ST.

VINCENT PALLOTTI COLLEGE OF

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Wardha Road, Gavsi Manapur, Nagpur

Department of Computer Engineering

Proposal For
Summer Internship and Major Project
(Foreign Object Detection System)

Submitted
To
O/o Airports Authority of India, Nagpur

Team Members: - Project Guide:-

● Aaron Benny Dr. Sunil Wanjari
● Eshant Sonune
● Janhavi Upadhaye
● Manshi Keshattiwar
● Prayushi Khandelwal’
● Sourish Chakraborty
● Tanmayee Maske
● Vidhisha Fating
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 Abstract

Foreign object debris (FOD) poses a significant hazard to

aviation safety and brings huge economic losses to the aerospace
industry due to aircraft damage and out of service delays.
Different schemes and sensors have been utilized for FOD
detection. This proposal aims to look into a video based FOD
detection system for airport runway security and propose a scheme for
FOD surveillance network establishment.

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 Chapter 1

Introduction

Aviation industry which is one of the fastest growing fields in

the world has passed more than 100 years of flying. With increasing
population of the world and high-flying rate, each year aviation
industry is facing much bigger amount of financial losses because of
air crashes. Detail investigation of these air crashes reveals many
factors. One of these factors is FOD.
Efforts are in hand in almost all international airports for controlling
occurrences caused by FOD. Two major systems developed in this
regard are millimetre wave radar and electro optical system. Both
these systems are recently installed at few airports of the world. In a
one-year airport study about FODs, it was discovered that more than
60% of the FODs were metal; nearly 18% were animals and the rest
were black items.

In this report we propose an automated FOD detection system

using TensorFlow Object Detection API and Open CV. In this regard,

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selection of detector best suitable for detection of animals on runway
and other operating surfaces.
Chapter 2
Literature review and Analysis

As many as half of all aviation accidents occur during final

approach, landing, and take off procedures. Unfortunately, the most
common reason for these incidents is human error.
Common forms of runway accidents include:
● Runway incursions. Runway incursions are caused by the
incorrect presence of a plane, vehicle, individual, or other object
on any surface designated for landing and take-off. Even if the
pilot is able to avoid a collision, passengers can still be injured
as the pilot performs evasive action, especially if luggage falls
from overhead bins or passengers are unbuckled during
emergency manoeuvres.

● Runway excursions. Commercial aircraft travel at hundreds of

miles per hour, and it takes experience and skill to bring a jet
engine to a safe stop. A pilot who miscalculates the initial
approach can veer off the tarmac or completely miss the runway,
rolling over rough terrain or into ditches or bodies of water.
Inclement weather often contributes to runway excursions, while
defects in the surface of the runway can make these accidents
more severe.

● Collisions. Planes may collide with many different objects on

the tarmac, including luggage transport vehicles, construction
equipment, fences and barriers, and other aircraft. With enough
force, a collision can cause the plane to catch fire, roll over, or

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 cause the landing gear or tail section to separate from the rest of
the aircraft, ejecting passengers and flight attendants.

Commercial airlines have a duty to prevent unauthorized or

unapproved movement on their runways that could affect the safety of
a flight. If an accident occurs during take-off or landing, the airline
may be held liable for unsafe operating procedures and the negligent
actions of its employees.

CAUSES OF ACCIDENTS:-

● Operational incidents:-Air traffic controllers are the first line of

defence against airplane collisions and runway crashes. As Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) employees, air traffic controllers
are required to follow strict regulations to ensure that planes
maintain a safe distance from any obstacles and from one another.
If an air traffic controller allows planes to travel too closely
together or clears an aircraft to take off or land on an improper
runway, the controller could be held liable for injuries and face
penalties under federal law.

● Pilot errors:- Pilot errors are often a result of fatigue, impairment,

or a simple lack of experience. A pilot who attempts a risky
manoeuvre, takes an unauthorized path to an airport gate,
approaches an airport at the wrong altitude or airspeed, or violates
FAA regulations may be held responsible for his or her actions.

● Unauthorized movement or objects:- Even when an airport is

extremely busy, runways should never have any personnel or
objects on them unless they are needed for immediate departure.
Anything left on the runway surface can potentially cause a
serious incident, including pedestrians entering taxiways or
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 vehicles moving across a runway without authorization from air
traffic control.

● Mechanical failure:- Aircraft require numerous components to

work together perfectly, including electrical systems, landing gear,
engine parts, and radio communications. Manufacturers of parts
and aircraft can be held liable for defective plane designs or
mechanical failure in a product liability claim.

● Poor runway maintenance: Airport operators have a duty to

ensure that runway surfaces are clear, safe, and well-lit. Broken
landing system lights, icy or slippery surfaces, and other
maintenance issues can all be contributing factors in runway
accidents.

● Runway incursion: is an incident where an unauthorized aircraft,

vehicle or person is on a runway. This adversely affects runway
safety, as it creates the risk that an airplane taking off or landing
will collide with the object. Near-misses on the runway, whether
dodging other planes, maintenance vehicles, or animals, are
estimated to occur at least three times a day in America alone.
Even a minor collision with obstacles on the runway can result in
a loss of life and millions in damages, so these figures are
definitely a matter of concern.

