RADS (Runway Advisory Display System)

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  Aircraft cleared for takeoff

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  Aircraft not cleared - instructed to hold position

We are all pilots and understand the importance of safety in the vicinity of an active runway. We realize it is crucial that pilots are fully focused and our idea increases the awareness of pilots to reduce the chance of an incursion happening.

RADS works with a large display in front of the hold-short line on the taxiway leading to a runway. This display will show "STOP - HOLD POSITION" at all times unless the tower controller has issued a takeoff clearance for a specific aircraft, in which then the message would read the callsign of the aircraft following by "CL T/O RWY09". In addition, for airliners and other jets, by the controller issuing a clearance, an ACARS message will be sent to the aircraft's FMS stating the given clearance to provide an added source of redundancy and eliminate any confusion. The transmitter for this ACARS message will be located off the right side of the taxiway.

We built it by first designing a mock layout in Adobe Photoshop. Following this, we laser engraved this design onto a piece of plywood for demonstration purposes. Next, we drilled holes for LED lights to demonstrate the lights that would be on the hold-short line before the runway. After gluing and inserting the LEDs, we wired together the basic circuit to power the lights.

Challenges we ran into included finding the correct settings for the laser engraver as this was not initially working as expected, although, after lots of trial and error, we corrected the issue. We are proud of the way the model turned out as we think it gives a realistic perspective of what the system would actually look like in person. We are also very proud of our video since it grabs the users attention and explains the importance of our new system. We learned that it is important to utilize your resources in a challenge like this, and leverage all group members different skillsets. Next, RADS would like to conduct further research into how we could design an impact-resistant display that could be placed within the taxiway.

Built With

• leds
• wood