Federal Aviation 

Administration 

REDAC / NAS Ops 

Review of FY 2022 

Proposed Portfolio 

Runway Incursion Reduction 

Program (RIRP) 

August 13, 2019 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Federal Aviation 

Administration 

Runway Incursion Reduction Program (RIRP) 

S09.02-00 

• The objective of the Runway Incursion Reduction Program (RIRP) 

is to reduce the risk to people and property caused by collisions in 

the runway environment. The RIRP is focused on providing 

SAFETY benefits for the FAA. 

• The program will research technologies, develop and evaluate 

prototype systems that can be used to detect the presence of 

hazards in the Runway Safety Area, and provide alerts to the 

individual(s) who can take corrective action. 

• RIRP success is measured by the completion of the goals 

identified in the Research Management Plan (RMP) for each 

prototype activity. Initiatives that successfully complete all the RMP 

Goals identified are then presented as candidates for acquisition, 

or presented for AIP-funding eligibility. 

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Federal Aviation 

Administration 

RIRP/ S09.02-00 

Overview Capabilities 

People: 

• Sponsor: James Fee, AJI-14 

• Program Manager: Ben Marple, ANG-C52 

• Support Contractors: GEMS Inc., Veracity Eng., DOT Volpe Center 

Laboratories: 

• MIT/LL: 

− Safety Logic and Technology Development 

− System Requirements Development 

− Technical Transfer Package Development 

• MITRE: 

− Benefit Estimation Methodology 

− Research / Data Mining 

− Human Factors 

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• 

Accomplishments in Current FY 

Small Airport Surface Surveillance (SASS) 

- Conducted active Mode-S Surface & Airborne Surveillance Proof of Concept for SASS

with refactored SASS software 

- Prepared initial draft of System Design Document (SDD) and Doxygen code 

documentation for Technical Transfer preparation 

• Runway Incursion Prevention through Situational Awareness

(RIPSA) 

- Developed RFP and Acquisition Package for RIPSA Technical Solicitation 

• Surface Taxi Conformance Monitoring (STCM) 

- Developed report on identified state-of-the-art capabilities in STCM technology 

- Developed shortfall analysis report identifying Runway Incursions that may be prevented

by various STCM concepts at controlled airports in the NAS 

Federal Aviation 

Administration 

Runway Incursion Reduction Program (RIRP) 

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Runway Incursion Reduction Program (RIRP) 

Anticipated Research in FY20/21 

• Small Airport Surface Surveillance (SASS) 

- Activities: Conduct ATCRBS Surveillance Proof of Concept demonstration; Transfer SASS Technology to 

Industry for further development 

- Products: Refactored & Documented SASS software, SASS hardware package specifications, Technical

Transfer documentation 

• Runway Incursion Prevention through Situational Awareness (RIPSA) 

- Activities: Procure technologies for RIPSA through contract solicitation; conduct vendor site surveys and 

initiate installation of RIPSA technologies at test site(s) 

- Products: Contract Award(s) for system hardware and vendor engineering support, Site survey reports, 

Test plans. 

• Surface Taxi Conformance Monitoring (STCM) 

- Activities: Research capabilities needed to digitize taxi route instructions; Research airport surface 

database requirements for taxi conformance monitoring; Cockpit based STCM technology prototype 

development and demonstration 

- Products: Annotated briefing describing methods of digitizing taxi route instructions; Draft set of airport 

surface database requirements; STCM technology prototype for cockpit 

Federal Aviation 

Administration 

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Federal Aviation 

Administration 

Runway Incursion Reduction Program (RIRP) 

Emerging FY22 Focal Areas 

• Incorporation of Speech Recognition capability and cooperative 

surveillance into RIPSA technologies for surface safety. 

• Wrong Surface Landing Prevention: Using air traffic and cockpit 

technologies to allow ATC and pilots to detect alignment problems 

that could result in Wrong Surface Landing (WSL) incidents. 

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FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 

$ 3M $ 4M $ 5M $ 5M $ 5M 

Federal Aviation RIRP Administration 

Runway Incursion Reduction Program (RIRP) 

Research Requirement 

• Develop Program Requirements, prototype, test and 

evaluate potential technologies at candidate airports as 

identified in the RIPSA report. 

