FOD, seen on the
runway, the taxiway,
and the apron.
Foreign-object detection across every paved surface — runway, taxiway, apron. Three deployment modes: mobile sensor vehicle, fixed airside poles, stand-mounted units. Same detection, same dispatcher, same audit trail. 1–2 cm in operational conditions.
A small object,
an expensive outcome.
A nut, a fastener, a piece of tyre rubber on the runway at take-off speed costs more than the airport will ever recover from the operator. Industry estimate: ~US $12B annually, paid mostly by airlines in engine, belly, tyre repair plus cascading delay.
From close-and-sweep
to find-and-fix.
- Scheduled sweeps at shift boundaries — 3–4 a day.
- Crews walk the runway — slow, eyes-on-asphalt for 15–30 minutes.
- Small objects missed — fasteners, fragments, items in shadow.
- No coordinates — crews search the surface, not the spot.
- Continuous detection — 24/7, day, night, all weather windows.
- Real-time alert with exact coordinates the moment an object is detected.
- Targeted pickup, evidence retained for safety review.
- Runway re-opens in minutes, not the half-hour the sweep would have cost.
The device.
Multi-spectral camera array, sealed for rain, dust, monsoon. Lens stack tuned for runway-grade detection distances.
Complementary sensors — radar where appropriate, thermal where dawn/dusk hurts the camera. Fused signal beats any one modality on the 1–2 cm objects.
Edge box mounted with the device. Detection happens locally in milliseconds. Tower outage doesn't blind the runway. One-way uplink only.
Three ways to deploy.
One airfield covered.
Three modes so you can start where the pain is sharpest and layer the rest later. All three feed the same dispatcher console and the same audit trail.
The mobile unit.
Ops vehicle with the full sensor stack on board. Replaces the human walking sweep — sees down to 1–2 cm, logs everything. No civils, no commissioning.
The fixed airside unit.
Pole-mounted units along the runway and at every taxiway intersection. 24/7, all-weather watch. Sees what arrives at minute 41, not at the next walking sweep.
The apron stand unit.
Mounted on the aerobridge pole or terminal cornice, looking down at the stand box. Catches the baggage tag, cargo strap, dropped tool before pushback clearance.
Aerodrome topology.
Mobile · sensor vehicle
Sweeps the airfield
Fixed · runway pole
Both sides of the strip
Fixed · taxiway pole
At every intersection
Fixed · stand mount
Pole-top or terminal cornice
What AeroFOD detects.
Detection thresholds tuned per airport during commissioning.
From detection to pickup,
in under a minute.
The device sees.
Multi-modal fusion confirms classification. Local inference. Sub-second.
Coordinates fixed.
Latitude, longitude, runway designator, distance from threshold.
Safety dashboard.
Pushed to the safety dashboard, ramp supervisor's radio, tower view. SLA timer starts.
Targeted retrieval.
Safety vehicle drives to the coordinates, retrieves, photographs, clears. Tower releases.
Two parties.
One device.
The airline.
Each strike paid in engine, belly, tyre repair, plus propagated delay.
- Engine ingestion — single most expensive damage class.
- Delay propagation across the network when one tail goes AOG.
- Insurance + writedown exposure on aircraft hulls.
The airport.
Each close-and-sweep is movements you can't run and slots you can't sell.
- Runway closure time — direct slot-revenue loss.
- Regulator-reportable events — ICAO Annex 14, DGCA.
- Reputational impact when a strike makes the news.
Sold to airports; the case is co-funded by airline pain. Many engagements involve airline operators sponsoring the deployment.
Built to the standards
that govern the runway.
Common questions.
Do I have to start with civils and poles?
No. Many airports start with the mobile sensor vehicle — no civils, no commissioning lag. Once value is proven, fixed runway/taxiway/apron units layer in.
How do you decide which mode fits us?
Site survey starts with three questions: where is your worst FOD pain, what's your CAPEX appetite this cycle, what surfaces need watched. Most come out with a phased plan.
Does it work at night and in heavy weather?
Yes. 24/7 — night, monsoon, dust, fog. Performance characterised per condition during commissioning.
Is the device sold standalone or with ATOMS?
Standalone. With ATOMS, FOD events feed the shared operational record.
Start where the pain is sharpest.
Mobile sensor vehicle on day one. Fixed runway and taxiway poles next cycle. Apron stand units on AeroGround optics. Three modes, one console, one audit trail.
Bring AeroFOD
to your airfield.
A 30-minute walkthrough on your current sweep cadence and top safety events.