I.D. Systems And Garmin Team To Provide New Airport Safety
Solution
I.D. Systems, Inc. Garmin have
entered into a distribution agreement to bring an innovative new
airport safety product to the aviation industry. The product ...
SafeNav Powered by Garmin ... is an on-vehicle, GPS-based
navigation and alert system designed to provide airport vehicle
operators with real-time situational awareness, with the goal of
avoiding accidental runway incursions. Initial shipments of SafeNav
are expected to commence in the second half of 2010.
The NTSB has placed runway incursions on its “Most
Wanted” list of transportation safety improvements every year
since the list’s inception in 1990. The FAA has similarly
made “reduction in the number and severity of runway
incursions” one of its top priorities. In an Advisory
Circular, the FAA states: "The control of vehicular activity on the
airside of an airport is of the highest importance."
The airport operator is responsible for developing procedures,
procuring equipment, and providing training regarding vehicle
operations to ensure aircraft and personnel safety. In the same
document, the FAA attributes incidents involving aircraft and
ground vehicles, in part, to inadequate visual aids and vehicle
operator training, and encourages airport operators to
“establish procedures and policies concerning vehicle access
and vehicle operation on the airside of the airport”. The FAA
emphasizes that special consideration should be given to vehicle
operations during low visibility conditions, such as rain, snow and
fog, which may obscure airport markings and diminish vehicle
operators’ situational awareness.
The system enhances the situational awareness of airport vehicle
operators—regardless of visibility and other external
conditions—by providing an on-vehicle “moving
map” of the vehicle’s location on the airport. SafeNav
incorporates:
- Built-in maps of over 950 U.S. airports, based on the reference
airport diagrams used by aircraft equipped with Garmin’s
SafeTaxi system.
- Real-time tracking of vehicle location on the airport via a
4.3-inch, wide-format, touchscreen display, built-in geo-fencing
algorithms to define airport runways. Risk-weighted color coding on
maps to alert vehicle operators visually to potential runway
incursions Automatic audible alarming to alert vehicle operators
aurally to potential runway incursions.
“SafeNav will not only assist
experienced vehicle operators at night and during periods of
low-visibility, it will serve as an important safety tool for
new or transient vehicle operators who are unfamiliar with the
airport’s taxiways and runways,” said Gary Kelley,
Garmin’s vice president of marketing.
SafeNav is available both as a standalone safety device and as a
complementary extension of I.D. Systems’ AvRamp Wireless
Vehicle Management System, which provides safety controls,
maintenance monitoring, and utilization analysis for fleets of
airport vehicles. The standalone system supports
several of the FAA’s “Best Practices for Airfield
Safety”, including:
- Distributing current airport diagrams for use in airside
vehicles.
- Training vehicle drivers where to look for airport traffic when
pilots and the control tower are silent.
- Improving airport safety by stressing and understanding
situational awareness.
“SafeNav essentially brings the safety functions of our
successful SafeTaxi system from the cockpits of aircraft into the
cabs of airside airport vehicles,” said Kelley. “We are
committed to using our technology to increase situational awareness
in the air and on the ground, and we look forward to working with
I.D. systems to bring SafeNav to the airport vehicle market.”
Using SafeNav in conjunction with I.D. Systems’ AvRamp system
satisfies another FAA best practice, ensuring that personnel with
access to vehicles in the airport area of operations (AOA) have
appropriate authorization and driver training.