1. Airport Safety Technology R&D
Foreign Object Debris (FOD) Detection Technology &
NextGen Airport Research
2008 Eastern Region Airport Conference, Hershey, PA
Jim Patterson
Tuesday March 18, 2008

2. Introduction FAA’s Airport Safety Technology R&D SubTeam
Part of the Airport Technology R&D Team located at the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, NJ
Combined Workforce of 24 Federal and Contractor Personnel
Offices reside at the FAA’s National Airport Pavement Test Facility

3. The FAA Technical Center3

4. Airport Safety R&D Airport Technology R&D Branch (Team)
Airport Pavement R&D Section (Subteam)
Airport Safety Technology R&D Section (Subteam)
Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting
Wildlife
Surface Traction
Visual Guidance
Operation of NLA
Airport Design

5. Discussion Today: FOD Detection Technology Update
NextGen Airport Technology Research

6. Automated FOD Detection Why is the FAA Interested?
-Concorde crash preliminary report
“It has become clearer that this was a unique accident caused by a one-off chance of a piece of metal lying on the runway“.      

7. Automated FOD Detection
FOD Detection Concept:
Could avian based radar systems be used to detect FOD?
Could FOD be automatically detected?
Could airport operator be alerted quickly?
Can we prevent another Concorde incident?

8. Automated FOD Detection FAA Goal
Develop performance standards for Automated FOD Detection Systems.
Publish Technical Note documenting research.
Develop FAA Advisory Circular specifically for FOD Detection Systems.
Enable civil airports opportunity to apply for Federal funding to procure systems.

9. Automated FOD Detection Available Technologies:
QinetiQ – Tarsier Radar – Providence, RI (PVD)
Millimeter Wave Radar
Mounted on Rigid Towers
Stratech – iFerret – Chicago O’Hare (ORD)
High Resolution Camera
X-Sight – FODetect – Boston Logan (BOS)
High Resolution Camera and Millimeter Wave Radar
Mounted on Airport Lighting Fixtures
Trex Enterprises – FOD Finder – Chicago Midway (MDW)
Millimeter Wave Radar and Infrared Cameras
Mounted on roof of Airport Vehicle

10. Detection Capability Testing

11. Detection Capability Testing

12. Automated FOD Detection
QinetiQ – Tarsier Radar
Providence, RI

13. FOD Found at PVD!

14. Stratech

15. Stratech

16. Stratech

17. Stratech

18. Stratech

19. XSight

20. XSight

21. Trex FODFinder

22. Trex FODFinder

23. Trex FODFinder

24. Automated FOD Detection
QinetiQ Tarsier Radar
Stratech iFerret
XSight FODetect
Trex Enterprises FODFinder

25. Airport Safety R&D FAA Technical Center Airport Technology R&D Branch
AAR-411/AJP-6311, Building 296
Atlantic City International Airport, NJ 08405