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Flocks of migratory birds are very often using geographic structures like rivers, valleys or coast lines for orientation. Wherever the preferred migration routes are crossing the approach corridor of an airport there is an increased risk of bird strike. Flocks of birds crossing the runway corridor of the new runway Northwest of the Frankfurt airport are kept under surveillance now with in total three watch towers located at the river Main which in this case is the preferred used line of orientation. Each of the watch towers carries an early warning system which consists of two pairs of stereoscopic thermal imaging cameras sensitive in the mid wavelength infrared range (3 - 5 m). A stereoscopic pair measures the swarm size, direction of flight and velocity in real time and with high accuracy. From these results an early warning is derived under all relevant weather conditions. The fixed focus thermal imaging cameras are thermally compensated and designed for ultra low image distortion. Each stereoscopic pair is aligned in the sub-pixel range and is controlled by a reference beam to ensure that the alignment is preserved under all environmental conditions and over a very long time. The technical concept is discussed and the design of the realized warning system at the Frankfurt airport is presented.

The increased popularity and availability of off-the-shelf internet technologies raise a new trend for industrial automation solutions. Automation engineering education must adapt to this trend. The Institute of Automation at Technische Universitet Dresden develops tele-leaming experiments for teaching internet technologies via the internet. The laboratory experiments were planned based on the analysis of relevant internet technologies for automation applications. Some of these experiments exist in a first implementation version. Contents and procedures of theses experiments and first lessons learned are presented.

The extrinsic photoconductive decay at T=20–100 K is analyzed in FZ-grown Si: In material after pulsed irradiation by a PbSSe infrared laser (?=4 µm). Trapping time constants (t=10 ns-100 µs) are resolved for the prevalent In acceptor (NIn=1016–1017 cm-3) and for additional shallow acceptors B, Al, and the X(In)-center present at low concentrations (N=1012–1014 cm-3). Hole capture cross sections determined for the acceptor levels show a large scatter over up to 4 orders of magnitude. It is shown that the capture cross section is dependent on all the dopant concentrations present in the sample due to nearest neighbor interaction. Due to the formation of donor-acceptor dipoles, the capture cross section assumes low values. A model calculation of the interaction based on only fundamental parameters of Si is in accordance with the experimental data within the experimental error. The hole capture cross sections for isolated acceptors are sp=1×10-12, 1×10-14, 1×10-13, 2.5×10-13 cm2 for indium, X-center, aluminum, and boron at the temperatures T=95 K, 100 K, 70 K, 45 K, respectively.

For long ranging imaging in high performing electro-optical systems visible cameras with HDTV resolution (1920x1080) are becoming the standard sensor for observation purposes during day. During night and for thermal imaging, significant reduced resolution has to be accepted over a long period of time due to non-availability of adequate infrared detectors. In the meantime standard detectors with 1280x1024 are available on the market which provide at least SXGA resolution. ATTICA M is the newest member of Carl Zeiss Optronics ATTICA family of cooled thermal imagers, which uses an infrared detector with 1280x1024 pixels. ATTICA M can operate with a variety of infrared detectors either based on InSb or MCT as a detector material. ATTICA M is form and fit to the well known ATTICA Z and ATTICA P which is integrated in several military platforms in series production and can consequently be used to upgrade the related platforms. In detail three variants with different zoom optics covering the field of view range between 1,4° - 30° are available for a large scope of applications, on land, on the sea or in the air. A newly developed video electronic is capable to operate the Megapixel detector as well as future dual band thermal imager detectors as soon as they are available on the market. The features and options are discussed as well as the performances compared to the current thermal imager generation.