CMC Electronics will begin tests within months on a new system aimed at preventing collisions and wing-tip strikes by aircraft while taxiing.
Some aircraft already use tail-mounted cameras to help pilots avoid objects on the ground. CMC is working on a technology to take that capability a step further, says Jean-Marie Begis, CMC product line director for electronic flightbags (EFB) and aircraft wireless systems.
CMC's proposed system would work by installing multiple cameras to create a stereographic image around the aircraft and using software to recognise obstructions and alerting the flightcrew, he says.
As initially conceived, the system would be installed on the crew's side-mounted EFB displays, Begis says. In the long-term, CMC envisions the system could be integrated into the aircraft's multifunction displays, perhaps allowing the technology to earn certification credit.
The software that processes the stereographic imagery was developed by Trinity University in Dublin, Ireland.
If the forthcoming tests are successful, CMC could introduce a new product by the third quarter of 2013, Begis says.
Source: Flight Daily News
