CLT’s smart runway takes shape through AIR Institute partnership
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College Administration
WCNC and WRAL reported on Charlotte Douglas International Airport’s new $1 billion fourth parallel runway, scheduled to open in September 2027, which will become the nation’s first “smart runway” through a partnership with UNC Charlotte’s Aviation and Innovation Research Institute. The institute, established in 2023 with the William States Lee College of Engineering, is embedding sensors directly into the runway’s concrete to create a digital twin that will measure displacement, stress, moisture and temperature in real time as planes take off and land.