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Transport/
Specialized fields/
AirportsAirports, measured on the field and beyond the fence.
An airport answers to the aviation weather service on its runways and to its neighbours for noise and air. Field weather sensors, wind lidar, noise monitors and air quality stations report to one record that operations, the environment team and the community can trust, alongside the official meteorological service.
Plan a deploymentHow it worksStation Builder- Industry
- Transport
- Measurements
- 5
- Sources cited
- 7
Transport · Airports
The runway and the town
On the runway, wind, visibility and surface decide whether aircraft land and how soon snow must be cleared. Beyond the fence, each departure is heard in homes and schools. Airports that measure both, beside the official weather service, run their operations on evidence and answer their neighbours with it.
What is measured
Apron, runway, noise and air
Stations on the apron and de-icing pads read weather for ground operations; surface sensors read runway and taxiway condition; lidar near runway ends scans the wind in support of the meteorological service. Noise monitors in communities record each event, and air monitors measure terminal and boundary air.
- Instruments
- Apron weather · Runway surface sensors · Wind lidar · Noise monitors · Air-quality monitors
The base node
A node behind the security gateway
The airport’s edge node reads every point, signs each value and passes data out only through the security gateway. It matches each noise event to its flight, checks air against limits and sends apron and surface conditions to operations, leaving official reports to the meteorological service.
Radio and links
Fibre airside, cellular in town
The airport’s fibre reaches airside equipment rooms and carries lidar and surface sensors. Its private network reaches apron and stand points without trenching across live areas, and noise monitors in homes and schools report over the public cellular network. Each path is supervised from the airport.
- Links
- Fibre · Private LTE · Public cellular
How it works
From a departure to a noise report
A noise monitor under the flight path records an event and sends it over cellular. The edge node matches it to the departing flight’s track, checks it against the noise policy and adds it to the community report. A complaint about that departure is answered from the same record.
From order to operation · Order
Scope the airfield and the community
The scope reads the aerodrome layout, the meteorological service’s arrangements, the winter plan, the noise action plan and the environmental permit. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns the point plan, the airside and community network design, the integration with airport systems and a price per point and per service.
Plan a deploymentFrom order to operation · Survey
Survey under airside escort
Crews survey airside under escort, checking obstacle limits, apron and stand sites, runway sensor positions and lidar sites with the meteorological service. In the communities they find host sites for noise monitors away from local noise sources, with consent from each host.
From order to operation · Permits
Airside, obstacles and hosts
Every airside site is approved against the aerodrome’s obstacle limits and safeguarding, and work is booked in the airport’s permit system. The meteorological service agrees how lidar data supports its work. Each community host signs an agreement. Every approval is kept with the point it covers.
From order to operation · Build
Build for the airside
Weather, surface, noise and air sensors, lidar, nodes and the security gateway are built, tested together and enrolled with their identities. Frangible mountings are used where the aerodrome requires them, and every part is labelled for its stand, runway or community site.
Open the Station BuilderFrom order to operation · Install
Install in closed windows
Airside installation happens in runway and apron closures at night. Surface sensors are set in the pavement, stations on stands and de-icing pads, lidar near runway ends; noise monitors are mounted at host homes and schools. Every point is located and photographed.
From order to operation · Commission
Check against references and flights
Each device proves its identity behind the security gateway. Weather is checked against the meteorological service’s reference, surface sensors against a manual assessment, noise monitors with a calibrator and against matched flights, and air monitors against reference methods. Only then is each point added to the published reports.
From order to operation · Operate
Run the airport and answer the community
Operations see apron weather and runway surface for de-icing and clearing, the meteorological service sees lidar wind in support of its reports, and the environment team publishes noise and air reports with flights matched. Every complaint is answered from the same record.
From order to operation · Maintain
Calibrate to the method
Noise monitors are calibrated as the method requires, air monitors serviced on schedule, surface sensors checked before each winter and lidar maintained with the meteorological service. Work is booked in closures, and every change is recorded. Spares are kept ready, so a monitor is swapped the same day.
Book field servicesData products
For operations, forecasters and neighbours
Airport operations and winter teams receive apron weather and runway surface; the meteorological service receives lidar wind in support of its reports; environment teams, communities and regulators receive noise reports with matched flights and air quality reports. Each product carries its calibration and siting.
See the data productsEvidence
Records for regulators and residents
Every reading, event and report is signed and kept. Aerodrome equipment respects the international aerodrome rules, weather support follows the meteorological service’s practice, noise monitoring follows the ISO method for airports, and air and noise follow the European directives, so a resident or regulator can check them.
- Drawn against
- ICAO Annex 3 · ICAO Annex 14 · ISO 20906 · Directive 2002/49/EC · Directive 2008/50/EC
What you get
Hybrid air-quality networks
Reference analysers plus calibrated low-cost nodes, with co-location calibration and an open-data interface. Delivered as managed service and data licence, for cities, environment agencies, industrial sites. Scale: City-wide to national. Service levels are written as numbers you can measure on your own dashboard.
