At MIT, a smarter way to direct aircraft carrier traffic

Managing the runway of an aircraft carrier is an exercise in restraint. With precious little space -- 4.5 acres -- for the up to 60 aircraft parked on its deck, making sure million-dollar aircraft arrive and depart without collisions is a sight to behold.

So why not add a little technology to the mix?

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are using computers to crunch data with the goal of creating safer, more accurage operation schedules -- ensuring that no two pilots have conflicting information about who should be on the runway.

Current deck handling systems use, astonishingly, plane-shaped cutouts and color-coded thumbtacks.

But MIT aeronautics professor Missy Cummings tapped a team at the school's Humans and Automation Lab to design a computer interface that they call "Deck operations Course of Action Planner," or DCAP, to track incoming flight data and create new deck operation schedules.

The system also aims to reduce the number of personnel on deck and keep them out of harm's way.

"People are working elbow-to-elbow with vehicles that could potentially kill them," Cummings said in a statement. "So the question is, can you actually figure out a better way to move the flow of traffic around a deck to mitigate the chances of someone being hit?"

Cummings and company looked at an array of data -- aircraft fuel levels, flight schedules, the status of deck machinery, etc. -- and designed around them an algorithm to accommodate different scenarios.

Then the team added an interface to make it accessible for a human. The main display shows an overhead view of the aircraft carrier and the current positions of ground crew, vehicles and planes on deck; meanwhile, a side panel lists the type and number of aircraft in line to land and launch, along with flight schedules.

A display at the bottom keeps track of machinery and issues alerts when failures arise. All relevant objects or people on deck will be outfitted radio frequency identification, or RFID, tags to turn them into data points.

The new system performed well in simulations, the researchers said, such as a catapult failure or an incoming jet that's low on fuel. (Cue movie plotline....now.)

The ultimate goal: have a computer make decisions based on available data far more quickly than a human can wrap his or her head around the situation.

But every algorithm has its faults, so the process isn't fully automated -- it just makes suggestions that a human operator can then accept or decline. (The question then is whether, in the real world, the operator will be the weak link in a time-sensitive scenario.)

Still, that leaves the door open for data that the system can't accomodate -- such as a particular pilot who has a history of botched landings who might need more time to get the job done.

The Office of Naval Research is sponsoring the project as part of a five-year grant; so far, the system has passed a demonstration with flying colors.

Here's a look in a video:

Good news for the U.S. Navy, not to mention commercial airports or any facility where there are a lot of moving parts, from factories to trucking depots.

Photo: William Litant/MIT

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com