ASTONISH

Main Goals of the Project

The ASTONISH project is a research initiative funded under the SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking, aimed at developing innovative surveillance solutions for air traffic management and airport operations. The project seeks to enhance the safety, capacity, and resilience of future Air Traffic Management (ATM) systems through the use of alternative and complementary technologies to traditional surveillance systems.

Within the framework of the project, CIRA leads Solution 0518, which is focused on investigating the capabilities of a surveillance system for non-cooperative objects in order to improve aircraft safety during airport ground movements. The system is designed to provide alerts to pilots and Air Traffic Control Officers (ATCOs) in the event of vehicle incursions, wildlife presence, or the detection of Foreign Object Debris (FOD).

The proposed solution is based on a range of both active and passive sensing technologies, including cameras, LiDAR systems, and low-power, low-cost Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave (FMCW) radars. Sensor data are processed through dedicated algorithms to enable object detection and tracking. In particular, camera-based systems can leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to perform semantic interpretation of the observed scenes.

In addition, data fusion techniques combining information from heterogeneous sensors will be investigated to enhance system robustness in the event of individual sensor failures and to mitigate technology-specific limitations, such as radar clutter. Installing sensors directly on board the aircraft provides an additional aircraft-centric perspective, contributing to improved situational awareness during taxiing and other ground operations.

Furthermore, the spatial distribution of sensors and the use of high-resolution devices enable the detection of small objects that may not be identified by centralized Surface Movement Radars (SMRs) deployed at major airports. The proposed solution is scalable and can be adapted to different airport categories and operational environments.

CIRA Activities in the Project

CIRA is the Solution Leader of SOL0518. Its main contributions include:

• Contributing to the definition of the operational scenarios, functional requirements, and economic impact assessments.
• Developing a perception hardware system based on a stereo camera architecture.
• Collecting data at Naples Capodichino Airport, training and tuning an Artificial Intelligence model, and performing collision risk analysis.
• Defining and executing the validation plan at the ATLAS facility of CATEC in Spain in collaboration with the project team.
• Collecting and analyzing the validation results, including a comparison with the different sensing technologies employed.

General Project Information

Funding Programme: SESAR 3

Start Date: 01/09/2024; End Date: 28/02/2027

Coordinating Organization: ENAV

Partners: DLR, Collins Aerospace, Fraunhofer Institute, Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, CATEC, CIRA

CIRA Contact: Angelo Manco, a.manco@cira.it