Researchers Develop Magnetic System to Monitor Airport Movements

A team of European researchers have developed a unique system that uses small sensors that monitor the "magnetic fingerprint" of aircraft to pinpoint their location on airports.

The research team, which is led by Uwe Hartmann and Haibin Gao of Germany's Saarland University, use magnetic field detectors to sense the slight influence that metallic bodies - such as an aircraft - have on the Earth's magnetic field.

Their novel approach, which has been tested at Germany's Frankfurt and Saarbruecken airports, as well as Greece's Thessaloniki, is showing promise. "Our tests have shown that the system detects all passing aircraft, 100 percent of them, and in 75 percent of cases can pinpoint their location to within 7.5 meters - a level of accuracy comparable to most existing air traffic management systems," says Mr. Gao.

The system, developed under the European Union-funded Ismael project, also appears to have some other unique advantages over other ground-based monitoring systems.  Because it relies on detecting changes in the Earth's magnetic field, it can see through obstacles, and it can monitor planes even in heavy rain or dense fog.

The sensor units, which are currently about the same size as a PC graphics card, but could be as small as a coin in the future, are expected to cost several hundred Euros each.  An airport might be able to monitor entire runways with them, possibly by installing them beneath runway lights, or only at the runway entry and exit points.

The project partners - a mixture of academia and technology firms - have approached large airport equipment manufacturers for assistance. "We are looking for a partnership and investment to take this forward and, so far, there has been a fair amount of interest," Mr. Gao says.

Even though the certification process is likely to push up costs, Mr. Gao believes the Ismael system will remain a cost-effective way to complement and improve existing traffic management systems at big airports, and could become a feasible monitoring system at small airports that might not be able to afford it more expensive ones.  01-27-2008.

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