Since the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano grounded most of UK airspace, scientists have been trying to come up with some kind of Ash cloud detection system.
A standard jet engine superheats the ash particles, which turns them to glass inside the engine itself resulting in the engine stopping mid air.
Research has been taking place at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research, funded by Easy Jet. A Dr Fred Prata has come up with a design called AVOID, which stands for Airborne Volcanic Object Imaging Detector.
This technology allows the detection of volcanic ash through the use of a thermal imaging camera, allowing a plane to be able to identify the density of areas of ash.
The aim is for the cameras to see between 100 and 300 km ahead at up to 50,000 feet altitude.
AVOID has also been developed to find air corridors between ash layers allowing a pilot to steer the plane around any dangerous sections of Ash cloud.
This development is not only good news for the aviation industry but for thermal imaging too and clearly marks out new and exciting applications for thermal imaging technology.
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Written by Sara Thomson
