Germany-based Technische Universität Dresden has selected OPAL LiDAR 3D laser scanners from Neptec Technologies for an airport tarmac safety project.
The research project aims to improve the current safety level of airport operations with a real-time 3D surveillance and visualisation system for the apron controller.
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According to the company, the OPAL LiDAR 3D laser system combines 3D-point cloud data with real-time algorithms to automatically detect aircraft, vehicles and pedestrians for collision avoidance.
The technology will also be used to alert the apron controller of the presence of foreign object debris to mitigate damage to aircraft.
With the use of technology, the authorities expect to mitigate ground handling accidents, such as the collision of two aircraft during taxiing, which have been reported to cause millions of dollars in damages.
Neptec’s OPAL-360 sensor was selected by TU Dresden due to its ability to offer panoramic field of view, longer range options, particularly its non-overlapping scan pattern that avoids creating blind spots when the scanner is stationary, compared with conventional 360° laser scanners designed for autonomous vehicles.
The system also features Neptec’s obscurant-penetrating OPAL technology, which facilitates the operations of a LiDAR-based surveillance system in all types of weather such as fog, rain and dusty conditions.
Neptec Technologies business development director Mike Dunbar said: "This is another validation of our objective to make it easy to deploy intelligent 3D applications that can operate in all kinds of harsh environments, as well as improve the safety and productivity of our customers’ operations."
In May, Neptec Technologies presented the system concept and technology at the International Conference on Research in Air Transportation (ICRAT 2014) in Istanbul, Turkey.
