Honeywell Aerospace and the City of Phoenix Aviation Department will test adapting the company’s SURF-A runway alert technology for airport ground vehicles at Phoenix Sky Harbor, Deer Valley and Goodyear airports. The pilot programme is due to begin this month and run through the end of the year, with the city investing about $30,000 in the trial.
The project aims to give vehicle operators earlier warning of possible runway conflicts by using GPS and ADS-B data to detect traffic around the airport surface. Honeywell’s system is designed to provide auditory and visual alerts as much as seven to 10 seconds before a potential collision, extending a tool originally developed to warn pilots in aircraft.
The Phoenix airports will be the first in the world to test this kind of collision-avoidance technology on ground vehicles. The trial comes amid renewed attention on runway safety and surface-incursion risks, and city and company officials will assess results before deciding whether the system can be expanded beyond the Valley.