Month: September 2020

Muhammad Asad Ullah
Foreign Object Damage (FOD) is any article or substance, object, particle, substance, debris or agent alien to an aircraft or system especially on the runway during the take-off or landing of the plane, which could potentially cause damage. External FOD hazards include bird strikes, hail, ice, sandstorms, ash-clouds or any other object left on the runway. Where the old days of aviation were rough and ready with pilots landing on grassy runways, dirt or gravel — the risks of being damaged by debris of all sorts were high. However, today’s aviation industry has made great leaps forward in terms of the technology it can bring to all facets of the operations and safety of the airplane and its passengers.
While there has been increasing awareness of dangers faced by FOD, there has been solid effort put together by the airports to take effective measures. The solution lies in continuous, 24 hour remote scanning of runways, using precision millimetre radar, combined with advanced day/night optical technology, and instant FOD alerting to airport operators.
Bayanat Engineering Qatar is currently working with Xsight Europe in order to implement the FOD detection system for the safe runway of Hamad International Airport, in order to ensure the safety of the passengers, crew and planes. Runway Debris Monitoring System (RDMS) by European company Xsight at Hamad International Airport is the part of the airport’s plan to elevate its safety measures and acquire the latest and most advanced runway technologies. RunWize, the Intelligent Hybrid Dual Sensor based Ruway Surveillance and FOD Detection System, has been implemented on the airport’s two parallel runways, one of them being one of the longest in the world at 4,850 meters in length. The device uses both a camera and a radar, and is installed adjacent to runway edge lights. When it spots debris, it uses a laser pointer to guide an airport worker to its location. In contrast, pilots often report runway debris to the tower, but their description of the location is less reliable, because it is often given as they speed down the runway at over 100 miles an hour. The proposed Xsight sensors are designed to be very similar to edge light in how it is installed and maintained. No special runway closures are required to install and maintain the system. System installation and maintenance can be performed during the standard runway maintenance window provided by HIA.
Hasan Ezzeddine, General Manager at BEQ, said “As one of the prime partners for HIA, we supply latest advanced technologies and the installation and maintenance to upgrade existing capabilities of the aviation sector towards achieving the supreme operation performance. We ensure the availability of the leading product for our customer with outstanding end-to-end execution. Our commitment is to the deliver the outstanding service to provide and improve leading safety standards.”
Talking to Community about the international airports that have already employed this technology, Sajeev Rajedran, Project Manager at BEQ, said, “Airports including Boston Logan international Airport, Suvarnabhumi International Airport Bangkok, Seatlle-Tacoma International Airport, Beijing Capital International Airport and now Hamad International Airport have implemented this technology. It is imperative to highlight that Runwize is the only automated FOD detection system that has been commercially installed in a US Aiport.”
Explaining about its working and how crucial this system be for the safety of the airplanes, he adds, “If there’s anything on the runway that even about 5cm, these can detect. It’s a dual function and it can turn 180 degree and cover quite a surface. There are two runways — so it cover 100% of the runway and the taxiways. It’s very efficiently installed on the edge lights, so technically we don’t need a huge infrastructure to place it on the runway.”
The project has been underway since January. “Because of the Covid-19, now since the runway is not being used so frequently, it has given us space and time for implementation and upgradation,” says Sajeev.
Since it’s a new technology, for the first time being implemented in the Middle East, does it require an additional manpower to monitor and check? Sajeev responds, “No, one of the advantages of this is that it doesn’t require any additional monitoring team. It’s linked to the airport’s traffic control and maintenance tower and whenever it spots a debris it just notifies the team there. There are ten work stations and the radars pops up the information at the work station if there’s anything worth reporting, with an image of what has been spotted and at which location. At night, because visibility might be low — these radars use a laser to help find and spot the debris on the runway. It also has a mobile application and tab that makes it convenience to notify the concerned people regarding runway,” he adds, “We have placed around 340 sensors on two runways which provide like maximum coverage. When the airport expands, we’ll expand as well. The radar offers four systems, including FODetect, ViewWize, SnowWize and BirdWize. So, if there are birds on the runway and you select BirdWize option, the radar creates a sound itself to scare off the birds from the runway. So, nobody needs to go and manually do something. It is interfaced with all the current data and system of the flights and report. Flight numbers along with the record of flight is also recorded, which is good not just for the runway or the airport but the plane as well.”

