Long Range Aircraft Tracking and Landing Gear Detection

Customer Requirement Analysis for an Airport EO/IR Tracking System

We recently received an inquiry regarding a long-range aircraft tracking and landing gear detection system for airport surveillance applications.

The customer is looking for a solution capable of automatically detecting, Verfolgung, zooming, and inspecting aircraft during both landing and takeoff operations using visible and thermal cameras mounted on a PTZ platform.

This article analyzes the requirements, discusses what is technically feasible, and highlights the key questions that should be clarified before system implementation.

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Part 1 – Customer Requirements

The customer provided the following system specifications:

Overall System Architecture

Video-Streaming

• RTSP protocol over Ethernet

PT Unit

• Pan/Tilt motion
• Pelco-D-Protokoll

Day Camera

• Brennweite: 21–775 mm
• IP-Kamera
• Auflösung: 3 Abgeordneter
• Bildrate: 60 fps

Wärmebildkamera

• Brennweite: 25–225 mm
• IP-Kamera
• Auflösung: 640 × 512
• Bildrate: 50 fps

Tracking Requirements

• Aircraft tracking during landing and takeoff
• High tracking accuracy
• Continuous zoom during tracking
• Landing gear inspection

Target Distance

Landing

• 4 km bis 8 km

Takeoff

• 2 km bis 3 km

Performance Expectations

The customer expects the system to:

• Detect and track aircraft at distances from 4 km bis 8 km during landing.
• Inspect landing gear position while tracking.
• Continue tracking until touchdown.
• Detect and track aircraft at distances from 2 km bis 3 km during takeoff.
• Inspect landing gear position after liftoff.
• Continue tracking until landing gear is fully retracted.
• Support zooming while tracking.
• Provide bounding boxes for landing gear position.

Integration Requirements

The customer also requires:

• Dual-channel operation using visible and thermal cameras.
• SDK/API integration with existing surveillance software.
• Simultaneous support for visible and thermal video streams.
• Replacement of legacy solutions that only support a single video input.

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Part 2 – Technical Analysis

Is Long Range Aircraft Tracking Feasible?

Ja.

Tracking commercial aircraft at distances between 4 km und 8 km is technically feasible with the proposed camera configuration.

Aircraft such as the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 have lengths of approximately 38–40 meters, making them large and easily detectable targets for both visible and thermal imaging systems.

Modern AI-based object detection combined with PTZ auto-tracking can reliably maintain lock on the aircraft throughout approach and departure operations.

Expected Capability

✔ Aircraft detection at 8 km

✔ Aircraft tracking at 8 km

✔ PTZ auto-follow

✔ Auto zoom control

✔ Visible and thermal tracking

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Is Landing Gear Detection Feasible?

The answer depends on the required level of inspection.

Landing Gear Position Detection

If the objective is to determine:

• Gear Down
• Gear Up
• Gear Deploying
• Gear Retracting

then the visible camera can potentially achieve this under favorable environmental conditions.

Das 775 mm focal length provides significant optical magnification, allowing the aircraft to occupy a large portion of the image even at long distances.

Expected Capability

✔ Landing gear present

✔ Landing gear deployed

✔ Landing gear retracted

✔ Bounding box around gear position

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What Cannot Be Guaranteed?

Long-range gear inspection is much more challenging than aircraft tracking.

At distances approaching 8 km, image quality becomes highly dependent on:

• Atmospheric turbulence
• Heat shimmer
• Haze
• Luftfeuchtigkeit
• Aircraft orientation
• Lighting conditions

For this reason, the following capabilities cannot be guaranteed using the specified sensors:

Not Guaranteed

✖ Tire damage detection

✖ Missing wheel detection

✖ Brake assembly inspection

✖ Mechanical defect inspection

✖ Structural damage assessment

These applications typically require significantly higher optical magnification and more favorable observation conditions.

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Can Thermal Imaging Perform Landing Gear Inspection?

This is the most important technical limitation.

The thermal camera specification is:

• 225 mm Brennweite
• 640 × 512 Auflösung

While the thermal sensor is highly effective for:

• Aircraft detection
• Night tracking
• Low-visibility tracking
• Target reacquisition

it is not expected to provide sufficient image detail for reliable landing gear inspection at 6–8 km distances.

Recommended Sensor Roles

Wärmebildkamera

• Aircraft detection
• Night operation
• Long-range target tracking
• Target reacquisition

Visible Camera

• High-magnification observation
• Landing gear detection
• Gear position verification
• Detailed aircraft inspection

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Dual Sensor Tracking Architecture

The customer also requests simultaneous visible and thermal operation.

This means the tracking system should support:

Kanal 1

Visible Camera

Kanal 2

Wärmebildkamera

The ideal architecture is:

1. AI aircraft detection
2. Multi-sensor tracking
3. Sensor fusion
4. PTZ-Steuerung
5. Continuous zoom control
6. Landing gear detection

This architecture is significantly more advanced than traditional single-channel tracking systems.

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Part 3 – Questions That Should Be Clarified

Before committing to performance specifications, several technical details should be confirmed with the customer.

1. What Aircraft Types Must Be Supported?

Beispiele:

• Airbus A320
• Airbus A350
• Boeing 737
• Boeing 777
• Boeing 787

Larger aircraft are easier to inspect than smaller aircraft.

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2. What Is the Required Gear Detection Accuracy?

Does the customer require:

Ebene 1

Gear Down / Gear Up only

oder

Ebene 2

Detection of abnormal gear deployment

oder

Ebene 3

Detailed mechanical defect inspection

The hardware requirements differ significantly between these levels.

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3. What Are the Environmental Conditions?

Please specify:

• Day operation
• Night operation
• Fog conditions
• Rain conditions
• High-temperature runway environments

Environmental conditions directly affect achievable inspection performance.

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4. Ist das 8 km Requirement Mandatory?

We recommend clarifying:

• Desired detection range
• Desired inspection range

Zum Beispiel:

Aircraft tracking may be achievable at 8 km, while reliable gear inspection may only be validated at shorter distances.

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5. Are SDKs Available for Both Cameras and PTZ?

Bitte angeben:

• Camera SDK
• PTZ SDK
• RTSP specifications
• Pelco-D implementation details

These interfaces are critical for successful integration.

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6. What Is the Existing Tracking Hardware Platform?

The customer mentioned that the existing VCAN2187 supports only one video input.

Please clarify:

• Current tracker board model
• Available APIs
• Processing capability
• Multi-channel support

This will determine whether the existing platform can be upgraded or must be replaced.

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Abschluss

Based on the supplied specifications, a long range aircraft tracking and landing gear detection system is technically feasible.

Aircraft detection, PTZ tracking, dual-sensor operation, automatic zoom control, and landing gear position monitoring can all be supported.

aber, reliable landing gear inspection at the maximum distance of 8 km should be treated as a validation target rather than a guaranteed specification, particularly under challenging atmospheric conditions.

For the best results, we recommend a dual-sensor EO/IR tracking architecture in which thermal imaging is used for target detection and tracking, while the visible camera performs high-magnification landing gear inspection.