Connected Places Catapult and Glasgow Airport have been in collaboration since 2023 to create the Connected Airport Living Lab, based at the airport, which is designed to be a collaborative R&D asset used to showcase UK-developed innovations, attract investment, and act as an innovation catalyst for the aviation sector. It is also used for testing and demonstrations of a diverse range of innovations aimed at addressing challenges facing the aviation sector, notably the decarbonisation of ground and air operations, the adoption of hydrogen, automation, data analytics and to enhance passenger experience.

In 2025, the Living Lab partnership focussed on the inspection of paved airside surfaces and how innovation might make this process more efficient. Pavements and associated infrastructure are a critical asset to the safe and performant operation of commercial airports. Traditionally, airports have relied on long-established manual inspection routines to monitor pavement health, safeguard operational reliability, and ensure full compliance with prescribed aviation safety standards.

This project brought together a diverse group of collaborators, technologies, and methodologies to evaluate the impact that next-generation pavement monitoring solutions can create in a live airport environment. With a comprehensive approach, it aimed to:

• Evaluate different automated inspection technologies.
• Compare these methods against traditional manual inspections.
• Assess their operational feasibility, data accuracy, and cost-effectiveness.
• Generate insights that can inform wider adoption.

As the aviation sector evolves, traditional pavement inspection methods are increasingly challenged by operational, regulatory, and environmental pressures. Airports must now manage higher traffic volumes, tighter turnaround times, and stricter requirements for safety and compliance, all while contending with limited resources, budgets and accelerating pavement wear. Despite their widespread use, the approach of inspecting pavements manually has notable drawbacks and are difficult to scale for frequent or large-area assessments. Maintenance often remains reactive, triggered by visible damage rather than early warning signs. Furthermore, the infrequency of inspections limits visibility into upcoming maintenance needs, making it challenging to plan proactive interventions.

This report summarises the learnings from the project as well as the key points from the individual supplier trial reports.

Automated Pavement Inspection and Monitoring trial: Connected Airport Living Lab

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