Official kick-off of the “Airport Technology Lab”

After successfully submitting a project proposal at “Kansen voor West II”, three faculties from TU Delft (AE-, EEMCS-, and the IDE-faculty) and more than 10 partners (Rotterdam The Hague Innovation Airport, RTHA, Municipality of Rotterdam, multiple businesses and knowledge institutes) will work on creating an “Airport Technology Lab” (ATL) at Rotterdam The Hague Airport (RTHA).

The ATL is a fieldlab with a focus on development of data-related innovations in the airport domain.  A unique element of the ATL is the multi-  and inter-disciplinary set-up.

The main activities for the next 3 years include:

1. Development of fieldlab infrastructure to create a unique test & demonstration environment at Rotterdam The Hague Airport. An important element here is the “Open Airport Platform”.
2. Execution of various innovation projects within 4 physical areas (airside, baggage, terminal & landside) and the Open Airport Platform, leading to improvements in safety, capacity, efficiency, resilience, passenger comfort, etc. on an airport system level. Specific TU Delft projects focus on radar technology applications such as weather now-casting, agent-based modeling to improve terminal and baggage processes, and machine learning to improve airside planning. 
3. Set-up of a knowledge development & exchange program, where results of the innovation projects are shared and students from multiple education levels work on airport related challenges. In addition, start-ups will receive business support via the accelerator program.

TU Delft participates in all above activities, both from a research and education point of view. Several research positions (PhD’s and Postdocs) are funded with this subsidy.
For questions regarding the TU Delft activities within the Airport Technology Lab, please contact Elise Bavelaar (M.E.Bavelaar@tudelft.nl).

[1] The subsidies granted by 'Kansen voor West II' are partly funded by EFRO:  “Europees Fonds voor Regionale Ontwikkeling”.

[1] The ATL project is considered as one of the projects from RHIA, which is the innovation organisation of Rotterdam The Hague Airport and Gemeente Rotterdam. More info can be found here.