Analytics

Bird Avoidance Model

Provided a visual model of bird occurrence patterns, reducing dangerous bird aircraft strikes.

Client

Holloman Airforce Base,

New Mexico

To avoid Bird Air Strike Hazards (BASH) Holloman Airforce Base pilots needed to understand the seasonal occurrence and local distribution of birds. Bird-aircraft strikes constitute a safety concern for the Air Force since strikes can result in damage to aircraft, injury to aircrews, and danger to local human populations if an aircraft crashes. The Air Force attempts to minimize BASH by thoroughly understanding the seasonal pattern of birds.  

Tessellations studied all the relevant local bird populations’ distribution and the regional bird populations’ migratory patterns. Tessellations created a probabilistic model of risk factors based on the study of bird populations. Tessellations visualized the results on a map for pilots to study and adjust their flight patterns if needed.

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Services Provided:

Scientific Literature Review

Probabilistic Modeling

Spatial Analysis

Documentation

Solutions

Solutions

  • In collaboration with professors from Sam Houston University, Tessellations conducted research to study the migratory and flying patterns of birds.
  • Studied other factors such as Lake Holloman and the Holloman AFB Wetlands Complex, which are close to the migratory flyway. The wetland complex attracts many waterfowl and shorebirds and thus contributes to potential bird strikes.
  • Developed a probabilistic model using all the risk factors
  • Visualization on GIS platform

Note

Notable Accomplishments

The model was utilized for computing whether any potential exists for greater BASH within the airspace.

The results were used for special briefing provided to pilots for managing their local flying procedures and to avoid direct overflight of these risk areas.