By Muhamad Asad Ullah
As airports around the world restart operations, providing important connectivity and essential operations, their primary focus is on protecting the health and welfare of passengers and staff, as well as to minimise the opportunities for dissemination of coronavirus disease. The entire aviation ecosystem is adjusting to the complexities of the ‘new normal’ and responding to the needs and expectations of passengers is crucial in rebuilding confidence that air travel is safe. It won’t be erroneous to say that aviation will be a key engine driving the long-term global economic recovery from the effects of Covid-19.
As the cases of coronavirus spiked up in Qatar, various technologies and preventive measures were put into place to curb the spread of the virus, including mandatory wearing of masks, Ehteraz application for contact tracing, social distancing and mandatory temperature checking at all entry points of any building or work place by hand held devices. The hand held devices are the most affordable option available in the market, but not with the most accurate results.
This isn’t the first time thermal scanning is being used to screen higher body temperature related to infections that can cause an epidemic. During the 2002-03 outbreak of Sars virus, airports in Singapore and China deployed them and have been using them since. Similarly, here at home, Bayanat Engineering Qatar had it first installation of Cantronic body temperature scanner in August 2017 in Hamad International Airport, which was during the Swine flu and Ebola pandemic, for various reasons, including the level of accuracy, convenience, and efficiency.
Comparing to the hand-held thermometers, that can only scan one person at the time — scanners that are well in use now, can scan hundreds of people per minute. In addition to that, the storing mistakes and battery levels affect the performance of the hand held monitors. Human factor also plays a big role — with the scanning system — even if the dedicated person is not at his post, the scanner creates a sound and a visual notification (with the picture of the person with higher temperature), which can help to decrease the possibility of mistakes is shared with the authorities.
Furthermore, scanners have the possibility to integrate with third-party health monitoring systems/software’s (for example Ehteraz) which can be beneficial for the various sectors.
All live objects emit infrared energy or heat. Unlike regular cameras that record light reflected by objects, thermal cameras use heat sensors that can record heat generated by the body of a person or an object to create a 2D image with differing temperature levels. When a person stands before the cameras, on the computer screens the hotter objects are highlighted with a different colour palette than the rest. These cameras can be calibrated to detect abnormal body temperatures. Every pixel of the image has a temperature associated with it, so a higher resolution camera scan offers more detailed images.
Speaking to Community about the Cantronics body scanner at HIA, Zameer Basha Shaik, Project Manager at Bayanat Engineering, said, “ I feel that the Cantronics body scanners are very accurate, reliable and user-friendly, especially at enormous crowd monitoring in the public areas. It’s a bit challenging during a busy time slot to monitor each person without disturbing their movement. With Cantronics, we can overcome all those issues. I say it is the industry best system and adopted by one of the best organisations.”
Hassan Ezzeddine, General Manager at BEQ, added, “Bayanat Engineering Qatar continues to improve the safety measures at Hamad International Airport and Qatar. Body temperature measurement systems reduce the human and technical error with the level of accuracy up to 99.99%. The systems already have been implemented in various institutions including the airport, along with oil and gas, government, semi-governments and private sectors across Qatar.”

By Muhammad Asad Ullah
It has been a golden decade for tech companies. Over the last ten years, tech companies built and grew that now dominate the entire world today, somehow one way or another.

Where some spurred mobile commerce, created powerful marketing techniques, invented new forms of content and built dynamic, influential consumer brands, others went a notch-higher — of taking over the charge of security and safety of the people and in today’s time reinventing and placing strategies to help governments and institutions in curbing the spread of coronavirus. One of the reasons why while the rest of the economy is tanking from the crippling impact of coronavirus, tech-based businesses are holding steady — even thriving.

There are two paths to becoming powerful in technology — start a new tech company that transforms our society or secure a powerful position in an established tech giant — either of it is not a laidback choice. Since technology is evolving everyday with new discoveries made and introduced, it’s quite a sweat to keep an eye on new trends, discoveries and innovations. Hasan Ezzeddine, General Manager at Bayanat Engineering, speaks to Gulf Times about leadership, entrepreneurship, expansion of HIA for thermal scanners, security and FIFA2022 and how tech could be implemented to avoid a disaster and a massive event like Beirut blast. Bayanat is a Qatari leading solutions provider for aviation and Engineering government sectors including Traffic Management, Military Defense, Airside and Terminal Systems with the deployment of a wide range of Communication, Navigation, Surveillance, Meteorological, Passenger and Operation Management, Lighting, Security and Information Technologies.

With ever evolving technology, how do you keep up with the new innovations and technologies?

