Automated object identification and position estimation for airport lighting quality assessment

The development of an automated system for the quality assessment of aerodrome ground lighting (AGL), in accordance with associated standards and recommendations, is presented. The system is composed of an image sensor, placed inside the cockpit of an aircraft to record images of the AGL during a normal descent to an aerodrome. A model-based methodology is used to ascertain the optimum match between a template of the AGL and the actual image data in order to calculate the position and orientation of the camera at the instant the image was acquired. The camera position and orientation data are used along with the pixel grey level for each imaged luminaire, to estimate a value for the luminous intensity of a given luminaire. This can then be compared with the expected brightness for that luminaire to ensure it is operating to the required standards. As such, a metric for the quality of the AGL pattern is determined. Experiments on real image data is presented to demonstrate the application and effectiveness of the system.