Pearson Airport is ground zero in the future of autonomous airfield inspection

Several leading tech companies have worked together to create an autonomous vehicle that can be used to secure airport airfields and streamline operations.

The Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA), Cisco, Honda, Illuminex AI, Genwave and Eagle Aerospace collaborated on the project.

The autonomous vehicle was on display behind the airfield of Toronto Pearson International Airport on Tuesday. In a demonstration, the group showed off how the vehicle can monitor a pre-set area safely.

“[It] leverages the latest in artificial intelligence technologies to be able to navigate our runways, our taxiways, or fence lines, and scan and detect for different safety hazards by real-time alerts and notifications for us to deal with or remediate,” Brian Tossan, GTAA’s CTO, said.

Attended a pretty cool demo this morning behind Pearson Airport’s airfield. The GTAA, @Cisco, @Honda, @genwaveTech, and @TeamEagleLtd1 have collaborated to create on autonomous inspection vehicle to monitor ground operations. pic.twitter.com/954p6GonSt

— Nida (@nida_zafar) October 17, 2023

But monitoring an airport’s facility isn’t the autonomous vehicle’s only possible use case, as assisting in snow removal and baggage handling are other possible utilizations.

Cisco provided the connectivity for the project through its Ultra-Reliable Wireless Backhaul. Genwave used its RF Engineering design to integrate and support the wireless platform.

IlluminexAI uses its VisionAI inspection solutions to provide real-time assessments and send alerts for any hazards. Eagle Aerospace utilized its AIROps software, allowing the vehicle to log discrepancies as they appear.

Honda provided the vehicle itself, which is fully electric and off-road. Operators can control the vehicle manually through a remote control or autonomously. Through Honda’s software system, operators can develop and set routes for the vehicle to follow.

At this time, the project is a pilot and doesn’t have an implementation date. However, Brian Freed, COO of Eagle Aerospace, said the earliest it could possibly come into operation is 2025.

“Airfields are focused on safety, so you’d have a significant period of testing that was well supervised,” Freed said. “Over the course of the next 12 months, our goal is to do significant testing, and continue to expand the inspection modules to a wider array of opportunities within the area.”