'ROBIN' radar bird detection system - 50% drop in birdstrikes at Dutch mil. airbases

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Thought this might be interesting.

Developed by the Dutch thinktank TNO.

Schiphol airport set to have experimental trials this year with a version of this system.




TNO - ROBIN: Radar Observation of Bird Intensity (http://www.tno.nl/content.cfm?context=markten&content=product&laag1=178&laag2=367&item_id=331&Taal=2)



ROBIN: Radar Observation of Bird Intensity


Each year collisions between aircraft and birds cause an approximate damage of 5 to 10 billion US$ worldwide. During the last ten years the number of collisions has increased by 50%. In some cases there is no doubt that birds have been the ultimate cause of a fatal plane crash. Much of the damage is caused during take-off and landing. On and near airports or military airbases.

http://www.tno.nl/images/shared/markten/def_lucht_robin_foto11.png
For this reason TNO developed the successful ROBIN (Radar Observation of Bird Intensity) for the Royal Netherlands Airforce at the end of the eighties of the last century, a near real-time monitoring system for flight movements of birds. At this moment TNO is developing a third version of ROBIN, utilizing the latest technologies. ROBIN identifies flocks of birds within the signals of large radar systems. This information is used to give airforce pilots timely warning during landing and take-off. Years of observation of bird migration with ROBIN has also provided a better insight into bird migration behaviour, which in turn has had a positive influence on the possibility to avert collisions with birds, and therefore on flight safety.

Collisions decreased

Ever since the implementation of the ROBIN system at the Royal Netherlands Airforce the number of collisions between birds and aircraft in the vicinity of military airbases has decreased by more than 50%.




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TNO
TNO - Missie en Strategie (http://www.tno.nl/content.cfm?context=overtno&content=overtno&item_id=30)
Mission and Strategy


To apply scientific knowledge with the aim of strengthening the innovative power of industry and government.

TNO is an independent research organisation whose expertise and research make an important contribution to the competitiveness of companies and organisations, to the economy and to the quality of society as a whole. TNO’s unique position is attributable to its versatility and capacity to integrate this knowledge.

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Bird strike - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_strike)

TNO (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TNO), a Dutch R&D Institute, has developed the successful ROBIN (Radar Observation of Bird Intensity) for the Royal Netherlands Airforce. ROBIN is a near real-time monitoring system for flight movements of birds. ROBIN identifies flocks of birds within the signals of large radar systems. This information is used to give Air Force pilots warning during landing and take-off. Years of observation of bird migration with ROBIN have also provided a better insight into bird migration behaviour, which has had an influence on averting collisions with birds, and therefore on flight safety. Since the implementation of the ROBIN system at the Royal Netherlands Airforce the number of collisions between birds and aircraft in the vicinity of military airbases has decreased by more than 50%.
There are no civil aviation counterparts to the above military strategies. Some experimentation with small portable radar units has taken place at some airports. However, no standard has been adopted for radar warning nor has any governmental policy regarding warnings been implemented.





The Federal Aviation Administration (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Aviation_Administration) estimates the problem costs US aviation 600 million dollars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_dollar) annually and has resulted in over 200 worldwide deaths since 1988[26] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_strike#cite_note-BSC-USA-25). In the United Kingdom, the Central Science Laboratory estimates[6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_strike#cite_note-allan-5) that, worldwide, the cost of birdstrikes to airlines is around US$1.2 billion annually. This cost includes direct repair cost and lost revenue opportunities while the damaged aircraft is out of service. Estimating that 80% of bird strikes are unreported, there were 4,300 bird strikes listed by the United States Air Force (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force) and 5,900 by US civil aircraft in 2003.

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TNO
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek or TNO (Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research) is a not-for-profit organization in the Netherlands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands) that focuses on applied science (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_science). The main office of TNO is located in Delft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delft). Other locations of TNO are: The Hague (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hague), Rijswijk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rijswijk), Leiden (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leiden), Groningen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groningen_%28city%29), Apeldoorn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeldoorn), Hoofddorp (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoofddorp), Soesterberg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soesterberg), Utrecht (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utrecht_%28city%29), Den Helder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Den_Helder), Zeist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeist), Enschede (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enschede) and Eindhoven (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eindhoven).
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The Netherlands is the only country in the world where the Ministry of Defense (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Defense_%28Netherlands%29) is not responsible for defense research. Instead, TNO does this research. However, the fundings TNO receives to do research on behalf of the armed forces, comes from the Ministry of Defense.