Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ASPRID (Airport System Protection from Intruding Drones)
Reporting period: 2021-11-01 to 2022-11-30
ASPRID (Airport System Protection from Intruding Drones), is the holistic and operationally oriented response to cope with the question on how to protect airport operations from drone intrusions, either by mistake or through malicious intent.
Drones pose a security and safety threat for airports and their operations. In the last years, the media cover regularly security violations that involve drones, especially “illegal drone flights” over airports. Indeed, drone intrusions in the airport environment needs to be considered a growing threat as their expansion is currently sponsored by the widespread availability of its technology and market growth due to U-space implementation.
Guidelines on how to deal with this new type of threat as well research, development of commercial systems and standardization efforts are being proposed and under development. Nonetheless, such solutions and products lack a fully integrated and coordinated approach that is required to support airport operations and airport performance safely. ASPRID fills that gap proposing the definition and initial validation of a service oriented operational concept and system architecture.
The main objectives of the project are:
1. To get awareness of the critical aircraft and airport operations scenario degradation due to drone intrusions, deriving for them the possible evolutions with related details;
2. To define a complete concept of an innovative single platform system architecture, supported by procedures and regulation issues to manage both, airport intrusion and airport operations efficiently.
3. To validate the system architecture according to safety and security performance objectives.
At the end of its research, ASPRID has developed a solution that supports and mitigates contingency and restoration actions in case of drone intrusions in the airport environment. The solution increases airport operations resilience, situational awareness as well as eases the coordination and decision-making process between the key actors that have an active role in the actual management of the drone incursion or Drone Incident Management Cell as defined by EASA. To achieve this, the project has researched on technological, human, procedural and methodological enablers, identified further research needs and proposed recommendations to overcome further development and implementation obstacles.
Drones pose a security and safety threat for airports and their operations. In the last years, the media cover regularly security violations that involve drones, especially “illegal drone flights” over airports. Indeed, drone intrusions in the airport environment needs to be considered a growing threat as their expansion is currently sponsored by the widespread availability of its technology and market growth due to U-space implementation.
Guidelines on how to deal with this new type of threat as well research, development of commercial systems and standardization efforts are being proposed and under development. Nonetheless, such solutions and products lack a fully integrated and coordinated approach that is required to support airport operations and airport performance safely. ASPRID fills that gap proposing the definition and initial validation of a service oriented operational concept and system architecture.
The main objectives of the project are:
1. To get awareness of the critical aircraft and airport operations scenario degradation due to drone intrusions, deriving for them the possible evolutions with related details;
2. To define a complete concept of an innovative single platform system architecture, supported by procedures and regulation issues to manage both, airport intrusion and airport operations efficiently.
3. To validate the system architecture according to safety and security performance objectives.
At the end of its research, ASPRID has developed a solution that supports and mitigates contingency and restoration actions in case of drone intrusions in the airport environment. The solution increases airport operations resilience, situational awareness as well as eases the coordination and decision-making process between the key actors that have an active role in the actual management of the drone incursion or Drone Incident Management Cell as defined by EASA. To achieve this, the project has researched on technological, human, procedural and methodological enablers, identified further research needs and proposed recommendations to overcome further development and implementation obstacles.
At the conclusion of ASPRID's research, the results achieved were:
• Development of a methodological framework, tools and a detailed workflow that permits the execution of a risk assessment of airport drone intrusions.
• Elicitation of 120 requirements for the design of a scalable solution that, tuned to each specific airport, responds to each drone threat scenario.
• Development and validation of:
- An operational concept and architecture that permits increasing situational awareness and supports drone incident management.
- A new operational procedure with key actors’ new roles and responsibilities to manage drones intrusions.
- A set of software tools and a simulation environment used to validate the envisaged operational concept and procedures.
• Identification of regulatory obstacles and definition of recommendations for future regulations regarding the development of an airport protection system from intruding drones.
ASPRID's results have achieved TLR2. They could be exploited in the following ways:
• Understand drone threats and analyze how airport operations are degraded in case of drone intrusions.
• Project continuation to a higher maturity.
• Promote the development of regulations to support C-UAS deployment in the airport environment.
ASPRID’s work performed is described regarding the WPs hereunder:
WP1 Scenarios and Study Cases Definition:
• Provided an analysis about off-nominal scenarios regarding drone intrusions in airports.
• Reported the historical data analysis regarding the presence of drones near airports.
• Provided an operational vulnerability assessment of the nominal airport operations.
• Provided an event tree analysis with the related flows in the tree.
• Specified the critical operational list.
• Defined risk scenarios, on the basis of the operational risk assessment.
• Provided the definition and the preliminary design of a Decision Support System to manage the reference threat scenario.
WP2 System / Solution Definition:
• Produced operational requirements from the CNS, airport, and ATC’s point of view.
• Identified possible types of countermeasures and sensors.
• Provided a description of ASPRID’s operational concept and architecture.
• Description of:
-The Detection, Identification and Tracking mechanisms.
- The Alert, Procedures and Decision System.
- How the ASPRID system facilitates the response and neutralization phase.
- The decision and support system, which helps the ASPRID user to choose the optimal countermeasures.
WP3 System Integration and Validation:
• Analyzed all the requirements elicited in the project, comparing them with the proposed architecture to assess what requirements were completely fulfilled.
