An advanced foreign objects debris (FOD) detection system developed by Israeli company Xsight is being tested at Boston's Logan airport and will soon be installed for evaluation in a major European airport.
Xsight chief executive Alon Nitzan says the FODetect system could improve on current international airport safety standards, which stipulate two to four visual inspections per day on the active runways: "This task is time-consuming, restricts runway availability, is subject to human error and does not offer any solution to FODs deposited between scheduled runway checks."
FODetect is a distributed system consisting of Surface Detection Units (SDU) located on the edge-light bases along the travel surfaces.
Each SDU consists of a small, 77Ghz millimetre-wave radar system combined with a CCD camera with zoom that scans a runway section in less than 30 seconds with detection resolution down to the size of an aircraft nut or rivet.
Each SDU is also equipped with a near-infrared illumination unit to enable night-time CCD camera use. "The camera does most of the job, with the radar serving as an additional sensor mainly for poor visibility conditions," says Nitzan.
The Logan demonstration has been using about 100 SDUs since last August and is being carried out in co-operation with the Federal Aviation Administration. Siemens is involved in the planned demonstration in Europe.
FOD costs the aviation industry some $4 billion yearly according to a survey by the US Airforce Research Laboratory.
Source: Flight International
