Stratech Systems (stand 219, Hall A) has launched a foreign object and debris (FOD) detection system that aims to prevent the type of accident that caused an Air France Concorde to crash in July 2000.
The system uses between eight and 12 hi-resolution optical cameras to inspect runways, taxiways, aprons and adjacent areas for debris. Stratech then uses “intelligent vision” to detect and classify foreign objects.
Using a form of artificial intelligence, intelligent vision enables computers to “see” and make critical decisions as to what action needs to be taken. The system features self-calibrating cameras, automated scene analysis and configurable scan resolutions for different object sizes.
Dr John Lim, Stratech’s chief technology officer, says the system works just like the human brain.
“Your brain knows there is something on a runway because it knows what the runway looks like without it. Intelligent vision is just the same – it learns to recognise foreign objects and sounds an alert if it finds something,” says Lim.
Stratech has received “in principle” approval for funding by Singapore’s Enterprise Challenge organisation and trials of the system are about to start with the Singapore Civil Aviation Society at Changi airport.
“We have completed one night trial at Changi,” says Lim, “and the system was able to detect something the size of a golf ball at 250m [820ft].”
The Concorde disaster, believed to have been caused by a 400mm metal strip lying on the runway at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, was just one of many incidents caused by runway FOD each year. According to Boeing, FOD on runways cost the aerospace industry an estimated $4 billion annually in terms of aircraft repairs, flight delays, and airport maintenance.
David Chew, Stratech’s executive chairman and chief executive, says: “With approximately 4,000 commercial international airports around the world the market potential for the system is enormous.”
Source: Flight Daily News
