Virtual Booth

Aircraft maintenance operations often take place in high-hazard restricted zones such as engine run-up sites, aircraft jacking areas, and specialized practical training environments where unauthorized student entry without lecturer or qualified supervision poses significant safety risks. Conventional safety practices rely primarily on passive physical boundaries (e.g., safety cones, warning tapes, and static signage), which depend entirely on human compliance and are frequently overlooked when supervisors are absent or during low-visibility night operations. The lack of an active, real-time alerting framework increases the likelihood of unauthorized personnel or ground support equipment (GSE) trespassing, raising the risk of workplace injuries, ground collisions, and aircraft damage. To bridge this critical gap, this project presents the design, development, and prototyping of an active, low-cost Maintenance Area Intrusion Alert System integrated with Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities. Built around a height-adjustable telescopic framework with a foldable tripod base and a lightweight, chemical-resistant ABS body with dedicated component housings, the system employs a dual-sensor setup featuring a Passive Infrared (PIR) motion sensor and an Ultrasonic distance sensor driven by an ESP32 devkit microcontroller. When an intrusion is detected, the system executes an immediate response by triggering local high-brightness LED visual indicators and an audible buzzer, while simultaneously transmitting automated real-time Wi-Fi alerts via the Telegram messaging application. These Telegram notifications deliver actionable, real-time safety data directly to authorized personnel, including the precise timestamp of the intrusion and the exact distance of the intruder from the sensor boundary. Validated and optimized through a respondent survey, Pareto analysis, and Pugh Matrix evaluation to emphasize response speed, detection reliability, and portability, this active surveillance shield effectively replaces passive barriers with an accessible, scalable safety solution for educational aviation programs and maintenance repair organizations.