Performance Assessment of a Mobile, Radar-Based Foreign Object Debris Detection System

In 2008, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airport Technology Research and Development Team initiated research to conduct a performance assessment of the Trex Enterprises FOD Finder™, a mobile, radar-based foreign object debris (FOD) detection system. This assessment included the system’s capability to detect objects of various shapes, sizes, and materials at all locations on the runway surface. The system’s capability to detect FOD during both nighttime and daytime conditions, in periods of sun, rain, mist, fog, and snow was also assessed.

DOT/FAA/AR-11/12
Author: Edwin E. Herricks, Elizabeth Woodworth, Sid Majumdar, and James Patterson, Jr.