• Described the assessment methodology, the simulation approach, and the assessment of results.
• Provided an estimation of reference performance metrics belonging to the following KPAs: safety, time performance, workload, and capacity.
• Provided a technical documentation of the software used for ASPRID validation activities.
• Assessed the effects of the ASPRID solution found in the Gaming Exercise.
WP4 Regulation Assessment:
• Listed and proposed evolutions of current regulations for protecting airports from drones.
• Provided a set of requirements derived from regulation analysis applicable to the systems protecting the airports from drones as ASPRID.
• Identified regulatory obstacles to the deployment of these systems at airports. Thereafter relevant obstacles were grouped and updated, proposing eight main recommendations.
• Provided general requirements for C-UAS, airport and ATM, as well as detection and neutralization technologies, interfaces with external systems.
• Includes an update of ASPRID’s process model, proposing an initial implementation of the main interactions between actors and the external systems.
WP5 Communication, Exploitation and Dissemination activities of the project supported its development through relevant events and meetings with U-space and C-UAS community.
WP6 Management and Coordination ensured the consecution of objectives on time, on quality and on budget.
• Development of a methodological framework, tools and a detailed workflow that permits the execution of a risk assessment of airport drone intrusions.
• Elicitation of 120 requirements for the design of a scalable solution that, tuned to each specific airport, responds to each drone threat scenario.
• Development and validation of:
- An operational concept and architecture that permits increasing situational awareness and supports drone incident management.
- A new operational procedure with key actors’ new roles and responsibilities to manage drones intrusions.
- A set of software tools and a simulation environment used to validate the envisaged operational concept and procedures.
• Identification of regulatory obstacles and definition of recommendations for future regulations regarding the development of an airport protection system from intruding drones.
ASPRID's results have achieved TLR2. They could be exploited in the following ways:
• Understand drone threats and analyze how airport operations are degraded in case of drone intrusions.
• Project continuation to a higher maturity.
• Promote the development of regulations to support C-UAS deployment in the airport environment.
ASPRID’s work performed is described regarding the WPs hereunder:
WP1 Scenarios and Study Cases Definition:
• Provided an analysis about off-nominal scenarios regarding drone intrusions in airports.
• Reported the historical data analysis regarding the presence of drones near airports.
• Provided an operational vulnerability assessment of the nominal airport operations.
• Provided an event tree analysis with the related flows in the tree.
• Specified the critical operational list.
• Defined risk scenarios, on the basis of the operational risk assessment.
• Provided the definition and the preliminary design of a Decision Support System to manage the reference threat scenario.
WP2 System / Solution Definition:
• Produced operational requirements from the CNS, airport, and ATC’s point of view.
• Identified possible types of countermeasures and sensors.
• Provided a description of ASPRID’s operational concept and architecture.
• Description of:
-The Detection, Identification and Tracking mechanisms.
- The Alert, Procedures and Decision System.
- How the ASPRID system facilitates the response and neutralization phase.
- The decision and support system, which helps the ASPRID user to choose the optimal countermeasures.
WP3 System Integration and Validation:
• Analyzed all the requirements elicited in the project, comparing them with the proposed architecture to assess what requirements were completely fulfilled.
• Described the assessment methodology, the simulation approach, and the assessment of results.
• Provided an estimation of reference performance metrics belonging to the following KPAs: safety, time performance, workload, and capacity.
• Provided a technical documentation of the software used for ASPRID validation activities.
• Assessed the effects of the ASPRID solution found in the Gaming Exercise.
WP4 Regulation Assessment:
• Listed and proposed evolutions of current regulations for protecting airports from drones.
• Provided a set of requirements derived from regulation analysis applicable to the systems protecting the airports from drones as ASPRID.
• Identified regulatory obstacles to the deployment of these systems at airports. Thereafter relevant obstacles were grouped and updated, proposing eight main recommendations.
• Provided general requirements for C-UAS, airport and ATM, as well as detection and neutralization technologies, interfaces with external systems.
• Includes an update of ASPRID’s process model, proposing an initial implementation of the main interactions between actors and the external systems.
WP5 Communication, Exploitation and Dissemination activities of the project supported its development through relevant events and meetings with U-space and C-UAS community.
WP6 Management and Coordination ensured the consecution of objectives on time, on quality and on budget.
The solution is beyond C-UAS systems detecting, identifying, and tracking drones; because it assesses the threat caused by the incursion, monitors drone data, produces zone trespassing alerts and supports communication with the concerned actors. Additionally, it provides a coordinated mitigation operational procedure and, if deemed safe and possible, it supports neutralization actions.
ASPRID solution has the potential to improve airport operations resilience while maintaining airport safety and support U-space as a data source for both uncooperative and cooperative drones. Additionally, ASPRID potential impacts include:
- Reduction of airport operational cost due to drone intrusion disruption.
- New market opportunities and the use of drone for airport services.
- New regulation, standards and research in relation to airport protection systems from drones.
ASPRID solution has the potential to improve airport operations resilience while maintaining airport safety and support U-space as a data source for both uncooperative and cooperative drones. Additionally, ASPRID potential impacts include:
- Reduction of airport operational cost due to drone intrusion disruption.
- New market opportunities and the use of drone for airport services.
- New regulation, standards and research in relation to airport protection systems from drones.