Aviation: autonomous systems for more security
AI Analysis
The article discusses the development of autonomous systems for enhancing security at critical infrastructures, particularly airports. Mönchengladbach Airport is set to become a hub for testing these technologies, with field tests for security robots and drone-assisted surveillance starting in 2025.
Key Takeaways
- Mönchengladbach Airport is a key innovation hub for autonomous security systems.
- The KRITIS Umbrella Act will enhance critical infrastructure protection starting January 2026.
- XPONENTIAL Europe will showcase uncrewed systems and robotics in February 2025.
- Securiton GmbH and Germandrones are leading companies in the German drone security market.
- The European Drone Forum will facilitate dialogue between the UAS industry and regulators.
Why It Matters
The strategic development of autonomous systems at Mönchengladbach Airport highlights the increasing importance of counter-UAS technologies in protecting critical infrastructures. The collaboration between industry leaders and regulatory bodies at events like XPONENTIAL Europe and the European Drone Forum underscores the growing focus on integrating advanced security solutions into national and international frameworks.
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Aviation: autonomous systems for more security Airport Mönchengladbach (MGL) is the innovation hub
This article is available in the following languages:
- **Deutsch
- English Photo: ©United Robotics Group *Critical infrastructures are vulnerable, potential threats are real and airports have been on high alert ever since climate activists started glueing themselves to runways. The new KRITIS Umbrella Act for the protection of critical infrastructures aims to ensure greater security and will enter into force on 1 January 2026. The real-life laboratory for property protection and perimeter surveillance for entire Germany is Mönchengladbach Airport (MGL). Here field tests for autonomous security systems using security robots and drone-assisted property surveillance will start from spring 2025. These are topics that will alsobe reflected at XPONENTIAL Europe,**the trade fair for uncrewed systems and robotics held in Düsseldorf from 18 to 20 February 2025. *It weighs 73 kilogrammes and is equipped with four tyres with strong profiles allowing it to also move in rough terrain. It reacts extremely sensitively to everything it spots on its route. Fitted with a heat sensor and optoelectronic ultra-vision it detects heat signatures of people or fire, even at night during its fence patrols. In such an event uRun, manufactured by the United Robotics Group from Bochum, immediately notifies the control centre: “The first official trial patrols along the 1.5 km fencing are scheduled for early 2025,” says David Osten, the innovation manager of Mönchengladbach Airport. Perimeter protection along the fencing of airports is a security-critical area. It is really more like peri-kilometre protection: the fence made of aluminium and video-surveyed at the biggest continental airport in Frankfurt is about 40 kilometres long – just as long is the fencing around Germany’s second biggest airport Munich; in Düsseldorf the fence is 13 kilometres long, in Mönchengladbach 8 km. The fact that aviation colleagues at these major locations are looking to the Lower Rhine is mainly because an innovation hub for research and development in aviation technology and air mobility has been established here: ““MGL has developed into a central real-l