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Two opportunities to develop and demonstrate your innovative solutions in a real-world airport environment.

Connected Places Catapult and Glasgow Airport have collaborated to create the Connected Airport Living Lab, based at the airport, which is designed to be a collaborative research and development (R&D) asset used to showcase United Kingdom-developed innovations, attract investment, and act as an innovation catalyst for the aviation sector. It is also used for testing and demonstrations of a diverse range of innovations aimed at addressing challenges facing the aviation sector, notably the decarbonisation of ground and air operations, the adoption of hydrogen, automation, data analytics and to enhance passenger experience.

Businesses and innovators are being invited to express their interest in two live opportunities.

Airport Perimeter Monitoring

Express of interest are sought in demonstrating novel security technologies for perimeter monitoring and patrolling. This is a unique opportunity to demonstrate your solution in a real-world airport environment and contribute to the advancement of airport security.

Perimeter monitoring and patrolling is crucial as it serves as the first line of defence against unauthorised access and potential threats. Effective perimeter monitoring helps prevent unauthorised individuals or vehicles from breaching secure areas, reducing the risk of airport disruption and potential harm. It not only safeguards the airport infrastructure but also ensures the safety of passengers and staff. The use of new and emerging technologies – including robotics, advanced sensors, and connected intelligence solutions – can allow security personnel to detect and respond to incidents more effectively. 

Solutions are sought for: 

• Monitoring localised areas. Capable of overseeing specific sections of the airport boundary and communicate potential threats to security staff.
• Enhancing capabilities. Offer improved perimeter monitoring capability.
• All-weather operation. Optimised to function effectively in various weather and ground conditions typical of an airport environment.  
• Easy deployment. Suitable for quick and straightforward implementation and deployment at an airport site and can be demonstrated without requiring complex integration with existing systems. 
• Mobile solutions. Mobile or semi-mobile remote-controlled or autonomous proposals will be considered, although airborne/drone proposals are out-of-scope. 

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Airside Automated Pavement Inspection

Express of interest are sought in piloting technologies for the automated inspection and monitoring of airside pavements.

Pavements and associated infrastructure are a critical asset to the safe and performant operation of commercial airports. Airports typically perform detailed visual inspections of pavement areas at monthly intervals to identify any faults or condition issues that may require remediation works.

Automated pavement inspection solutions help to automate the inspection of pavement condition through the collection of data from equipment on vehicles which is processed (eg though use of AI analytics) to create condition survey reports.

There are commercial solutions that are being adopted by public road authorities to 91Ï㽶»ÆÉ«ÊÓƵ their processes. However, further innovation is required for similar solutions to handle the airport environment and satisfy the needs of airport operators.

Solutions are sought for: 

• Survey airside pavements. Solutions need to be capable of handling the variety of pavement types and features used for runways, taxiways and aprons in addition to airside roads.
• Effectively 91Ï㽶»ÆÉ«ÊÓƵ airside pavement management. Solutions need to factor for designated pavement area categories that account for their usage and criticality characteristics. Condition surveys should track the rate of condition progression, remaining asset life, identified failures and their bounds and provide good confidence backed up by quantified and empirical data.
• Perform reliably, accurately and safely in the airport environment. Solutions need to handle the geometries of airport sites, reliably geolocate accurate location and correct area category, provide good fidelity during daylight hours in fair weather although the ability to handle wet weather or during darkness may be beneficial.
• Are effective to deploy into airport operations. Solutions need to be easy to install/remove on operational vehicles. The process of data collection, processing and reporting needs to be practicable to implement and effectively 91Ï㽶»ÆÉ«ÊÓƵ the existing process of performing monthly area inspections with reasonably adaptations.
• Forecast future asset condition based on usage scenarios. An ideal solution would link with traffic patterns to forecast remaining asset life and calculate projections based on variable future scenarios.

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First published 10 December 2024