Safer airway monitoring system

The aircraft underwent considerable pressure during takeoff and landing, and the parts were often separated, placing the user of the next runway in danger. Until now, airport personnel had to monitor the runways without technical assistance. This operation is very error-prone. A new radar system has been set up to increase safety at airports.

The radar system has a sensor attached and the camera can detect objects just a few centimeters across the runway

This event may have happened more than ten years ago, but most people can still recall the Concorde accident. Television images show that the supersonic jet with flame emitted from the tail, the moment the accident occurred made the viewer unforgettable. The reason is that a piece of metal lying on the runway during takeoff has caused an accident. The plane's tire exploded as it rolled on a piece of metal, launching rubber blocks directly into the fuel tank, then the plane exploded, causing 113 deaths.

In order to avoid accidents like this, airport staff have to take turns driving up and down the runway 6 hours apart, to pick up any debris. However, to monitor very large areas without any kind of technical assistance, for a limited period of time and as a result this work is prone to error, especially in bad weather, wallet for example, when the fog obscures visibility. That is not to mention the length of time the test was separated.

A new safety radar system can withstand weather, constantly monitoring debris that appears on the runway and will warn any danger.

Researchers at the High-Frequency Physics Division with Radar Techniques (FHR) and the Division of Information, Communication and Ergonomics (FKIE) at the Fraunhofer Institute, Germany, are working with the University of Siegen. development of PMD Technologies GmbH and Wilhelm Winter GmbH systems in a project called LaotSe (short for " airport runway monitoring via multi-modal network interconnection system "). " Our technology helps prevent the Concorde tragedy from recurring ," said Dr Helmut Essen, who led the study.

" Devices installed from the beginning of the runway will constantly sweep the surface. They can detect the smallest, even, objects such as screws, but the system will only issue warnings if the object continues. stay on the runway for a longer time.Plastic bags are blown by the wind or birds are resting in the paving will not be alarmed . "

This system includes infrared cameras, 2D and 3D optical cameras along with networked radar sensors. This sensor is developed by researchers at FHR. Three different types of devices will complement each other. Radar works around the clock and in all circumstances, it can detect objects but does not recognize them. Therefore, video cameras are better suited to object classification, but are affected by weather and time of day. Whenever the sensor radar detects suspicious objects, it will issue an indication to the camcorder for a closer look. All sensor data is then consolidated using software developed at FKIE to produce a situation overview. FKIE experts call this " fusion sensor data ".

If the overview picture shows unusual situations, air traffic control in the tower will be alarmed. They can look at their screens to assess whether there is a real danger and, if so, air traffic control will do their job. " Our solution is just a help system. The final decision on how to proceed is the work of airport personnel, " said Dr. Wolfgang Koch, head of the department at FKIE.

While similar radar systems have been developed, they are only capable of detecting metal objects, and often create false alarms. Moreover, because these radar systems are built on high columns, they are very likely to cause damage in the case of aircraft accidents. Dr. Essen outlines an advantage of our new " Radar system equipped with a sensor that transmits at 200 GHz, so that it can detect tiny objects, even 1 or 2 cm in size. Horizontal and using three types of sensor devices means false alarms are almost impossible to happen.The device is zoomed and scanned up to 700 m, displayed on the computer screen in all directions. Radar's initial experiment with sensors and cameras will begin at Cologne, Bonn, and Germany airports, in the fall of 2011, and plans to test a few new radar systems at the airport. , before the project ends in April 2012.