The Federal Aviation Administration states that the reported

incidents of wildlife hazards in the past century have accounted for
billions of dollars in damage alone. In less developed countries, such
as India, the risk of having animals stray into the runway path is a
source of significant danger and concern for airport workers, causing
shutdowns on an almost-annual basis.
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Animal Control for Airports:
The problem of how to prevent wildlife intrusion on runways is met
with a variety of solutions. Many airports have barbed wire fences as
a standard protection against animals and human intruders alike, but
this only solves the issue of things coming over the fence. A standard
chain link fence topped off with barbed wire is woefully inadequate
against tunnelling and burrowing animals, though. Some airports go
so far as to adopt electric fences to further dissuade pests and
predators from crossing into company property.

Even when used effectively, barbed wire and electric fences both pose
the issue of being potentially inhumane or damaging to potential
invasive wildlife. Most airports are willing to avoid maiming local
wildlife if it’s not necessary, which causes many airport managers to
wish for an easier, cleaner solution.

On the evening of February 1, 1991, USAir Flight 1493, a Boeing

737-300, collided with SkyWest Flight 5569, a Metro liner turboprop
aircraft, upon landing at Los Angeles International Airport. Upon
landing, the 737 collided with the twin-engine turboprop, continued
down the runway with the turboprop crushed beneath it, exited the
runway, and caught fire. All 12 people aboard the smaller plane were
killed, as well as an eventual total of 23 out of the 89 occupants of the
Boeing. The 35 dead included all 12 people (10 passengers and both
crew members) on SkyWest 5569, and 23 of the 89 aboard the USAir
1493 (21 passengers, Captain Shaw, and one flight attendant). Two of
the USAir fatalities were passengers who initially survived the crash,
but died from burn injuries 3 and 31 days after the crash.

Swanky Nagpur airport faces threat from wild animals

The latest scare came on Tuesday night, when an Indian Airlines
flight IC 736 with 27 passengers aboard ran over a pig (some say wild
boar), which had strayed into the runway, during take-off at the Dr
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Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport, official sources said. The
city airport, spread over an area of 1,460 acres, is home to wild
animals like nilgais, cheetals and wild boars.

The incident did not affect the schedule of the Bangkok-Nagpur-

Hyderabad flight. “There’s a mishap waiting to happen here, due to
the wild life menace,” warned a senior officer. “Pigs have become a
problem.”

The pilot of the aircraft reported the matter to the Air Traffic Control
immediately after the incident, the third instance within a month of an
animal straying into the runway of the airport. Earlier this month, an
Indian Air Force transport aircraft IL-76 and a Jet Airways’ Delhi-
bound flight was obstructed by stray animals, sources said.

In October last year, a bird-hit had forced a Jet flight carrying the
Australian and Indian cricket teams to Mumbai, to land minutes after
take-off, giving a minor scare to the passengers. The authorities
cleared the wild grass around the operational area after that incident.

The authorities had also installed hi-tech ‘zone guns’, an LPG

cylinder-operated device with a rotating barrel that booms roughly
every 30-40 seconds, near the runway to scare away animals and birds
from the operational area. But the guns have clearly not served their
purpose. Two pigs were crushed under the wheels of an Indian Air
Force IL-76 aircraft while it was landing at 10.30 pm on May 1.
About a third of the airport area is under thick forest cover and
authorities have been pleading with the forest department to clear the
area of the wild animals. “We have written letters and sent reminders
to the forest authorities about the grave threat these animals pose to
the flights,” a senior officer said.

“It’s a crime to kill these animals; we can’t do that, but they pose
threat to the flights,” said an official in the Air Traffic Control.
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Senior officials revealed that animals straying into the runway had
delayed take-off and landing of aircraft in the past. “We take every
precaution: we check the runway round the clock to avert any
untoward incident. But flights can be safe only if the area is cleared of
the animals,” an official said.

Chapter 3

Proposed System

I.1 Objectives: -

● The aim of object detection is to detect all instances of

objects on the runway from a known class, such as people,
cars, animals or faces in a real time video.

● The system will remain activated on the runway, so that it can

warn the ATCOs, about any object which is present on
runway during any flight take-off or landing.

● The system will give an output as, marking the location of the
object by bounding the object inside a box.

● The system will also generate the class of the object that is it
will identify the object that it belongs to which class (Object
recognition) and display on the monitor.

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 ● The system will also be available with the airport security,
which can access the location of the object and remove the
threat from the runway.

I.2 How Objectives are achieved?

● FOD Detection System

A flow of complete FOD detection System was designed and
shown in Figure below. We have video camera for capturing clean
video and afterwards periodic runway videos for comparison and
subsequently any FOD detection. videos will be processed based
FOD detection.

If any FOD is detected it will generate a visual alarm at user

interface. FOD database will also be maintained for references in
processing and record purposes.

Processing all pixels can be computationally expensive for FOD

detection we can adjust parameters like maximum area, minimum
area, stable threshold, maximum variation of image and minimum
diversity so as to reduce the processing load and maximize the
processing power.

To visualize the Losses occurred by FOD. Let’s look at the image

below

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The above images show us the Need of the FOD Detection System.

Chapter 4

Solution
● The basic FOD Detection system can be implemented by using
TensorFlow API and OpenCV.

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● The IP cameras will be connected through cables to the main
control centre.

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● Whenever any foreign object enters the runway it gets
captured through camera and signal gets transmitted through
cable and the object gets displayed on the screen at
controlling centre.

● Below are some of the examples of Object detection that can

be implemented Further

(a)

(b)

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● Thus, the ATCOs get to know about the foreign object on the
runway and then they communicate likewise with the
respective responsible person.
● The aim of object detection is to detect all instances of
objects on the runway from a known class, such as people,
cars, animals or faces in a real time video.

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