QinetiQ tests radar system that detects runway debris | Aviation International News

QinetiQ tests radar system that detects runway debris

Foreign object damage could one day disappear, thanks to technology developed in the UK.

By Andrew Wood • Contributor

December 10, 2007

Foreign object damage could one day disappear, thanks to technology developed in the UK. A high-precision millimeter wave radar built by researchers at QinetiQ (pronounced ki•ne•tic) has demonstrated its ability to detect objects as small as a two-inch-long steel machine bolt as it lay on a runway surface 1.24 miles from the radar.

QinetiQ, a commercial development entity founded in 2001 when the UK privatized a major part of its Defence Evaluation Research Agency (DERA), has since become that nation’s largest independent science and technology company.

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