A cloud-edge-terminal-based robotic system for airport runway inspection

Purpose This paper aims to present a novel robotic system for airport pavement inspection tasks. Design/methodology/approach The cloud-edge-terminal-based distributed architecture is designed for the proposed robotic system. Then, the following three major parts are designed and deployed, respectively: Terminal: the wheeled-robot-based data collection system. Edge: remote monitoring and data analysis system. Cloud: shared database center of the inspection data and knowledge. Findings Validation and application results show that the proposed system satisfies the demands of automated airport pavement inspection tasks and saves the cost of manpower and time. Originality/value The proposed system provides a novel solution for the full process of airport pavement inspection. Compared with the traditional manual method, the robotic system can guarantee complete coverage and provide high-precision pavement inspection results with less time and labor costs.