ASTONISH project partners test innovative sensing strategies to enhance airport safety

The ASTONISH SESAR exploratory research project is conducting a series of experimental campaigns using compact, off-the-shelf non-cooperative sensors to enhance airport safety. Coordinated by ENAV, the project involves the University of Naples "Federico II" (UNINA), the Italian Aerospace Research Center (CIRA), and the Advanced Center for Aerospace Technologies (CATEC). Organised into three sessions in November, December 2025, and January 2026, these campaigns aim to validate innovative sensing strategies for improving aircraft protection during ground operations.

On 17 November 2025, UNINA and CIRA, in coordination with ENAV, launched their data-acquisition campaign at Capodichino Airport in Naples, Italy. UNINA's experimental setup integrated radar sensors and visual cameras deployed on two ground-based nodes to monitor the apron area and the taxiway/runway. Installed on the roof of the control tower building, these sensors collected positioning data and images of surrounding targets, creating a comprehensive dataset capturing aircraft, service vehicles, and other obstacles under various environmental conditions.

In parallel, CIRA developed a vision-based sensing system arranged in a stereoscopic configuration, capable of real-time data processing. The campaign gathered visual data to improve object detection models and validated the stereoscopic camera setup for accurate distance estimation.

At Seville Airport in Spain, CATEC deployed three LiDAR sensors: two LIVOX AVIA units with a 70° field of view and one Ouster OS2 with a 360° field of view. Positioned at two strategic points in the airport, the sensors captured all boarding and disembarking operations on the runway and manoeuvring area. The data collected was transformed into point clouds, enabling the training of semantic segmentation algorithms for real-time object detection and classification. Thanks to an agreement with AENA, the manager of Spain's main airports, the system remained active for three months, generating an exclusive dataset not previously available in the public domain.

The efforts by UNINA, CIRA, and CATEC mark the beginning of a crucial development phase. The datasets collected are unprecedented and will provide a solid foundation for understanding real-world operational conditions and developing advanced sensing technologies to enhance safety in airport environments. By improving situational awareness, these solutions will help prevent runway incursions and other ground-related incidents, offering valuable support to air traffic controllers and pilots during all phases of aircraft operations.

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UNINA sensing nodes for apron area (left) and runway/taxiway (right). Photo taken at the Capodichino airport on November 17^th 2025

CIRA equipment based on a stereoscopic camera configuration and on a GPU embedded system deployed at the Capodichino airport

LiDAR sensors mounted at the Seville airport