Millimetre wave radar applications to airport surface movement control and foreign object detection

In the recent years, increase in air traffic volume has demanded for new and more stringent safety requirements over the entire gate-to-gate air traffic control regions. In particular, for what concerns airport ground surveillance, congested traffic in parking areas (APRON) ask for new generation of radar sensors having very high resolution during low visibility to discriminate between vehicles and aircrafts, and very high sensitivity to detect small dangerous objects like for instance a baggage. After Concorde accident occurred in Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, 25
^th
July 2000, the capability to detect very small objects is became very important on the runway to improve as much as possible the safety during the taking off and landing operations.