Talk to salesNext step
Plan airports with us
Tell us the site, the measurements and the rules it answers to. We reply with a survey proposal, a design and a scope for airports. An engineer replies with a survey proposal and a scope, and the plan grows from one site to the network you need, at your pace.
Plan a deploymentOpen the Station BuilderOpen the Studio
01The place and its hazards
Where it runs, and what can go wrong.
Operating contextAviation weather at aerodromes is provided by the designated meteorological service under international rules. Airport operators also need their own measurements: apron and stand weather, de-icing conditions, wildlife and runway surface, aircraft noise around the airport and air quality for permits and communities. Work on the airside is tightly controlled.
Hazards
- Wind shear and low visibility on approach
- Snow, ice and contamination on runways and aprons
- Aircraft noise disturbing communities
- Air quality near terminals and the boundary
- Equipment on the airside becoming an obstacle
02What must be measured
What, where, how often, and under which rules.
Each measurement names where it is taken, how often, and the public standard or regulation behind it. Numbers in the sources column open the cited source below.
| Measurement | Where | Cadence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apron and stand weather | Stands, de-icing pads and apron areas | Continuous | 12 |
| Wind profile and shear support | Lidar near runway ends, alongside the meteorological service’s systems | Continuous scans | 3 |
| Runway surface condition | Embedded and remote sensors on runways and taxiways | Continuous in winter | 4 |
| Aircraft noise | Monitoring terminals in communities under flight paths | Continuous, events matched to flights | 56 |
| Air quality | Terminal areas, aprons and the boundary | Continuous | 7 |
03The observation stack
From one base unit to a network.
The same blocks at every scale: instruments and a base node, a site with its radio, a fleet run as one, and a network federated on the open protocol.
- 01
Base unit
A field point: weather, surface, noise or air sensors read by an edge node behind the airport’s security gateway.
Build a station → - 02
Site
An airport: points on the apron and runways, lidar near runway ends and noise monitors in communities, on fibre and the private network.
Plan a site → - 03
Fleet
Every airport of an operator run as one fleet, with one calibration process and one record.
Managed offers → - 04
Network
Airports, meteorological services, communities and regulators exchange noise, air and weather records through open standards.
The open protocol →
- 01Compact weather station
- 02Lidar scanner
- 03Acoustic sensor
- 04Air quality monitor
- 05Edge node (Wedge)
- 06Zero-trust gateway
- 07Fibre terminal
Radio and links
Fibre
The airport’s fibre reaches the airside equipment rooms and carries lidar and surface sensors.
Radio and links
Private LTE
Airport private networks reach apron and stand points without trenching across live areas.
Radio and links
Public cellular
Noise monitors in the communities report over the public network from homes and schools.
Edge computeThe airport’s edge node matches each noise event to its flight, checks air quality against limits, and passes wind and surface conditions to operations, while the official meteorological reports stay with the meteorological service.
PowerAirside points run on airport power with batteries for outages; community noise monitors run on the host’s power or solar.
04How it works
From the instrument to the product.
One observation’s path, tier by tier, with the interface on every link and a bill of materials below; then how the one node grows to a site, a fleet and federated networks.
Airports: data path
– of 07
01 Instruments Measurement with sensor identity andcalibration 02 Node – Wrap in an observation envelope with timequality– Measure quality and uncertainty, attachquality flags– Buffer locally (store-and-forward when thelink drops) 03 Local network 04 Backhaul Commit with transactional outbox andpublish, delivered at least once 05 Site Consumer inbox deduplicates and applieseach record once into governed data 06 Data store Governed product through API, map orexport, correction-aware 07 Products OGC SensorThings APIISO 20906ICAO Annex 3 01 Compact weather station SDI-12 · RS-485 · Ethernet 02 Lidar scanner Ethernet · USB 03 Acoustic sensor SDI-12 · RS-485 · Ethernet 04 Air quality monitor SDI-12 · RS-485 · Ethernet 05 Edge node (Wedge) Ethernet · Fibre · USB · RS-485 ·BMC 06 Zero-trust gateway Ethernet · Fibre 07 Fibre terminal Fibre · Ethernet Site MQTT 5 with Sparkplug B Governed data store Versioned, correction-aware Apron weather and runway surface Lidar wind in support of reports Noise reports with matched flights Air quality reports RS-485 Ethernet Ethernet RS-485 Ethernet Fibre Fibre| Item | Equipment | Data ports | Protocols | Power in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Compact weather stationAll-in-one or compact station for temperature, humidity, pressure, wind and rain at a site. | SDI-12RS-485Ethernet | SDI-12, Modbus, MQTT 5, OGC SensorThings API | 12 V DC |
| 02 | Lidar scannerTerrestrial or mobile lidar for 3D scans of terrain, structures and vegetation. | EthernetUSB | MQTT 5 | 12 V DC |
