ABACAS - Autonomous Baggage Automation for Changi Airport Stakeholders

ABACAS will use self-driving vehicle technology to enable safer and more efficient baggage handling for the aviation industry.

Despite the current downturn due to the Global Pandemic, worldwide air passenger numbers are estimated to double in the next 18 years. Airports all face the challenge of using existing buildings and infrastructure more efficiently to handle this dramatic increase, and the subsequent increased volumes of baggage.

Today's baggage handling systems typically start in a hall full of sorting equipment to bring checked bags together onto a conveyor system where tags are scanned, enabling bags to be manually packed into Unit Load Device (ULD) containers. ULDs are then pushed onto trailers, called dollies, that are pulled in trains of 4 by an electric tug. The efficiency of such systems is limited by the physical space available inside the baggage hall, which is typically located underneath the main terminal buildings, with no room for expansion. Furthermore, baggage handlers are working in conditions best described as being 'hostile' from a health and safety perspective. They compete for space with fuellers, in-flight catering vehicles, tugs, engineering vehicles, and the plane itself, and in extreme conditions of light (night and day), temperature (summer and winter) and noise from the plethora of vehicles and machines.

The ABACAS project will overcome these challenges by developing technology to turn every trailer into an autonomous dolly (AutoDolly). This will enable many more ULDs to be moved within the same available space, and in a much more efficient manner, as each can move uniquely. 8 autonomous dollies with their own ULDs could be accommodated in the same space as a tug and 4 traditional trailers, leading immediately to a potential doubling of capacity.

ABACAS will be delivered by RDM, a Coventry based SME, internationally recognised as a leader in autonomous technology, supported by Changi Airports Group (CAG), operator of Singapore international airport and Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), a pioneer of aircraft & airside operational safety and implementation of advanced technology. The project will build upon new ideas and technology arising from previous Innovate UK projects; SWARM and T-CABs. This UK based intellectual property will be used as the foundation for further innovation in airside autonomous systems. Through this project, RDM will take to market the electric AutoDolly systems that will enhance the competitiveness and robustness of the UK's aviation sector and make working airside safer.