Systems and methods for monitoring activities in an aviation environment

A system for monitoring activities in an aviation environment, the system including:

• at least two monitoring units, each monitoring unit including at least two types of sensors comprising a range sensor and a camera sensor, wherein:
• the sensors are adapted to obtain sensor information of at least two objects, including at least one runway and at least one aircraft,
• the monitoring units are mounted at a plurality of locations in the aviation environment, including at least one location at or near the runway;
• a processing system being configured to receive said information from the sensors and being further configured to process said information to monitor and make predictions in relation to the at least two objects, wherein:
• the processing system is configured to combine the range sensor information with the camera sensor information by applying data fusion to associate the sensor information with temporal information and spatial information;
• and
• applying data fusion includes processing the range sensor information and the camera sensor information acquired from the sensors at the plurality of locations in the aviation environment, including:
• applying a time-syncing process to the range and camera sensor information acquired at the plurality of locations;
• stitching or otherwise combining the range sensor information acquired at the plurality of locations;
• stitching or otherwise combining the camera sensor information acquired at the plurality of locations;
• and
• projecting or otherwise fusing the acquired range sensor information onto the acquired camera sensor information, or projecting or otherwise fusing the acquired camera sensor information onto the acquired range sensor information;
• the system being further configured to compare the temporally and spatially associated sensor information of the at least two objects with predetermined safety operation criteria, and to generate an alert signal when the compared information indicates a risk or likelihood of at least three different occurrence types from the following list of occurrence types:
• runway excursion;
• runway incursion;
• foreign object damage/debris;
• taxiing collision/near collision;
• unstable approach;
• wheels up landing;
• controlled flight into terrain;
• animal/bird strike.