Regional Environmental Monitoring System for Air Traffic (REMSAT)

In the past, environmental concerns at airports have primarily focused on aircraft noise. However, there is growing concern regarding the effects of aircraft emissions on humans and the environment. The environmental protection agency´s (EPA) national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) govern air pollutant emission levels. Therefore, many airports will eventually need a system designed to monitor both noise and emissions, and to communicate the results to the stakeholders. To satisfy these federal standards, the team designed a prototype noise and emissions monitoring system for Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA) and Dulles International Airport (IAD), which are operated by the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority (MWAA). The design alternatives consisted of the following sensor combinations: ground-fixed, ground-mobile, and a combination of ground-fixed and ground-mobile. All combinations consisted of co-located noise and emissions sensors for the purpose of identifying the correlation between the two quantities of pollutants. These alternatives were analyzed by surveying the stakeholders´ preferences to sensor performance, availability, and cost. In addition, the flight track patterns, topographical layout, aircraft noise and emission dispersion patterns, and social-political factors (population patterns, community concerns, demographics, etc.) of the counties at and surrounding the airports were analyzed in order to determine the placement of the monitoring system sensors. Based on the evaluation of these alternatives and the stakeholders´ value hierarchy, a robust alternative for a preliminary system design for monitoring airport noise and emissions was selected.