Challenges on the airport floor
Anyone who thinks that airports are just for taking off and landing is wrong: there are also numerous processes on the ground. For example, the huge, heavy aircraft have to get to the gates or to their parking areas, they have to be loaded and refuelled - all of which requires a great deal of logistical and resource-intensive effort. The recently approved AeM Speedport project aims to revolutionise this: The aim is to reorganise traffic at large airports in a new and efficient way.
Aims of the AeM Speedport project
"If aircraft were to manoeuvre autonomously at the airport in future without their own engine power, we could achieve significant and measurable savings in all environmentally relevant areas of an airport," says Prof. Dr. Ulrich Büker. In practical terms, this could mean, for example, that the aircraft would initially be pushed out of the parking position with the help of remote-controlled tugs - ideally from a central location such as the tower. Subsequent developments are then aimed at autonomous mobility on the tarmac. "In addition to the major savings in CO2 emissions, autonomous aircraft manoeuvring makes a significant contribution to safety on the apron and helps to avoid collisions," he continues.
An innovative "Eco System" for airports
All these development steps are to be brought together in an innovative "Eco System" in the future and revolutionise ground handling, i.e. the aircraft handling on the ground. "As part of this, we also want to fully automate the entire air traffic management process," continues Büker. This would make it easier to avoid typical bottlenecks at airports, such as a shortage of loading crew personnel or a lack of push-back trucks.
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Büker brings extensive experience from his many years of work in the automotive industry on driver assistance systems and autonomous driving and dedicates his sub-project to the central sub-areas of driver assistance and energy efficiency on the tarmac.
The project consortium
For the first time worldwide, standardised procedures (ICAO compliant) will enable autonomous regular operations at the airport. With AeM Speedport, Paderborn Airport will become the first fully automated airport of the future. The joint AeM Speedport project brings together innovative companies from the aviation industry with profound expertise and vision as well as experienced scientific specialists. The alliance consisting of the partners Paderborn-Lippstadt Airport, ADB SAFEGATE Germany GmbH, TowFLEXX GmbH, MovingPositions GmbH, EML Speech Technology GmbH, Swiss Security Solutions LLC Deutschland GmbH, Paderborn University, Technische Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR e.V.), under the direction of LNC LogisticNetwork Consultants GmbH, is being funded by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) with a total of around 10.7 million euros.
You can find further information about the project here: https://www.init-owl.de/forschung/projekte/detail/aemspeedport/