Aviation remains an important means of international and domestic travel and freight movement. Every plane movement and maintenance activity relies on mobile equipment for loading and unloading in addition to manufacturing and maintenance activities. This creates a complex environment resulting in potential damage caused by avoidable impacts between mobile equipment and aircraft.
CSIRO have developed a 'docking assistance technology' identified as the Collision Awareness and Response System (CARS) that is primarily focused on aligning a mobile piece of equipment with a stationary piece of equipment or structure. It provides a visual representation of distance transition in the form of a 'traffic light' representation as a guide to the person in charge of the mobile equipment to stop near without making contact with the stationary object. The accuracy of the sensors and technology enables fine granularity in identifying predetermined distance perimeters.
Technology
The technology incorporated in the system:
- utilises multiple sensor technology
- utilises an LED visual variance of 'traffic lights' to display distance
- uses capacitance to measure distance from sensors to surface (granularity)
- can be activated by motion within a specific identifiable distance
- is a low voltage system making it suitable for use with solar panels for power supply.
Benefits obtained from using the system include:
- its ability to be mounted on either fixed or mobile elements
- ease of setup/calibrations
- it's intuitive for users to understand guidance
- reduces need of non-standard hand signals therefore minimises confusion
- price of installation is variable and dependent on robustness required for specific industry uses
- its ability to retrofit on existing equipment
- reduction in potential damage thereby reducing costs of damage rectification and/or downtime.
Applications
This technology has potential application in markets such as aircraft operations and maintenance, aviation ground handling, truck docking and logistics and mining where it can be used to identify proximity between moving equipment and fixed objects. We are seeking interested partners to deploy the technology.
Intellectual property
CSIRO holds a patent in the area of adaptive distance display.
The team
We are a multidisciplinary team of experts in advanced mechatronics systems with experience in developing collision awareness technologies and detection and tracking solutions for industrial environments. We also have extensive experience working with both large and small companies to deliver customer focussed technologies that improve their current operations.