Laser Radar System Detects Wind Hazards, Improving Aviation Safety

Lockheed Martin announced Tuesday the Japan Meteorological Agency installed a WindTracer Doppler lidar system at the Tokyo International Airport, also known as Haneda Airport.

WindTracer provides air traffic controllers advanced warning of wind hazards. The system monitors wind activity and low-level wind shear that affect landing aircraft, according to the company.

According to Lockheed Martin, the WindTracer is a "Doppler lidar (light detection and ranging) system that collects high-resolution wind data over a broad volumetric area. (It) detects dangerous wind hazards and wake vortices by sending out pulses of eye-safe infrared laser light that reflect off of naturally-occurring particles in the wind. The movement of these particles alters the frequency of the light that is scattered back to the sensor.

"By... processing the return signal, the WindTracer is able to detect the wind activity and provide immediate visual and audio alarms when dangerous conditions exist."

"We collaborated with the Kanematsu Corporation of Japan to introduce WindTracer to the Japan Meteorological Agency," said Dr. Stephen Hannon, Products Group director for Lockheed Martin Coherent Technologies.

"We're proud to work with Haneda Airport to improve its wind hazard detection and increase air safety. Lidar is quickly being recognized by the aviation community as a proven technology that significantly enhances the ability to detect and alert air traffic controllers to such meteorological events as wind shear, dry microbursts, gust fronts, turbulence and crosswinds."

The Japan Meteorological Agency is the national government weather service for Japan. The agency gathers and reports weather data and forecasts and is part of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Haneda Airport is one of the main airports serving the greater Tokyo area, ranking fourth among the world's largest passenger airports and is the busiest airport in Asia, handling 65.3 million passengers in 2006.

FMI: www.japan-guide.com/e/e2430.html, www.jma.go.jp/jma/indexe.html, www.lockheedmartin.com