sensors have shown the ability to detect multiple properties, such as motion, sound, light, or even the composition of nearby metals. These sensors have been proposed as a viable threat detection system by MITRE (See diagram at right).

Our system leverages this type of detection system to monitor and alert pilots of incoming incursion threats. For example: a series of networked nodes could be grouped around various “hot spots” within an airport to detect when two planes were moving towards the same x-y coordinate. Once a potential incursion is detected, the sensors send the information (in red) to a networked server. The server then relays an auditory warning signal (in blue) out to the aircraft or operators who may be on a potential collision course. Dependent on position on the runway, each operator then can respond with the correct action prior to the incursion occurring.

Our system, the Runway Incursion Monitoring, Detection and Altering System, or RIMDAS provides several improvements over current systems:

• RIMDAS provides a method of directly warning the operator of impending incursions
• RIMDAS provides regional airports with a low-cost, low maintenance alternative for runway incursion detection
• RIMDAS also supports highly flexible scaling, and could be implemented on large or small scale
• RIMDAS could also be integrated into more complex systems (such as ASDE-X or RIPS) as these systems become more financially feasible/available

Presentations and Publications

Smith, C.F., Squire, P.N., Durkee, K., Barrow, J., & Moore, J. (2007). RIMDAS: A Direct Alerting System for Runway Incursions. Presented at the 79th Annual AAAE Conference and Exhibition, June 12th, 2007, Washington D.C. [Download Slides - 12 MB]

Barrow, J., Durkee, K., Moore, J., Smith, C.F., & Squire, P.N. (2007). Runway Incursion Monitoring, Detection and Altering System (RIMDAS): A Proposed Solution for Preventing Runway Incursions. Unpublished manuscript submitted in consideration of the 2007 FAA Airport Design Competition for Universities.

Moore, J.C., Barrow, J., Durkee, K., Smith, C.F., & Squire, P.N. (2007). Runway Incursion Monitoring, Detection and Altering System (RIMDAS): A Proposed Solution for Preventing Runway Incursions. Poster presented at Business Alliance of GMU: SmartConnect Student Conference, McLean, VA, April 25, 2007.

Barrow, J., Moore, J.C., Durkee, K., Smith, C.F., & Squire, P.N. (2007). Runway Incursion Monitoring, Detection and Altering System (RIMDAS): A Proposed Solution for Preventing Runway Incursions. Poster presented at GMU Innovations 2007, Fairfax, VA, April 25, 2007.

Media Appearances

ATO Online. (2007). Winners of First Airport Safety Design Competition Announced. Accessed from https://employees.faa.gov/org/linebusiness/ato/news/headquarters/story/index.cfm?newsId=45140 on June 12th, 2007.

Greif, Jim (2007). Mason Psychology Student Win FAA Competition for Runway Safety Project. The Mason Gazette. Accessed from http://gazette.gmu.edu/articles/10375/on June 13th, 2007.

AviationNews.net (2007). FAA presents Airport Design Awards. Accessed from http://www.aviationnews.net/index.html?do=headline&news_id=142011 on June 13th, 2007.

Occupational Health and Safety Magazine Online (2007). FAA gives runway safety design award to George Mason student team. Accessed from http://www.ohsonline.com/articles/48528 on June 11th, 2007.