Calibration and use of video cameras in the photometric assessment of aerodrome ground lighting

McMenemy, Karen; Mullin, Francis; Dodds, G.

doi:10.1117/12.476780

Cited by 4 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…In subsequent years McMenemy [7] provided a thorough case study that illustrated the viability of utilising a vision system to monitor the performance of luminaires. Factors such as vibration and camera noise were highlighted as the main issues associated with a dynamic system and were partially overcome by calibrating the vision sensor and building it into a platform to minimize the effects of vibration.…”

Section: Vision Approach To Airport Lighting Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

An imaging system that autonomously monitors lighting patterns with application to airport lighting

2006

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This paper presents a novel measurement system that assesses the uniformity of a complete airport lighting installation. The system improves safety with regard to aircraft landing procedures by ensuring airport lighting is properly maintained and conforms to current standards and recommendations laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.The measuring device consists of a CMOS vision sensor with associated lens system fitted to the interior of an aircraft. The vision system is capable of capturing sequences of airport lighting images during a normal approach to an aerodrome. These images are then post processed to determine the uniformity of the complete pattern.Airport lighting consists of elevated approach and inset runway luminaires. Each luminaire emits an intensity which is dependant on the angular displacement from the luminaire. For example, during a normal approach a given luminaire will emit its maximum intensity down to its minimum intensity as the aircraft approaches and finally passes over the luminaire. As such, it is possible to predict the intensity that each luminaire within the airport lighting pattern emits, at a given time, during a normal approach. Any luminaires emitting the same intensity can then be banded together for the uniformity analysis.Having derived the theoretical groups of similar luminaires within a standard approach, this information was applied to a sequence of airport lighting images that were recorded during an approach to Belfast International Airport.Since we are looking to determine the uniformity of the pattern, only the total pixel grey level representing each luminaire within each banded group needs to be extracted and tracked through the entire image sequence. Any luminaires which fail to meet the requirements (i.e. a threshold value depending on the performance of the other luminaires in that band) are monitored and reported to the assessor for attention.The extraction and tracking algorithms have been optimised for minimal human intervention. Techniques such as component analysis as well as centre of mass algorithms are used to detect and locate the luminaires. A search algorithm is used to obtain the brightness (total grey level) of each luminaire.For the sample test at Belfast International Airport several luminaires were found that do not output sufficient intensity. As a final conclusion however, the Belfast International lighting pattern is legal and conforms to standards as no two consecutive luminaires fail in the pattern.The techniques used in this paper are novel. No known research exists that couples uniformity of airport lighting with photometrics. A solid basis has been established for future work on monitoring the individual characteristics of the luminaires. This includes colour and intensity measurements. Downloaded From: http://proceedings.spiedigitallibrary.org/ on 06/23/2016 Terms of Use: http://spiedigitallibrary.org/ss/TermsOfUse.aspx Vision Sensor(s) Mosnting PItfonn E.g. Focal Length USB2.O Power & Conenes Sofficare 4_+LIIII Pesi...

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Section: Vision Approach To Airport Lighting Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

An imaging system that autonomously monitors lighting patterns with application to airport lighting

2006

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“…Two cameras are used, since research (McMenemy and Dodds, 2003) has shown this is the minimum number of cameras required to capture sufficient unsaturated images of the airport landing lighting. The camera parameters of one camera have been set primarily to view approach luminaires and a more sensitive camera is used to view Figure 2 Measurement system configuration runway luminaires, which operate at half the luminous intensity of their approach counterparts.…”

Section: Measurement System Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Each bitmap image must then be processed to eliminate the noise and distortion effects in CCD cameras. A full outline of the techniques used is given in McMenemy et al (2001).…”

Section: Measurement System Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Objective measurement of the quality of airport lighting whilst in service

McMenemy¹,

Dodds

2006

Transactions of the Institute of Measurement and Control

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This paper contributes to the science of measurement and control by outlining a unique methodology for objectively assessing the luminous intensity of all luminaires forming an airport landing lighting pattern, whilst in service, to check that the lighting pattern conforms to the strict standards set by airports’ governing body within the UK the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Central to this methodology is a novel air-based measurement system consisting of charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras and dedicated image-processing software. This prototype measurement system is placed inside the cockpit of an aircraft and is used to take images of the airport landing lighting system whilst the aircraft approaches the airport. Developed image-processing techniques then allow unique luminaire identification and extraction from the hundreds of luminaires within the airport lighting pattern. The corresponding luminous intensity and alignment of each luminaire is derived using dynamic position and orientation information estimated from a visual environment model. By obtaining luminous intensity and alignment information for each luminaire within the pattern, it is then possible to derive its associated isocandela diagram. This then allows an assessment to be made regarding the luminaires’ conformity to the CAA standards. The unique system has been tested at Belfast International Airport, the results of which are documented within this paper. The results indicate that further work is necessary if the system is to be fully functional. Currently it takes approximately 35 h to filter the results for one complete pattern. In addition, a maximum error of 40% is reported between derived and actual luminous intensity measurements for a given luminaire. The reasons for this discrepancy are highlighted in the discussion and improvements are currently being made to the system to account for these. However, the results and the work reported within this paper reflect the belief that digital imaging can be utilized to automate many physically large photometry problems within the fields of science and engineering. The methodology described for the development of this measurement system is unique and we believe extends the science of automated dynamic measurement systems.

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“…With the advance of mobile technology and external storage devices it is easier and quicker than ever to process the lighting patterns performance. It is possible to assess the performance of aerodrome ground lighting (AGL) using aerial based imaging techniques (McMenemy and Dodds, 2003). A vision system is platform mounted, to minimise the effects of vibration, in the cockpit of an aircraft.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%