Runway Operational Quality Assurance (ROQA) system

Bottlenecks are developing in the air traffic system that controls airline traffic flows. Runways are a limiting factor at airports where consumer demand continues to increase and/or runway construction has been limited by land constraints. One approach to raise system capacity and to lower bottlenecks is to reduce the time separations between aircraft during the approach phases of flight. Such changes should be quantified to document the safety impacts of separation reductions. A team of systems engineering students from George Mason University has developed the initial design for a runway monitoring system, the Runway Operational Quality Assurance (ROQA) system. Similar to the FAA flight operational quality assurance (FOQA) system that analyzes individual aircraft operational flight data,. ROQA is designed to provide operational performance measurements of approach runway operations. ROQA data is analyzed for operational parameter exceedences and statistical distributions are calculated to determine collision risk.