The Need for a Runway Decision Support
- Adverse winter weather can significantly disrupt airport operations
- Runways along with access roads must be maintained and cleared of snow and ice
- The safety and efficiency of airport and flight operations hinges on timely and accurate weather forecasts
- Until recently, the airport maintenance community has relied on conventional methods for acquiring and applying weather-related information in the runway treatment and operations decision process…usually from multiple sources
- Managing winter storms at an airport requires collaboration in a complex decision-making environment between inter-dependent stakeholders with different objectives
Background and Adaptation for Runway Decision Support
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) initiated a program in 2001 to provide objective guidance to winter road maintenance decision makers during adverse weather events
Solution: NCAR’s Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS)
- NCAR created a custom version of the MDSS for Colorado with a specific focus on Denver International Airport (DIA) runway operations
- The system was specifically configured for all major DIA runways, using known pavement as-builts and rules of practice for treating runways
- NCAR has been running an operational demonstration system for DIA since 2008 and conducting ongoing R&D to improve its capabilities.
