INFRARED ICE ACCRETION MEASUREMENT SYSTEM

REMOTE RUNWAY SURFACE CONDITION SENSORS THAT COULD DETECT ICE ONSET AND MONITOR ITS RATE OF ACCRETION ON AIRPORT OPERATIONAL SURFACES WOULD ENHANCE THE RUNWAY SAFETY WHILE REDUCING AIRPORT EQUIPMENT, MANPOWER AND CHEMICAL COSTS. THROUGH ANALYSIS WE DEMONSTRATE HOW AN INFRARED RADIATION TRANSMISSION THROUGH ICE/WATER CAN BE USED TO DISTINGUISH ICE ACCRETION FROM WATER ACCUMULATION, MEASURE ICE ACCRETIONFROM A FEW TENS OF MICRONS TO SEVERAL CENTIMETERS AND MONITOR THE STATUS OF ICING/DEICING PROCESS. THE OBJECTIVES OF PHASE I EFFORT ARE TO DEMONSTRATE THE CONCEPT FEASIBILITYUSING A LABORATORY BREADBOARD EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND TO IDENTIFY/EVALUATE TECHNICAL, ENGINEERING AND ECONOMIC CONST RAINTS CRITICAL TO A PROTOTYPE SYSTEM DESIGN. PHASE I RESULTWILL FORM THE BASIS FOR THE DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND TESTING, IN PHASE II, OF A PROTOTYPE SENSOR SYSTEM.