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US 6,606,035 B2Granted
System and method for airport runway monitoring
AssigneeSafe Landing Systems Inc.
InventorsViraf Kapadia, Hilary Vieira
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method are configured to provide a cost-effective runway monitoring tool that may be used by airports to aid in accident avoidance and investigation by generating and analyzing image data corresponding to runway areas and surfaces.
Claims31
A system for monitoring at least one runway area to produce runway condition data, the system comprising:
- at least one monitoring device configured to monitor at least one runway area and generate image data pertaining to the at least one runway area;
- at least one transceiver coupled to the at least one monitoring device and configured to receive image data from the at least one monitoring device;
- and
- at least one processor configured to communicate with the at least one transceiver to receive image data and generate data indicating at least one runway condition, wherein
- the at least one transceiver is configured to receive operation instruction data from the at least one processor and transmit image data to the at least one processor via at least one communication link,
- the at least one monitoring device is one of a plurality of monitoring devices and the at least one transceiver is one of a plurality of transceiver configured to receive operation instruction data from the at least one processor and transmit image data to the at least one processor via at least one communication link,
- the plurality of monitoring devices are located at individual locations to monitor each other by providing views that cover at least one other monitoring device,
- the at least one processor is configured to issue an alert in response to a determination that the at least one runway area includes at least one of potentially hazardous foreign object debris, vehicle congestion and hazardous runway conditions, and
- the alert changes the color of runway lights or flashes runway lights.
6 more elements
A method for monitoring at least one runway area to produce runway condition data based on the monitoring, the method comprising:
- monitoring at least one runway area and generating image data pertaining to the at least one runway area using a plurality of monitoring devices each located at individual locations to monitor the at least one runway area and each other by providing views that cover at least one other monitoring device;
- transmitting at least a portion of the image data to a processor;
- analyzing the transmitted image data, via the processor, to generate data indicating at least one runway area condition;
- issuing an alert in response to a determination that the at least one runway area includes at least one of potentially hazardous foreign object debris, vehicle congestion and hazardous runway conditions;
- and
- issuing instructions to generate an alert if the data indicating the at least one runway condition indicates an unacceptable runway area condition, wherein the alert changes the color of runway lights or flashes runway lights.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.