Leonardo SnowBOSS Geared Towards Safety and Fleet Management

The Leonardo SnowBOSS is a Runway Incursion Warning System (RIWS) module, a part of the AeroBOSS  Airport Safety and Operations Suite, is a solution geared towards safety and fleet management. The hardware and software is deployed in airport ground vehicles, which allows staff to track movements of the vehicles while also giving operators an embedded RIWS, which is fully compliant with the FAA Advisory Circular (150/5210-25A) for RIWS.

“It allows the snow removal team and airport supervisors to see in real time where the fleet is, to see in real time where aircraft are located on the surface and in the air, and gives them situational awareness,” said Carlos Nevarez product manager for the AeroBOSS suite. “They’re able to coordinate snow removal operations in all areas of the airport – not just the movement area, during all types of winter weather and during irregular operations (IROPS).”

The units are mounted inside the cab of ground and snow removal vehicles track the vehicle location. The SnowBOSS RIWS functionality warns operators if they’re going to enter a runway safety area before entry is made. If they’re not cleared to enter the runway safety area, the operator has sufficient time to stop or change direction before creating a Vehicle Pedestrian Driver (VPD) incursion.

“When a snow removal team is out there, often times it’s not the best visibility,” Nevarez said. “By having that RIWS component, it’s improving the safety of that operation in relation to the runway safety areas or any other areas the airport flags as critical spaces.”

The SnowBOSS allows snow removal team leads to coordinate where the crew goes to work around traffic flow of aircraft. This reduces idle time and reduces costs to clear the airfield in a snow event.

“There are independent fleet management systems that can be deployed on equipment like this, but what we’ve learned is the frequency of the updates of the vehicle tracking is nowhere near our sub second update rate or accuracy,” Nevarez said. “They’re typically five to 10 second latency rate, which is effective for use inside an airport.”

The system is designed to be intuitive. It only takes about 15 minutes to train a snow removal equipment operator on how to use it. Supervisor training takes about one hour to educate them on all the features available to them.

Nevarez said the SnowBOSS meets the standard for FAA Airport Improvement Program funding.

“Ask yourself if you’ve had issues with my team causing runway incursions when operating in reduced visibility,” he said. “If the answer is yes, then the airport should consider this type of solution in order to improve safety in the movement area.”