Calibration and Standardisation Of High Precision Foreign Object Debris Detection Radar Sensor For Airport Runway Safety and Surveillance

Abstract: Foreign object debris (FOD) on airport runways can cause problems (e.g., runway closure, accidents) to airplanes and airport operators if not removed immediately. Hence, airport operators need to remove any FODs that are detected via a manual or automated FOD detection system. Manual detection implies that airport operators carry out periodical manual inspection while automated FOD detection is able to perform rapid detection continuously without any airport personnel on-site. Automated detection system also avoids unnecessary runway closure due to manual inspection, which is inefficient for busy airport operation. Millimeter-wave radar sensor proof to be an efficient method on detecting small FOD automatically, due to its high-sensitivity, high-range resolution and weather robustness. In this talk, successful collaborative Malaysia and Japan research project on Foreign Object Debris Detection System (FODDS) field trial at Kuala Lumpur International Airport will be presented. The system currently under field trial in accordance to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Aerodrome Design and Operation. The field trial and operation of FODDS was established in collaboration with National Institute of Information and Communication (NICT), Japan, Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc (HiKE), Japan and Malaysia Airport (Sepang) Sdn Bhd, Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad (MAHB) supported by Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication Japan. Through more than three year field trial at KLIA, the system demonstrated highly accurate and fast, the system is able to detect 3cm FOD within the range of 500 meters in 10 seconds by using the millimeter wave radar sensor. The FOD detection systems is able to spot FOD the moment it is deposited on the runway by radar sensing, identifying, and locating at a previously unprecedented level of speed and accuracy for objects as small as an aircraft rivet. This is extremely valuable when aircraft take-offs are only minutes apart. Finally improved airport management by not only increases efficiency, enhances safety and improves security, but also saves airports and airlines operational cost. This FODDS will be a promising candidate to enhance security against intruders or attack drones in important facilities and to enhance safety to avoid critical incident in the airport runways.

Professor Ir. Dr. Sevia Mahdaliza Idrus Sutan Nameh
Faculty Of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
Website : https://people.utm.my/sevia/
ResearchID: AAP-3612-2021
Scopus ID : 8869471900

Professor Ir Dr Sevia Mahdaliza Idrus received her Bachelor in Electrical Engineering in 1998 and Master in Engineering Management in 1999, both from UTM. She obtained her Ph.D in 2004 from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom in optical communication engineering. She has served UTM since 1998 as an academic and administrative staff. Her main research interests are optical communication system and network, optoelectronic design, and engineering management. Her research output have been translated into a number of publications (H-index-17) and IPR including a high-end reference books, ‘Optical Wireless Communication: IR Connectivity’ published by Taylor and Francis, 49 book chapters and monographs, over 200 refereed research papers, 8 patents granted, 36 patent filings and holds 31 UTM copyrights. To date, she has secured and been involved in 84 research and consultation projects with a total value of USD25M. She is the founder and Director of a UTM spin-off company, iSmartUrus Sdn Bhd (1057063A) successfully commercialized her invention, a novel airtime based mobile micropayment solution and application-centric IoT based mobile enforcement device for smart city.  She is actively involved in a number industrial and international research collaboration projects, delivered keynote and invited speeches to many international conferences and seminars. Based on her active contribution with industry for smart city solution, she has been awarded ‘The Top Research Scientists Malaysia 2021’ by Academy Science Malaysia, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and   ‘51 Most Impactful Smart Cities Leaders 2019 Award’ in conjunction with World CSR Day & World Sustainability Congress 2019, Mumbai, India on March 2019. She led a four years G2G project on ‘Radar over Fiber Foreign Object Debris Detection System’ field trial at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) a collaboration project between UTM, Hitachi Kokusai Electric Japan and Malaysia Airport (Sepang) under financial support from Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication Japan. The project has made KLIA and Malaysia as world focal point for development of high precision millimetre wave radar at 90-100GHz range. She is Senior Member of IEEE and member of Editorial Board of few refereed international journals. She has been appointed as Guest Professor at Osaka Prefecture University and Tokai University, Japan in 2011 and 2014, respectively.