Israel’s Controp Precision Technologies has drawn on its experience in the field of wildlife detection to launch a new product, known as Speed-bird, which provides early detection of birds, animals and drones that approach sensitive operational areas. Early warning significantly improves airport safety as it provides greater reaction time to respond to the potential danger.

Wildlife incursions are an everyday hazard for airports around the world. The potential dangers of birdstrike are very obvious, but they are being compounded by the recent dramatic rise in private drone use. Moreover, many airports suffer from incursions of terrestrial animals into operational areas, and there is always the danger of occasional human trespassing.

Based on Controp’s Spider system, Speed-bird employs sensitive panoramic scanning technology with algorithms developed specifically for automatically detecting birds and other small flying objects. It can also be used to automatically detect small moving ground objects such as animals.

Speed-bird has been developed to overcome the technological limitations of radar-based bird detection systems, and is integrated as a key element of the Pharovision Sentinel system. Speed-bird has a continuous zoom infrared sensor and full-color day camera, which combine to provide continuous wide-area surveillance and tracking capabilities.

Controp (Stand Q30) is supplying two Speed-bird systems to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, one of which will focus on airspace surveillance while the other will be set up to monitor ground movements near taxiways and runways. Dallas City Council has ordered a single unit for installation at Love Field in late 2018.