Technology is evolving every day, we have close connections with our partners who keep us up to date, as well as we are always on the lookout for news and participating in world leading events. Some major events that we yearly participate in, include World ATM Congress, Meteorological Technology World Expo, and Global Air Traffic Management. The important aspect is to be on a constant lookout for our main competitors – that is a great stimulus for learning. We always try to be the best in what we are doing, and have the best partners supporting us with our projects. In addition to that, Qatar always requires latest and most advanced technologies, thus our clients are our biggest motivators.

You deal with Operation Management as well as Security and Information Technologies, how do you think both can be employed to avoid any disaster like the Beirut blast that happened last month?

Security and IT is a great tool, but this tool has to be implemented and used by responsible people in order to be practical. Beirut is a great example of the need for having an adequate risk process to accommodate managing major operations which is the case in Qatar.

You’re working with HIA for thermal scanners and security. How effective is the technology and how do you think it can help in curbing the spread of Covid-19?

Human Body thermal scanners from Cantronics have no human error, most accurate and reliable solutions, our Canadian partners have produced an effective product. I believe it is a great and essential solution in the current state of affairs and will be a necessity due to high accuracy. It helps monitor higher volumes in less time.

Is Bayanat also providing an opportunity for young graduates/researchers to be a part of the team to come up with cutting edge technology that can be a breakthrough, like a Digital Incubation Centre for instance?

We are open to innovations and excellence as well as new talents. We currently are working on the project with Qatar Aeronautical Academy, which potentially can grow into partnership. In addition to that, we are working on our website, which will be not only informative, but also educational both for professionals and non-technical readers – it can be used as the case study based on detailed project descriptions as well as weekly articles about specific topics to the industry. In addition to that, we are willing to co-operate with educational institutions for educational trainings and giving opportunity to graduates.

How has Covid-19 affected Bayanat, considering you don’t have any other competition in the market as of now?

‘Every Cloud has a silver lining’. In Bayanat Qatar, we follow this quote and act accordingly, Covid-19 is an unprecedented world event that had all individuals trying to adapt in our sector. Moreover, Qatar market is so strong that it bounced back almost directly with all the measures put in place.

What are the airport advancements we’re looking forward to as we progress towards FIFA 2022?

(Hamad and Doha) HIA and DIA expansion as well as security and safety enhancements are undergoing. Example would be FOD Xsight, Mlat Expansion, Qatar Flight Information Region programme, and Meteorological advance systems.

Any advice for the young entrepreneurs? On how to sustain themselves in a market that’s quite volatile right now in general?

As an officially certified individual with RMP, PMP, LEED AP, Solar energy ,etc , I advise the young generation to be willing to gather the knowledge from learning and work hard while putting in the extra hours and effort in order to achieve your goals.

For how long have you been living in Qatar? And how do you think Qatar has evolved with its adaptation of new and advance technologies of worldwide recognition?

I moved to Qatar in 2010 and since then I’ve grown and learned so much in Qatar aviation and transportation industry which can be easily be ranked as top five worldwide. Thus, the urge to be number one in the world is a catalyst to bring the most advanced technologies and utilise them in our line of business. Furthermore, Hamad International airport has been one of best in world for the past five years in addition to Qatar Airways.

Bayanat Engineering Qatar is currently working with Xsight Europe in order to implement the FOD detection system for the safe runway of Hamad International Airport, in order to ensure the safety of the passages, crew and planes.
Using latest safety technology for Europe, Bayanat Engineering ensures the delivery of the solution is met in a timely manner to its client satisfaction, said the company in a statement.
Bayanat Engineering Qatar is 100 percent Qatari company which continuously helps raise the bar with its projects with Civil Aviation Authority, Qatar Petroleum, Qatar Meteorology Department and other government institutions.
The company’s European partners are SAAB, Frequentis, Micronav, FCSL, Corbor and Xsight Europe. The company works exclusively with the European offices of its partners and always strive to deliver the best solutions for its clients.
The company said that its code of conduct and value of its clients is its priority, as it believes in trust — and it is the main pillar of the organisation, along with quality.Runway Debris Monitoring System (RDMS) by European company Xsight at Hamad International Airport is the part of the airport’s plan to elevate its safety measures and acquire the latest and most advanced runway technologies.
RunWize will be implemented on the airport’s two parallel runways, one of them being one of the longest in the world at 4,850 meters in length.
Ioannis Metsovitis, Senior Vice President of Operations at HIA, said: “HIA champions the adoption of cutting-edge technologies to ensure operational efficiency. The Runway Debris Monitoring System is one of such intelligent safety solutions implemented at our airport to accelerate our digital transformation. HIA partners with the world’s leading technology experts to implement the latest innovations and intelligent solutions to ensure the highest levels of passenger experience and safety.”
Yaniv Mendelson, VP Sales of Xsight Systems Inc., said: “We are proud to have Xsight’s RunWize recognized as a critical and integral part of HIA’s advanced eco-system to fully integrate and complement other critical systems. This prime function of the RunWize within HIA serves as an evidence to the importance the airport attributes to improving safety and efficiency during the take-off and landing operation.”
Hasan Ezzeddine, General Manager at BEQ: “As one of the prime partners for HIA, we supply latest advanced technologies and the installation and maintenance to upgrade existing capabilities of the aviation sector towards achieving the supreme operation performance. We ensure the availability of the leading product for our customer with outstanding end-to-end execution. Our commitment is to the deliver the outstanding service to provide and improve leading safety standards.”