• Develop low cost surface surveillance sensor 

• Refine concept and develop tools for tower-based and 

cockpit-based taxi conformance monitoring 

• Sponsor: Runway Safety Group (AJI-14) 

POC: James Fee, Manager, Runway Safety, AJI-141 

FY 2022 Planned Research 

• SASS prototype development with industry partner 

• ATCT based STCM technology prototype development and 

demonstration 

• RIPSA Annunciator Simulation Study 

• RIPSA test system operational evaluation 

• Technology Feasibility Assessment for Wrong Surface 

Landing Prevention 

Outputs/Outcomes 

Products: 

• Localized surveillance and annunciation technology 

test systems at RIPSA candidate airports 

• STCM technology prototype for cockpit 

• RIPSA operational evaluation reports and system 

requirements 

Out Year Funding Requirements 

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Federal Aviation 

Administration 

Backup Slides 

8 
Federal Aviation 

Administration 

Small Airport Surveillance Sensor 

(SASS) 

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Federal Aviation 

Administration 

Small Airport Surveillance Sensor (SASS) 

Overview 

• SASS is a “proof-of-concept” research project to determine if 

candidate technology is feasible 

– End result: Technology transfer to industry 

• SASS provides low-cost secondary surveillance for small airports 

• Goal: Accurate surface surveillance (30ft) and airborne surveillance out to 20nm 

or greater 

• Technology investigated: 

• Phase I: Mode S Passive 

• Phase II: Mode S Active 

• Phase III: ATCRBS (Air Traffic Control Radar Beacon System) 

• Target airports 

• GA airports with Class D airspace towers 

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Federal Aviation 

Administration 

SASS Overview (continued) 

Key design features 

• Highly accurate, low-cost phased array (non rotating antenna) 

• Low cost commercial off-the-shelf signal processing equipment 

• State-of-the-art digital signal processing leveraged from prior Department of 

Defense research 

Research conducted by 

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory at Hanscom Field 

(KBED) 

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SASS Diagram 

• Provides transponder-based surveillance of airport surface and nearby airspace 

• Passively and actively interrogates surface and airborne non-ADS-B aircraft 

Federal Aviation 

Administration 

12 
Hanscom Field Sensor Units 

SENSIS RTU 

Interrogator 

SASS (GFE) 

Sensor 

SASS 

Sensor Master 

Unit 

Phased 

Array 

Phased 

Array 

DGPS 

Base 

Station 

Federal Aviation 

Administration 

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Federal Aviation 

Administration 

SASS Timeline 

• FY14: Performed Engineering Study for SASS aperture design 

• FY15: Conducted proof-of-concept data collection at Hanscom Field 

• FY16: Conducted passive Mode-S Surface & Airborne Surveillance Proof of Concept 

• CY17: Conducted active Mode-S Surface & Airborne Surveillance Proof of Concept 

• CY18: Software refactoring for Technical Transfer preparation 

• CY19: Conduct ATCRBS Surveillance Proof of Concept; Initiate SASS Technology 

Transfer to Industry 

• CY20: Complete SASS Technology Transfer to Industry 

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Federal Aviation 

Administration 

Runway Incursion Prevention through 

Situational Awareness (RIPSA) 

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Federal Aviation 

Administration 

Runway Incursion Prevention through 

Situational Awareness (RIPSA) 

• Surveillance Performance and RI Risk reduction analysis: 

– Examine airport layout with relation to errors 

– Construct runway incursion scenarios with relation to errors 

– Identify existing runway incursion trends at individual airports and the root 

causes 

– Determine surveillance functionalities necessary to mitigate incursions based 

on scenario and error analysis 

• Evaluate performance of potential surveillance solutions: 

– Release Market Survey to Industry 

– Identify Technologies useful for RI mitigation focusing at runway-taxiway 

intersections 

– Research annunciation methods to increase communication to controller/pilot 

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RIPSA - Evaluate Performance of Potential 

Surveillance 

RIPSA will research “direct to pilot” safety systems capable of providing localized 

detection capabilities for all aircraft or vehicles at RI hotspot locations, such as 

hold short lines at runway-taxiway intersections 

Runway with Multiple, Converging Runways Runway with Intersecting Converging Taxiway Taxiway Intersections 

Federal Aviation 

Administration 

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Federal Aviation 

Administration 

RIPSA Program Timeline 

• FY16: Site assessments at 13 candidate airports 

• FY17: Initiate Program Plan development 

• FY18: Finalize Candidate Site(s) & Initiate Technology(s) Selection 

- Release of Market Survey (https://faaco.faa.gov/index.cfm/announcement/view/29900) 

- Respondents response to Market Survey 

- Review Market Survey Responses 

- Develop Requirements 

• FY19: IGCE and Technology Solicitation & Procurement 

- Survey candidate sites and finalize test scope; 

- Develop and release RFP for Technology 

- Contract Award(s) 

• FY20: Technology installation at candidate airport(s) 

• FY20/21: Operational test and evaluation 

• FY22: Site Removal and Restoration/ AMS Documentation / Technology Transfer 

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Federal Aviation 

Administration 

Surface Taxi Conformance Monitoring 

(STCM) 

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Surface Taxi Conformance Monitoring (STCM) 

Mission: 

Conduct research to determine if cockpit 

and/or tower-based Taxi Conformance 

Monitoring systems can be developed to 

reduce Runway Incursions (RI) that result 

from taxi errors 

• Use electronic devices to monitor pilot 

compliance with taxi clearances 

• Goal is to catch taxi errors before they 

escalate into an RI 

Federal Aviation 

Administration 

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Federal Aviation 

Administration 

Surface Taxi Conformance Monitoring (STCM) 

Phase 1 (CY18) 

• Develop report on identified state-of-the-art capabilities in Surface Taxi 

Conformance Monitoring (STCM) technology used around the world. 

