As the place for take-offs and landings, runways are the heart of airport operations, so their operational safety is a top priority.
With this in mind and consistent with its smart airport vision, Hamad International Airport (HIA) in Qatar recently deployed a foreign object & debris (FOD) detection system to raise safety measures at its two parallel runways – one of them being one of the longest in the world at 4,850 metres in length.
"We champion the adoption of cutting-edge technologies to ensure operational efficiency. The Runway Debris Monitoring System is one of such intelligent safety solution implemented at our airport to accelerate our digital transformation,” said Ioannis Metsovitis, senior vice president of operations. “HIA partners with the world's leading technology experts to implement the latest innovations and intelligent solutions to ensure the highest levels of passenger experience and safety."
The airport serves as the international hub of Qatar Airways and is currently ranked as the third best airport in the world by Skytrax World Airport Awards 2020.
Automated FOD detection
HIA has appointed Bayanat Engineering Qatar (BEQ), a leading airport system integrator in the Gulf and North Africa, to deploy an intelligent Runway Debris Monitoring System (RDMS) at its runways.
Hasan Ezzeddine, general manager at BEQ, said: "As one of the prime partners for HIA, we supply latest advanced technologies and the installation and maintenance to upgrade existing capabilities of the aviation sector towards achieving the supreme operation performance. We ensure the availability of the leading product for our customer with outstanding end-to-end execution. Our commitment is to the deliver the outstanding service to provide and improve leading safety standards."
BEQ is a key player in the aviation sector in Middle East and North Africa having delivered over 1,000 projects in its 20 years of dedicated airport solutions expertise in several airports. It specialises in Air Traffic Management, Airside and Terminal systems, with the deployment and integration of a wide range of complex solutions attending the needs of airport authorities, air navigation service providers, civil aviation authorities, and military and defense.
For the RMDS project at HIA, the system integrator partnered with Xsight System, which provided its RunWize solution for the project. The proprietary solution Xsight's delivers automatic and continuous detection to minimise the damages to aircrafts caused by hazards, allowing safer and more efficient runway operations.
The RunWize solution provides real-time, automated FOD detection, location, identification and classification, chosen and defined by HIA as a Tier 1 system to take a major part in the airport's robust eco-system harmonised with other critical interfaces at HIA.
This will ensure full runway coverage and ascription capabilities for guaranteed runway safety and operational efficiency during take-off and landing by using sophisticated image and radar processing algorithms based on Artificial Intelligence (AI).
"We are proud to have Xsight's RunWize recognised as a critical and integral part of HIA's advanced eco-system to fully integrate and complement other critical systems. This prime function of the RunWize within HIA serves as an evidence to the importance the airport attributes to improving safety and efficiency during the take-off and landing operation,” said Yaniv Mendelson, VP Sales of Xsight Systems.
Founded in 2005, Xsight Systems developed advanced runway hazard detection solutions with nearly 1,100 sensors deployed on runways worldwide.
Xsight Systems commercially installed in Boston Logan International Airport and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in addition, Xsight systems is deployed in Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport and Beijing Capital International Airport and Beijing Daxing International Airport in China.
