Multi-parameter information detection of aircraft taxiing on an airport runway based on an ultra-weak FBG sensing array

Abstract

Tracking the moving state and analyzing the distribution feature of an aircraft taxiing on the pavement are crucial for runway safety management. One challenge is to provide a reliable methodology that would enable such needs to be addressed in long-distance range runway with high sensitivity and spatial resolution. This paper proposed a novel monitoring approach for acquiring multi-parameter information of aircraft taxiing on airport runway based on distributed vibration detected by ultra-weak fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensing array. For an actual engineering equipped with the smart runway system, the ultra-weak FBG sensing technology was applied to collect the distributed vibration responses of taxiing aircraft in takeoff and landing stages. The monitoring data of the vibration sensing optical cables beneath the entire pavement were directly utilized to evaluate the identification feasibility and effectiveness of taxiing speed and position, landing distribution, and taxiing acceleration and distance based on samples of five representative aircraft types. The results indicated that the speed, position, aiming point offset, acceleration changes and probability distribution of the taxiing distance can be revealed based on actual measurements concerning the distribution of vibration intensity with respect to space and time. Moreover, the analysis demonstrated that the experimental results based on ultra-weak FBG sensing array was able to account for the characteristic of different aircraft types participating in the study and the current operating conditions of the airport.