BENGALURU: To improve the efficiency of taxiing and avoid aircraft wingtip collisions, Kempegowda International Airport is set to introduce an automatic taxi lane violation detection system.Sources told TOI Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) has invited proposals to implement the system, officially termed Apron Taxi Violation Detection & Alert Management System. It is expected to improve safety in KIA’s unique three-lane apron movement system before flights enter or leave the runway. Unlike other airports in the country, KIA operates three parallel apron taxi lanes.At present, taxiway operations are monitored by a dedicated officer who visually observes aircraft movements across the airport’s 2.5km-long apron taxi lane. The officer usually sits inside a jeep near KIA’s ‘Taxiway K’ and immediately alerts the Air-Traffic Control (ATC), the pilot and airside operations team if any deviations are observed. While historically, manual monitoring has successfully prevented approximately 300 potential wingtip collision incidents, BIAL points out several challenges: temporary blind spots due to obstruction by other aircraft in the field of view and weather-related visibility concerns. Moreover, with the new elevated Western Crossfield Taxiway under construction, the current monitoring position will become unavailable in the long run.The new system will understand different types of aircraft and the taxiing model using various cameras and automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast data. It will then generate visual or audio alerts to ATC when aircraft make incorrect lane entry or occupy incorrect taxi lane. The feature will also use AI and advanced video analytics to detect, classify, identify, and track aircraft movements. The system will continuously track multiple camera zones, maintain historical track records, support forensic replay and investigation, and aid analytics outputs.
