Airport pavement management system

• US 20060036378A1
• Filed: 06/06/2005
• Published: 02/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harris Corporation (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ERA Systems Corporation (General Dynamics Corporation)
• Inventors: Smith, Alexander E., Breen, Thomas J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,437,250 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/57
• CPC Class Codes: E01C 23/00 Auxiliary devices or arrangements for constructing, repairing, reconditioning, or taking-up road or like surfaces apparatus for reconditioning of salvaged non-hydraulic compositions for- in plant recycling of salvaged bituminous mixtures E01C19/10

Abstract

The AirScene™ Pavement Management System of the present invention automatically tracks data required to determine various factors in an assessment of current and future pavement maintenance needs and utilizes this data to quantify the pavement damage caused by each individual aircraft movement and thus compute pavement condition based on an initial survey and the calculations of accrued damage over time. This information can be displayed through AirScene™ in the form of tables, graphs, or graphically represented on an airport diagram showing present conditions, rates of accruing damage, and future wear rates and areas. The system draws on the data from the AirScene™ Data Warehouse (ADW), a single repository for all the information acquired from a number of different sources. These data include: Aircraft or vehicle type (wheel layout, weight, vehicle specific parameters, and the like), Aircraft or vehicle location (ground track, position, gate used, and the like), Aircraft or vehicle dynamics (velocity, acceleration, take off, touchdown, and the like), Aircraft or vehicle actual weight (cargo load, fuel load, and the like), as well as Future operational data (flight schedules, increasing flight loads and demand, and the like).

Claims

1. A system for determining pavement wear, comprising:

means for tracking vehicle movement, including path of movement data for vehicles on the pavement;

means for storing path of movement data;

means for calculating pavement wear based upon path of movement data; and

means for displaying calculated pavement wear on a visual display.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

means for detecting environmental influences on pavement wear, including at least one of heat/cool cycles, freeze/thaw cycles, rainfall, sunlight, and temperature,

wherein said means for calculating pavement wear further calculates pavement wear based upon environmental influences.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

means for receiving initial survey data to establish a baseline of pavement condition;

wherein said means for calculating pavement wear based upon path of movement data calculates pavement conditions based upon initial survey data an calculations of accrued damage over time from vehicle movement.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for storing path of movement data further includes a repository for pavement information acquired from a plurality of data sources, including at least one of aircraft or vehicle type, including wheel layout, weight, and vehicle-specific parameters;

aircraft or vehicle location including ground track, position, and gate used;

aircraft or vehicle dynamics including velocity, acceleration, take off, and touchdown, aircraft or vehicle actual weight, including cargo load, fuel load, and passenger load; and

future operational data, including flight schedules, increasing flight loads, and demand.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for tracking vehicle movement, including path of movement data for vehicles on the pavement comprises one or more of AirScene MLat, ADS-B, ASDE-X, ASDE-3, AMASS, ASDE, to determine at least one of type of aircraft or vehicle, type of operation (taxi, park, departure, or arrival), where the aircraft or vehicle operated, and also which runways, taxiways, and gates were used.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for tracking vehicle movement, including path of movement data for vehicles on the pavement uses data from the ACARS including at least one of weight of the aircraft, fuel, and cargo, time at the gate, time and position of wheels off the ground, and wheels on the ground.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for calculating pavement wear based upon path of movement data determines pavement wear based upon where the vehicle or aircraft was, how much it weighed, and how long it was on a particular section of pavement to determine wear on the pavement.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

means for receiving weather information and operational data from one or more of the D-ATIS, ASOS, METAR, and TAF for calculating pavement wear from life-cycle and weather factors.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

means for using historic data to predict future maintenance needs of the pavement.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein said means for calculating pavement wear based upon path of movement data further calculates, using scheduled airline operations data, to calculate future airport operations and calculating future maintenance requirements of the pavement.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

means for determining and warning of pavement overload, receiving vehicle track data in real time, comparing vehicle type and weight with pavement in the vehicle track, and warning of pavement overload if vehicle weight exceeds pavement capacity in the vehicle track.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a landing fee billing system, for calculating landing fees based upon vehicle weight data and vehicle track data such that vehicle landing fees are calculated based on damage a vehicle is likely to be causing to the pavement.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

means for tracking ground vehicles used to perform pavement inspection;

means for receiving pavement inspection data from ground vehicles and correlating pavement inspection data with ground vehicle tracking data to determine pavement condition.

14. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

means for monitoring maintenance processes of runway rubber removal including means for tracking and recording time, date, and position of runway rubber removal vehicles to verify affected pavement areas are cleaned.