Charlotte Douglas International Airport Installs 2,000 Sensors in Nation’s First Smart Runway Project

Charlotte Douglas International Airport will embed 2,000 sensors into its fourth parallel runway next month. This makes it the only runway in the country with this kind of technology built right in. The $6.5 million project, done with UNC Charlotte, will feed the Federal Aviation Administration information on pavement performance and what maintenance is needed — data that neither the agency nor the airport can get right now.

Installation starts in May at the north end of the new runway, which broke ground in June 2023. Each sensor costs around $13,000. They're about the size of a cellphone. The sensors will last around a decade and build a continuous virtual copy of the runway's condition.

"[The sensors] collect critical information to help us make better decisions about the maintenance, operations, and safety in real time," said Jack Christine, CLT chief infrastructure officer, according to Axios.

They will track what happens as airplanes taxi on the runway, take off, and land. Moisture? They measure it. Movement in the ground beneath the pavement? They catch that too. Information from the sensors will help reduce pavement problems, lower maintenance costs, and boost safety, UNC Charlotte Vice Chancellor of Research John Daniels told reporters Monday.

The FAA, UNC Charlotte, and the airport are funding the project. The university isn't using state dollars on their portion, Daniels said.

Charlotte AIR, which UNC Charlotte's William States Lee College of Engineering and the airport started in 2023, produced the system to embed sensors into the new runway. The institute also built the technology needed to gather and study the information in real time. This gives a framework so engineers and students can solve airport challenges as they happen, Christine said.

"There's all sorts of things that can come out of the data we're collecting, and the FAA, the tech center specifically, is really excited to be able to have something like this because they don't have it anywhere else," said Christine, according to WCCB Charlotte.

The runway will be 10,000 feet long, 150 feet wide, and 18 inches deep. It is expected to be commissioned in September 2027.

The new information will let aviation leaders plan how runway pavement is designed in the future and how to make these runways more resilient and stable.