The US aerospace industry is showing interest in a system that detects a conflict on the runway and advises the pilot on what action to take to avoid a collision developed by a team from the University’s Department of Electronic Systems Engineering.
The team, composed of department staff David Zammit-Mangion, Brian Zammit, Andrew Sammut and Marc Azzopardi, was invited to Washington DC to present the results of their four-year research programme to major stakeholders in the US aerospace industry.
Their research focused on mitigating the risk of aircraft colliding on the runway by developing avionic systems for commercial aircraft to warn the pilot of an impending conflict.
Although runway collisions are rare, the aerospace industry has been committed for over a decade towards reducing the risk of such occurrences. Today, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of America ranks the mitigation of such hazards within the top ten priority list of ‘wanted’ items in aviation safety.
Dr Zammit-Mangion, the head of the department of electronic systems engineering said that being able to advise the pilot on what action to take in the situation was a key technology developed by his team.
“We have seen several programmes aimed at resolving a potential conflict on the runway, both in the US and Europe, but we are proud to be the first to ever provide a solution that is capable of telling the pilot what to do.
“Our studies have shown that telling the pilot what to do is fundamental in such circumstances during take-off and landing, as the crew is concentrating on demanding and pressing responsibilities during these phases of flight.”
The work, part of the €0.6 million EU funded research contract, has been carried out within Flysafe, the EU’s flagship €50 million research programme addressing flight safety.
This programme, led by Thales Avionics of France, is made up of 36 partners, including the University of Malta and Air Malta.
The Electronic Systems Engineering Department has worked very closely with Air Malta and Cranfield University UK in the development and evaluation processes associated with the system developed in Malta.
As part of the contractual requirements, the system was evaluated at Cranfield University using a fixed-base flight simulator. Teams of Air Malta pilots assessed the operational aspect of the system with the support of avionics, human factors and simulation specialists from Cranfield University.
The research work of the University of Malta was very well received in Washington and further interest in the work is now being expressed by the US industry.