It was invented by two Emiratis.. “Drone” with artificial intelligence to scan the runway

Two Emirati engineers have created a drone designed to detect foreign objects on the runway, as an alternative to the methods currently used in most airports in the world, which are conducted through a survey conducted by employees on foot.

The innovative drone is in line with the accelerating technology that the world is currently witnessing, and sends signals to the concerned persons to remove those objects.

Engineers Ahmed Youssef Al-Shehhi and Ibrahim Khaled Abdullah Al-Jasmi, both of whom hold a Bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Higher College of Technology in its Abu Dhabi branch, explained during their meeting with the “Gulf” that the drone works with artificial intelligence and is able to scan a distance of one kilometer in 10 minutes and make sure that it is empty. Distance from any foreign objects or belongings with an accuracy of 90%.

Al-Shehhi said: The drone was invented with the aim of increasing safety in the aviation sector, as well as reducing the number of hours of delay that may result during flights due to foreign objects on the runway, where a small piece of plastic that may not harm the plane can disrupt the flight, given that the system Scanning in the plane will monitor it, causing disruption to the flight.

Al-Shehhi gave an example of a “Concorde” plane that had a speed twice the speed of sound, as it shortened the flight time from 4 hours to one hour to shorten the time, and it is the same plane that was stopped because of a small piece of iron that fell from the plane that took off before it, which confirms the importance of monitoring objects. Alien on the runway, to increase safety and shorten the time.

He pointed out that the traditional mechanism currently used in most airports in the world to monitor foreign objects on the runway is done by employees walking on foot to survey the runway and make sure that there are no foreign objects, and if they are, the place is cleaned from them.

He pointed out that these people could drop any personal belongings from them during their tour to monitor objects, which may cause the same problem and disrupt flights.

For his part, Al Jasmi stated that the drone detects foreign objects with an accuracy of 90%, and scans a distance of a thousand meters in ten minutes. Work is currently underway to modify it and introduce new features, most notably the installation of a robotic hand that enables the drone to carry the objects it monitors according to their weight, which makes it an integrated project capable of Accomplishing tasks that were human over the past years, noting that the drone saves a lot of time and effort for the employees, as the employee may take hours to clear the runway, while the drone can clear it in a few minutes.

And about the mechanism of the drone’s work, he explained that it is controlled remotely through a connected control device, where the drone sends an audio signal, an alert, and a message to the computer at the same time, and the alerts include coordinates indicating the location of the site with high accuracy, and the drone works continuously for an hour that enables it to scan 6 square kilometers. In principle, the battery can be modified to increase the number of flying hours easily.

He stressed that work is currently underway on intellectual property rights in cooperation with the concerned authorities in the country, with the support of the Federal Civil Aviation Authority, which is a link between us and the authorities that can adopt the implementation of the project on the ground.