Elbit Systems of Israel (Chalet 200) and Norway’s Nicarnica Aviation have won approval under the Eurostar program to fund their collaborative volcanic ash-detection technology. The sensing solution combines Elbit’s ClearVision enhanced vision system (EVS) with Nicarnica’s volcanic imaging detector.
The Eurostars program provides funding for innovative research projects that have partners from two or more participating countries. It has a budget of €1.14 billion ($1.28 billion), and is supported by the European Union and the 34 member nations of the Eureka organization for pan-European research and development.
Elbit Systems and Nicarnica Aviation signed a memorandum of understanding in July 2014 to cooperate on incorporating Nicarnica’s Airborne Volcanic Object Imaging Detector (Avoid) with Elbit’s ClearVision EVS. The Avoid detector senses volcanic ash in the atmosphere up to 100 km ahead of an aircraft, providing pilots sufficient time to take evasive action.