Runway Condition Detection and Analysis using Deep Learning

航空业采用的基本理念是“起飞是可选的，降落是强制性的”。最近的研究表明，大多数致命的航空事故发生在飞机降落期间，原因是飞行员与失去控制有关的错误。由于恶劣的天气条件，受污染的跑道上的风险变得明显更高，特别是对于经验较少的飞行员。目前有几种方法可以测量跑道的摩擦力，但没有一种方法是实时的，也没有一种方法可以提供不安全着陆的准确轮廓。该项目将开发一个实时分析平台，以支持实时决策并向利益相关者发出警报。人工智能算法将处理从ADS-B收集的数据，并确定飞机在着陆期间是否可能经历了跑道上的异常减速和/或方向顺应性。分析结果将使用图形用户界面可视化，该图形用户界面在视觉上协调飞机着陆位置、时间和天气数据，以便容易地说明飞机从着陆前的500英尺到跑道偏离跑道或在降落后离开中线的高度、地面速度、减速和位移。协调后的数据将以一种格式存储，其中包括允许轻松挖掘数据以监控趋势，如类似飞机在潮湿跑道上的停车距离随着时间的推移而延长，表明橡胶堆积或纹理丧失，或跑道表面不规则的发展，如所谓的波音颠簸。这样的接口将为机场当局和其他有关利益攸关方提供一个理想的平台，以便作出明智的决定，并为飞机提供安全着陆指示。 该项目将帮助主要合作伙伴Eagle团队建立最低限度的可行产品(MVP)，以便向最初的目标客户群进行商业化；并展示所开发技术的可行性和可用性。结果将支持Eagle团队为航空业带来亟需的新技术，确保市场早日采用。

The aviation industry adopts a primary concept that "while takeoff is optional, landing is mandatory". Recent studies have shown that the majority of fatal aviation accidents happen during aircraft landing due to pilot-related errors of loss of control. The risk becomes significant higher on contaminated runways due to inclement weather conditions, especially for less experienced pilots. There are currently several methods that can measure the friction of runways, but none of them is real-time or can provide an accurate profile of unsafe landing. This project will develop a real-time analytics platform to support real-time decision making and issue alerts to the stakeholders. AI algorithms will process collected data from ADS-B and determine whether an aircraft has possibly experienced anomalous decelerations on the runway and/or directional compliance during landing. The analytical results will be visualized using graphical user interface that visually reconciles aircraft landing position, time and weather data to readily illustrate altitude, ground speed, deceleration and displacement of the aircraft from centerline, from 500' before touchdown to runway excursion or exit after roll out. The reconciled data will be stored in a format that allows, among other things, easy mining of the data to monitor trends like lengthening stopping distances of similar aircraft over time on wet runways indicating rubber build up or loss of texture, or the development of runway surface irregularities like what has been called 'the Boeing bump'. Such an interface will provide an ideal platform for airport authorities and other concerned stakeholders to make informed decisions and provide safe landing directives to aircrafts. The project will help Team Eagle, the key partner, build a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) for commercialization to the initial target customer base; and demonstrate feasibility and usability of the developed technology. The outcomes will support Team Eagle to bring a new much needed technology to the aviation industry secure early market adoption.