Performance Evaluation of Airport Lighting Using Mobile Camera Techniques

This paper describes the use of mobile camera technology to assess the performance of Aerodrome Ground Lighting (AGL). Cameras are placed inside the cockpit of an aircraft and used to record images of the AGL during an approach to an airport. Subsequent image analysis, using the techniques proposed in this paper, will allow a performance metric to be determined for the lighting. This can be used to inform regulators if the AGL is performing to standards and it will also provide useful information towards the maintenance strategy for the airport. Since the cameras that are used to collect the images are mounted on a moving and vibrating platform (the plane), some image data may be effected by vibration. In the paper we illustrate techniques by which to quantify and remove the effects of vibration and illustrate how the image data can be used to derive a performance metric for the complete AGL.