2010-06-08

Global media attention on Eventure participant

Norwegian company Nicarnica had barely finished its presentation at Eventure Karlstad when media worldwide highlighted its great potential. What was it that caught the newspapers’ attention? Above all the fact that Nicarnica’s advanced system can discover ash clouds from a distance of more than 100 kilometres. Now Norwegian airline Easyjet will test the system.

Eventure participant Nicarnica’s unique technology has aroused interest all over the world. The reason is that their advanced technology enables, among other things, the detection of ash clouds from far away. This, needless to say, is a very attractive feature for the airlines. The first operator to test the system is Easyjet, where the technology will be evaluated using a test plane from manufacturer Airbus.

The patent-pending technology is based on a camera surveillance system. It detects and visualises not only volcanic ash, but also has the ability to spot other types of emissions from sources like industries and harbour areas. As opposed to the systems of competitors, the Nicarnica technology can measure various substances using one single sensor.

For the airline business, that means the infrared cameras of the Nicarnica system has a line of vision of up to 100 kilometres from the airplane. Consequently, planes provided with ash detectors would be able to continue flying even when ash-cloud alerts are issued.

“Of course, they won’t be able to take off or land in zones where airborne ash is present, but they would have the option of avoiding ash clouds along the route,” says Fred Prata of the Norwegian Institute for Air Research to national newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

But Nicarnica has stirred up attention not only in media lately. As the company introduced itself to investors at Eventure Karlstad on 26 May, there were many who saw the business potential of the unique technology. And there can be no doubt that the advanced system is just right in time.

For more information, see the articles about Nicarnica in Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish) and Sky News.

Photo: John Ackerman presented Nicarnica at Eventure Karlstad on 26 May.