Doha: Since the spread of COVID-19 across the world, more precautions are being implemented in order to ensure people’s safety. The State of Qatar is not an exception, and the government has made it compulsory for all residents to activate Ehteraz application and measurement of body temperature.

Bayanat Engineering, a company established in 1983, specialises in Air Traffic Management, Airside and Terminal systems, with the deployment and integration of a wide range of complex solutions attending the needs of Airports, Oil and Gas, Government and Private institutions.

The Company’s background being ICT, it focuses on providing concrete solutions to every challenge. One of the solutions that Bayanat implemented for Hamad International Airport was during Swine flu and Ebola pandemic as the major contributor to provide the services for human body temperature monitoring without physical interference with the people. First installation in Qatar was done in August 2017 and continues in airports, oil and gas, government, Semi-Governments and private sectors.

Mandatory human body temperature has been implemented in various institutions, as the result, it is important to make it convenient, efficient and accurate. Bayanat Engineering has various solutions and brand options for Screening Thermal Scanners with various options and measurement accuracy of ±0.1 to ±0.2ºC (±0.18 to ±0.36ºF), specially designed for mass screening (hundreds of people per minute) of elevated body temperatures in medium to high traffic public areas, which is efficient and convenient and less time-consuming in comparison to the handheld thermometers.

In addition to that, the advantages of the systems provided by Bayanat are accuracy, efficiency, user-friendly with long-term support. Moreover, the record of details with sound and visual notifications requires no dedicated person and as the result, it has no human error in handling and object pointing accuracy, as well as technical errors like battery shortage, which provides the higher level of accuracy with 99.5 percent.

Furthermore, scanners have the possibility to integrate with third-party health monitoring systems/software’s (for example Ehteraz) which can be beneficial for the various sectors. Imagine having an access to your temperate in seconds without no contact scanning whenever you go? It is convenient, safe and advanced.

Taking into consideration all above mentioned it is Bayanat Engineering goal to make Qatar a safer place for its residents, as well as ease the process of human body temperature scanning without compromising the quality, efficiency and accuracy.

Doha: Qatar has announced an ambitious project to expand the Hamad International Airport (HIA).

The expansion will ensure HIA can accommodate the expected 60 million passengers that will be flying to Qatar during FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. The expansion will ensure guests flying to Qatar will be able to enjoy the amazing facilities available at HIA without being overcrowded.

Around 11,720 square feet of retail, food and beverage space will be added to the airport, ensuring guests can experience culinary delights from around the world and a luxury shopping experience.

The expansion will see a continuation of HIA’s existing water and wave theme by including an impressive 10,000 square-meter indoor tropical garden, complete with a 268 square-meter water feature.

When HIA opened in 2014, it could accommodate 30 million passengers a year, but pledged to slowly increase this number until it reached its goal of 60 million in 2022. In order to accommodate this increase in passengers, the expansion will also increase its cargo handling capacity to 3.2 million tons. HIA is expected to reach this goal by 2023.

During the current state of affairs, it is important to continue the development of the sectors, especially before FIFA 2022 preparation for Qatar. There are undergoing developments in the Hamad International Airport, such as increasing safety and expansion. Bayanat Engineering Qatar, a trusted solution provider for Qatar Civil Aviation Authority, is currently implementing safety with current ongoing projects.

General Manager of Bayanat Engineering Qatar, Hassan Ezzedine, is always striving for success and having great vision for his company. Bayanat Engineering Qatar is the leading solutions provider for aviation and Engineering government sectors including Traffic Management, Military Defense, Airside and Terminal Systems with the deployment of a wide range of Communication, Navigation, Surveillance, Meteorological, Passenger and Operation Management, Lighting, Security and Information Technologies.

