Wildlife-Strike Prevention with Flox at Silicon Valley Airport

The aviation industry faces a growing challenge in mitigating wildlife strikes, which pose a threat to both human life and aircraft safety. As aircraft become quieter and wildlife populations at airports increase due to climate change, traditional wildlife management methods—such as patrolling with vehicles, using pyrotechnics, trained dogs and gunshots—are proving to be inefficient. This issue has opened the door for innovation, and Flox is leading the charge. 

In this research and innovation project, Flox in partnership with HMB Airport, situated at the heart of Silicon Valley, and operated by the County of San Mateo - Airports Division, is deploying supervised autonomous drones equipped with software that blends AI and wildlife science to efficiently deter wildlife from airport areas without harming them. These dock-based drones, managed through Flox wildlife management platform by airport safety teams, are designed to enhance daily wildlife management operations from inspections to runway clearance ahead of aircraft takeoffs and landings. Building on successful trials at Swedish airports in Malmö, Kiruna, and Umeå, Flox is now expanding its reach to the United States to expand the Swedish proprietary tech. 

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have recently begun exploring the use of drone technology into wildlife management protocols at airports in the United States. This project led by Flox presents an opportunity to further validate the system in the challenging environment of an airport located in the United States, pushing both technological and regulatory boundaries.  

Partners 

The project is led by Flox, in collaboration with County of San Mateo - Airports Division where the demonstration will take place later this spring and is funded by Future Mobility. The project partners gather advice from leading authorities such as USDA, FAA and Luftfartsverket as a part of the project and understanding the legal landscape for this technology use case. The project builds on Flox collaboration with Swedavia and will run from October 2024 to February 2025, with key milestones including system installation, testing, and data collection, followed by final demonstrations and paving the way for broader implementation at airports in the United States later this year.