– Identify initial list of existing technologies 

– Research characteristics of each technology 

– Develop table of functions associated with each technology 

– Draft description of technologies that support taxi conformance 

• Develop shortfall analysis report identifying Runway Incursions that may be 

prevented by various STCM concepts at controlled airports in the NAS. 

– Identify initial subset of RI from Volpe database that may benefit from taxi conformance monitoring 

– Assess those RI and corresponding data fields 

– Complete Inter-Rater-Reliability, code RI database 

– Characterize the extent to which the various surface monitoring technologies might potentially mitigate these RIs 

Phase 2 (CY19) 

• Research capabilities needed to digitize taxi route instructions 

• Research airport surface database requirements for taxi conformance monitoring 

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Federal Aviation 

Administration 

• FAA Surface Safety Initiative Team (SSIT) 

Portfolio 

Concept Development 

Surface Memory Aids required at all remaining 446 towered airports 

Leverage speech recognition as an enhancement to memory aids. 

Existing Technology Investments 

Potential to cover approximately 50 airports with: 

ASDE 3/AMASS 

ASDE-X (SMR) ASDE-X (SMR) with RWSL 

ASDE-X (ASDE-3) ASDE-X (ASDE-3) with RWSL 

ASSC ASSC with RWSL 

Provide conflict detection and alerting 

• direct to controller 

• and direct to pilot/ vehicle operator 

FAA Runway Incursion Reduction 

Program Research 

Potential to cover approximately 25 airports with no technology 

and highest rates of runway safety events. 

Build on existing success to continue providing conflict 

detection and alerting 

• direct to controller 

• and direct to pilot/ vehicle operator 

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SURFACE SAFETY INITIATIVES TEAM VISION 

External and Internal Analysis (Current) 

• Little to No Collaboration Across Lines of 

Business 

• Numbers Based Analysis 

• No Comprehensive Strategy 

Formulation of a Business Strategy 

(Planned) 

• Collaboration Across Lines of Business. To 

include Union and Industry Stakeholders 

• SMS Risk Based Analysis 

• Implement Runway Safety Roadmap 

Portfolio Management 

(Surface Safety Technology) 

• Enhancements to Existing Technology in the NAS 

• Right size, Right Site for Emerging Technology 

Federal Aviation 

Administration 

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Federal Aviation 

Administration 

Runway Safety Roadmap 

2003-2011 

AIRPORT SURVEILLANCE DETECTION 

EQUIPMENT – MODEL X 

• 35 SITES 

2013-2020 

2018-2020 

• ASDE-X TAXIWAY ARRIVAL ALERTS 

• ASSC TAXIWAY ARRIVAL ALERTS 

• RWSL CONVERGING RUNWAY 

OPERATIONS (PROPOSED) 

SURFACE 

ENHANCEMENTS 

RWSL 

ASSC 

AIRPORT SURFACE SURVEILLANCE 

CONCEPT 

• 8 SITES 

RUNWAY STATUS LIGHTS 

• 20 SITES 

2008-2020 

ASDE-X 

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Runway Safety Roadmap 

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS FOR 

RUNWAY ENTRANCES 

• INTEGRATION OF COOPERATIVE 

SURVEILLANCE/SPEECH INTO RIPSA 

TECHNOLOGIES 

2021-2025 (PHASE II) 

RUNWAY INCURSION PREVENTION 

THROUGH SITUATIONAL AWARENESS 

• NON-COOPERATIVE SURVEILLANCE FOR 

RIGHT SITE, RIGHT SIZE SOLUTIONS 

• LOCALIZED DIRECT TO PILOT INDICATOR 

2019-2022 (PHASE I) 

CURRENT TECHNOLOGY 

DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES 

• ADS-B ONLY 

• SASS 

• SPEECH RECOGNITION 

• TAXI CONFORMANCE MONITORING 

SAFRE 

RIPSA 

RIDs 

SURFACE 

SAFETY 

OUTLOOK 

FUTURE AT 

RUNWAY 

SAFETY 

RUNWAY INCURSION DEVICES 

• BASELINE PROGRAM (87 SITES) FOR DEPLOYMENT OF MEMORY AIDS 

2018-2020 

Federal Aviation 25 

Administration