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Radar Detection, Tracking and Warning of Avian Targets at Airports - Reporting of potentially hazardous bird presence at airports using low cost magnetron Moving Target Detector (MTD) radar

Brattebø, John-Olav
Master thesis
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URI
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2471402
Date
2014
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Abstract
During the last years, Radian AS has been working on new methods for improving the detection

capability of the standard civil marine radar. A coherent-on-receive radar demonstrator

with a PC-based platform has been developed and the methods are found well

suited for detecting small moving targets over land and sea. An operational birdstrike

(aircraft-bird collision) avoidance radar system based on this technology has recently been

deployed at Værnes Airport, Norway. This system uses a slightly modified civil marine

radar, a computer and methods of detection based on a Moving Target Detector (MTD)

processor. The resulting radar video is broadcast to the airport s Air Traffic Control (ATC)

Tower to allow initiation of precautionary measures. Since the current system demands

manual interpretation and constant monitoring of the MTD radar video, there is need for

an Automatic Detection and Tracking (ADT) system and a warning system that draws attention

to specific situations.

In this Master s Thesis, methods for radar detection, tracking and Early Warning (EW)

of avian targets at airports are investigated. The work is based on theoretical analysis, testing with real radar measurements and simulation that incorporates real measurements. The

methods of detection are improved by modification of the MTD processor. A specialized,

batch-processing tracker called a Bird Flight Path Detector (BFPD) Tracker is developed

and implemented to automatically identify and track birds in the airport vicinity. An EW

functionality is also developed and implemented to monitor the resulting tracking data and

give warning of potentially hazardous situations in advance. Furthermore, the performance

of the proposed tracker and the resulting total system is optimized, analyzed and evaluated.

The detection capability of the radar is found sufficient for use in a birdstrike avoidance

application. According to performed theoretical calculations, the existing radar system is

able to detect a single goose at about 4 km with a probability of detection of P_d = 0.7 and

a probability of false alarm of P_fa = 0.001. Testing shows that in practice, multiple flocks

(of varying numbers) of geese are detected consistently enough to allow continuous tracking

by the BFPD Tracker up to about 4 km in range over both land and sea. It is also shown

that the BFPD Tracker is be able to identify and follow all of the important bird presence

while simultaneously exhibiting a probability of true (caused by birds) confirmed track

establishment around 70% and a probability of true batch association around 96-100%.

The latter is hence a good indicator of true bird presence. Simulation experiments show

that the total system is able to detect an avian target roughly the size of a single goose at

ranges of about 3 km with P_d = 0.875 and P_fa = 0.001. Simulation also shows that the

BFPD Tracker is able to track this target continuously up to 4 km over sea with an RMS

error of 2.37 m in range, 0.084 in azimuth and 1.64 m/s in velocity.

The EW functionality is found capable of identifying and giving warning of almost all

manually identified potentially hazardous situations while showing a very low probability

of false warning (<< 1%). Long-term testing and corresponding knowledge of the true

bird activity is needed to accurately estimate the probability of false warning, but this

work indicates that the BFPD Tracker and EW function is suited for tracking and EW

application in an ATC Tower. Near real-time processing is deemed feasible with standard

computing hardware and if the system is developed further it may help mitigate overall

birdstrike risk and contribute to improved safety in aviation.
Publisher
NTNU

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