"Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss., Airport Runways to Get Low-Cost Anti-Collision System"

Sunday, June 6, 2004

Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss., Airport Runways to Get Low-Cost Anti-Collision
System
The Biloxi (MS) Sun Herald


GULFPORT, Miss. -- A local startup company has successfully shown a
unique low-cost airport anti-collision system works, and now it's
getting ready to enter the next phase: a complete wiring of runways at
Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport.

"We're very pleased with the progress of the first phase," said Lori
Huthoefer, one of the owners of Patriot Technologies in Kiln.

The Runway Obstruction Warning System is a less-expensive alternative to
some of the high-tech anti-collision devices that have been developed to
help prevent collisions involving aircraft, vehicles or equipment on
runways and taxiways at airports.

ROWS is based on technology used worldwide to control the flow of
vehicles at traffic lights. It involves a network of sensors embedded in
runways and taxiways that can be monitored in the control tower. It
includes runway "traffic" lights visible to flight crews.

The project previously received $500,000 in test and development funding
from the Transportation Department, and now another $1.5 million has
been approved for follow-up testing at the Gulfport-Biloxi airport.
That's expected to begin late this summer, and could last as long as 14
months.

ROWS is still a prototype, and because it's still in the test and
evaluation phase, it's hard to say when it might become available for
use by airports.

The first phase of testing involved embedding the loop system at certain
points in the Gulfport airport pavement and linking them to a computer
system running the ROWS program.

Bruce Frallic, executive director of the airport, said he was impressed
by what he saw. He observed the system at work May 13 when
representatives of the FAA southern region took the system "through its
paces."

He said that over a four-hour period the system was used in an
environment that involved scheduled and non-scheduled flights, as well
as vehicles on the ground.

"The system works, and it's reliable, and it provides necessary,
essential, uncluttered information. It's like having another set of eyes
looking at what's going on," Frallic said.

But beyond that, he said, it's economical.

"The cost of doing an airport like Gulfport-Biloxi . . . is under $1
million for the hardware," Frallic said. More sophisticated systems have
additional bells and whistles, but "you're looking at $9 million."

The ROWS system was developed by air traffic controller Jerry Huthoefer
and electrical engineer Roland Smits. They showed the system to the
Gulfport-Biloxi Regional Airport Authority in 2001, around the time the
National Transportation Safety Board had become concerned over
near-daily potential for collisions at the nation's airports.

The FAA has been working on low- and high-tech solutions, including one
pricey system that uses existing radar to warn controllers of potential
collisions.

They incorporated Patriot Technologies LLC in 2002 and moved into a
5,000-square-foot building in Hancock County's Kiln.

The company, which has seven employees, will continue to build traffic
signal systems as it develops its aviation loop system for airports.


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