“Preparation for FIFA 2022 is vital for Qatar — one of the aspects for Hamad International Airport is to be prepared for increased capacity of its passengers, while keeping the high standard of comfort and safety,” said Ezzedine. “Bayanat Engineering Qatar always delivers best solutions for the Qatar Aviation sector, in order to ensure the most efficient and the safest way for passengers to travel. We believe in trust and our track record is the indicator of that. Strong leadership, support of our shareholders, experienced team and our partners make Bayanat Engineering Qatar one of the strongest players in the market. Our goal is to achieve the best and more throughout our projects,” he added.

In order to ensure passengers feel comfortable flying and to ensure passenger safety, HIA has introduced multiple virus mitigation systems to ensure the airport is safe and secure for 2022. The airport has introduced thermal screening for all passengers and staff. Their Smart Screening Helmet is a portable device that can take the temperature of an individual via a contactless measurement.

Additionally, HIA has installed the Human Body Temperature Scanners by Bayanat Engineering Qatar that are accurate, efficient and precise. HIA has also currently employed a team of disinfectant robots, which have been deployed in busy areas of the airport to keep it safe and disinfected.

With increased passengers and an 11,720 square feet expansion, HIA is not only increasing in size but in terms of vulnerability to security threats. Bayanat Engineering Qatar is continuing to work for HIA and provide their innovative security solutions to HIA. This ensures passengers flying to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup can have complete confidence in their safety.

Tribune News Network
Doha
Bayanat Engineering Qatar is working with Xsight Europe to improve safety of runways at the Hamad International Airport (HIA) through implementation of the Foreign Object Debris (FOD) detection system.
The FOD detection system by Xsight Europe called the ‘Runway Debris Monitoring System’ (RDMS) is the latest and the most advanced technology for runway safety and seeks to ensure safety of passages, crew and planes.
The implementation of the new system is part of HIA’s plan to elevate its safety measures on the runway. RunWize™ will be implemented on the airport’s two parallel runways, one of them being one of the longest in the world at 4,850 metres.
Ioannis Metsovitis, senior vice president (Operations) at HIA, stated: “HIA champions the adoption of cutting-edge technologies to ensure operational efficiency. The RDMS is one of such intelligent safety solutions implemented at our airport to accelerate our digital transformation. HIA partners with the world’s leading technology experts to implement the latest innovations and intelligent solutions to ensure the highest levels of passenger experience and safety.”
Yaniv Mendelson, VP (Sales) at Xsight Systems Inc., said: “We are proud to have Xsight’s RunWize™ recognised as a critical and integral part of HIA’s advanced eco-system to fully integrate and complement other critical systems. This prime function of the RunWize™ within HIA serves as an evidence to the importance the airport attaches to improving safety and efficiency during the take-off and landing operations.”
Hasan Ezzeddine, general manager at BEQ remarked: “As one of the prime partners of the HIA, we supply the latest technologies and provide the installation and maintenance services to upgrade existing capabilities of the aviation sector. We ensure the availability of the best product for our customer with outstanding execution. Our commitment is to deliver outstanding services to improve the safety standards.”
Bayanat Engineering Qatar is a 100 percent Qatari company. It works on projects with the Civil Aviation Authority, Qatar Petroleum, Qatar Meteorology Department and other government institutions.
The company also has partnerships with reputed international firms such as SAAB, Frequentis, Micronav, FCSL, Corbor and Xsight
Europe.

Tribune News Network
Doha
AS temperature scanning becomes a new normal in Qatar amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Bayanat Engineering Qatar has installed a novel and efficient technology called ‘Cantronics’ for the purpose at the Hamad International Airport (HIA) and Qatar Civil Aviation Authority’s ATC Tower.
The Cantronics technology is accurate, efficient and user-friendly. It is specially designed for mass screening (hundreds of people per minute) of elevated body temperatures in medium to high traffic public areas. It saves time and also provides long-term support.
Moreover, the record of details with sound and visual notifications requires no dedicated person and as the result it has no human error in handling and object pointing accuracy, as well as technical errors like battery shortage, which provides the higher level of accuracy (99.5%). Bayanat Engineering’s goal is to help Qatar become a safer place, using latest technology in various sectors.
Bayanat Engineering, established in 1983, specialises in air traffic management, airside and terminal systems, with the deployment and integration of a wide range of complex solutions addressing the needs of airports, oil and gas sector as well as public and private institutions. Having a background in the information and communication technology, the company focuses on providing concrete solutions to every challenge.