(The image is in the public domain)
Feeling nutty? Well, most of us know that nuts are good. Good for your health, that is. While fatty, nuts contain nutrients that are good for our brain. And plenty of previous studies have proven the beneficial effects of nutty diets, even in our behavior.
What is more interesting to know is that certain types of nuts, like walnuts, have special benefits for the development of more complex emotional and cognitive functions. And it’s even shown to lead to improvements in attention function for those with ADHD. Especially teens.
In a nutshell, it’s about alpha-linolenic fatty acid (ALA), a type of omega-3 that plays a fundamental role in brain development. Increases in fluid intelligence stimulates synaptic growth (connections between neurons) in the frontal lobe, according to the newsletter NeuroScience.
And what we do there, is decision making, rational thought, evaluating options with a ‘straight head’. So, you can see how important it is in the development of teen brain.
This part of our brain is what enables neuropsychological maturation, i.e., we function better. Neurons that are well nourished with this type of fatty acids will be able to grow and form new, stronger synapses.
So what has this got to do with airports? How can airports and aprons get smarter with a healthy diet of novel tech?
Read on below.
Airport/Apron Systems
Airports are incredibly complex systems that have been difficult to improve. There are layers of redundancy on every operation needed to assure safety. Despite all this, there is one ground accident per around 1,000 departures every day. Or about 27,000 ramp accidents or incidents and 243,000 injuries per year.
Between January 1 and January 12 of this year, there had already been two ground collisions at New York’s John F. Kennedy’s airport, the last one involving Italy’s ITA Airways. The aircraft hit the tail of another aircraft with the tip of its right wing, shortly after landing from Rome.
But it’s not only the landing and taxiing.
The apron is the worst kind of environment with all sorts of moving equipment, towed equipment and containers, all mostly operated by people. Pointy catering trucks can easily pierce aircraft bodies. Towed aircraft are at risk of clipping each other’s wings or tailplanes.
And most relies on rules, standard operating procedures, compliance to it and using human sight. And there hasn’t been a system or solution available to protect aircraft and people while moving or even when the idle/are static on the apron and in the hangars.
What is worse, most damages are not covered by insurance.
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Robotics and other automation
We have seen great applications of automation in baggage handling and the use of robotics. So much so, that when the going gets tough, the people that support the transfer to containers and carts cannot keep up.
But there is still a lot of inefficient and manual work that carries high costs and account for 90% of all accidents. Other effects are:
It causes delays, increases costs and reduces margins
There is no possibility to collect data properly, creating deficiencies
There is a risk of fraud or cutting corners
There is no way of benchmarking the level of ground safety and operational efficiency.
Nonetheless, there are novel applications of new technology that automate airside operational oversight. It uses computer vision and AI to identify obstacles and predict the likelihood of safety failures before it’s too late. It also assists people on the ground by providing augmented reality to what’s around the equipment such as near aircraft.
All the data this collects, ingests, and uses - when it learns the environment for improved situational analysis - is invaluable in preventing accidents, incidents and injuries, and of course material damage.
HYDRO Systems France has recently selected a new solution from Evitado’s anti-collision technology. It will be used by the Ministry of Defense and is called ELVIZ 3D, based on Evitado’s LiDAR offering. It’s the same solution that was picked by Rome’s Fiumicino airport startup accelerator program (‘InnovationHub - Runway to the Future’).
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Situational Awareness
So, how do these things work?
First of all, it’s a portable machine. It is attached to an aircraft fuselage, or ground service equipment (like a tug, or towing truck). The machine scans the surroundings in 3D, with 360 degree vision, and calibrates it with any aircraft type to track equipment during the move. It looks quite futuristic:
(Image by Evitado)
What’s neat is that these solutions have a range of over 100 meters (which is over 25 meters more than an Airbus A380). And, it’s accurate to less than 10 centimeters, which provides ample warning at low travel speeds.
The cool stuff? The machine shows up green or red for warnings and the operator is notified through sounds, flashing lights and the user interface (below).
These tools are flexible as well in terms of how alerts can be sent (tablets, smartphones, smartwatches).
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Going forward
Situational awareness at a gate, jet bridge and section of the apron is of course important. But the future of situational awareness is in connecting many Internet of Things devices to solutions like Evitado but deployed all around the airport and near airport fences.
They will be able to pick up debris, identify clutter, and predict safety violations from the moment the aircraft enters the aerodrome and operates on the ground. When we connect multiple devices, any moving and static object can be protected because of the many information handovers. This will be driven by an airport situational AI system that can be monitored and consulted from within the control tower.
So speaking of a nutty diet, there are many beneficial solutions that can be ingested in more intelligent Airport Operations Control Centers (AOCC). These will increasingly be supported by deep learning on AI platforms, churning out many new optimization processes for optimal airport operations at Systems level, not at micro-functional level.
That too, is a topic for another day.
For now, don’t forget those walnuts. It’s never too late.
Wishing you all a wonderful day, and greetings from Montréal.
Ricardo
Montreal, Tuesday, 25 April 2023
Feel free to contact me for questions, comments, or a chat:
ricardo(at)pomonaadvisors(dot)com
my general email has changed to: info(at)ricardopilon(dot)com