| 03 | Acoustic sensorSound level meter, acoustic event detector or infrasound array element. | SDI-12RS-485Ethernet | SDI-12, Modbus, MQTT 5, OGC SensorThings API | 12 V DC |
| 04 | Air quality monitorParticulate and gas monitor (PM, NO2, O3, CO, SO2) for outdoor or indoor air. | SDI-12RS-485Ethernet | SDI-12, Modbus, MQTT 5, OGC SensorThings API | 12 V DC |
| 05 | Edge node (Wedge)Rugged edge node that boots from signed media, attests itself and establishes a site cell from little or no infrastructure. | EthernetFibreUSBRS-485BMC | MQTT 5, DMTF Redfish, IEEE 1588 PTP, NTP with NTS, OPC UA | 12 V DC, 24 V DC, 48 V DC, AC mains |
| 06 | Zero-trust gatewayGateway that terminates encrypted tunnels, enforces segmentation and gates every flow by identity and policy. | EthernetFibre | — | 12 V DC, AC mains |
| 07 | Fibre terminalOptical network terminal or media converter that lands fibre backhaul at a site. | FibreEthernet | IEEE 1588 PTP | 12 V DC, 48 V DC, AC mains |
How it scales
01 Instruments Arbitrary qualified sensors and instruments whosemeasurements are ingested with calibration, units,geometry, time, custody and uncertainty. ×n 02 Node The minimum useful deployable unit: server, ruggedappliance, radio node, sensor gateway, satelliteterminal, AI, scientific, vehicle or virtual node. Node Node agent 03 Site The minimum independently operable localgovernance and failure domain: one or more nodesplus local network, identity, policy, evidence,storage, products and operator surfaces.SITE
Node Node Node ×n 04 Cluster An optional scale or specialisation domain forscheduling, shared storage, accelerators or datalocality.CLUSTER
×n 05 Fleet Coordinates plans, acknowledgements,convergence evidence, update campaigns andcorrection propagation across nodes and sites.FLEET
Fleet controller ×n 06 Federation An exchange of products, capabilities, events orwork across approved, independently administeredtrust domains, using explicit trust, policy,data-locality, version and correction contracts.TRUST DOMAIN
TRUST DOMAIN
TRUST DOMAIN
×n Verifier Applications Data in the field Telemetry Control Data upstream Control Data upstream Control Exchange Evidence Events Exchange- Data in the field
- MQTT 5 with Sparkplug B; connectors for LoRaWAN, OPC UA and instrument buses.
- Telemetry
- OpenTelemetry OTLP.
- Control
- TLS 1.3 with mutual authentication; protobuf messages over gRPC or HTTP/2.
- Data upstream
- At-least-once publication with repeat-safe keys over the control channel or NATS JetStream; QUIC MAY be used on lossy links.
- Evidence
- DSSE-signed in-toto statements; SLSA provenance; SCITT transparency receipts.
- Events
- Event envelopes mapped to CloudEvents 1.0; channels described in AsyncAPI 3.
- Exchange
- OpenAPI 3.1; the OGC API family; SensorThings; STAC; WIS 2.0.
05From order to operation
Every step, from the first call to a running site.
The same crew and the same record carry the work from scope to maintenance.
- 01 Order
Scope the airfield and the community
The scope reads the aerodrome layout, the meteorological service’s arrangements, the winter plan, the noise action plan and the environmental permit. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns the point plan, the airside and community network design, the integration with airport systems and a price per point and per service. 36
- 02 Survey
Survey under airside escort
Crews survey airside under escort, checking obstacle limits, apron and stand sites, runway sensor positions and lidar sites with the meteorological service. In the communities they find host sites for noise monitors away from local noise sources, with consent from each host. 5
- 03 Permits
Airside, obstacles and hosts
Every airside site is approved against the aerodrome’s obstacle limits and safeguarding, and work is booked in the airport’s permit system. The meteorological service agrees how lidar data supports its work. Each community host signs an agreement. Every approval is kept with the point it covers.
- 04 Build
Build for the airside
Weather, surface, noise and air sensors, lidar, nodes and the security gateway are built, tested together and enrolled with their identities. Frangible mountings are used where the aerodrome requires them, and every part is labelled for its stand, runway or community site. 4
- 05 Install
Install in closed windows
Airside installation happens in runway and apron closures at night. Surface sensors are set in the pavement, stations on stands and de-icing pads, lidar near runway ends; noise monitors are mounted at host homes and schools. Every point is located and photographed.
- 06 Commission
Check against references and flights
Each device proves its identity behind the security gateway. Weather is checked against the meteorological service’s reference, surface sensors against a manual assessment, noise monitors with a calibrator and against matched flights, and air monitors against reference methods. Only then is each point added to the published reports.
- 07 Operate
Run the airport and answer the community
Operations see apron weather and runway surface for de-icing and clearing, the meteorological service sees lidar wind in support of its reports, and the environment team publishes noise and air reports with flights matched. Every complaint is answered from the same record. 57
- 08 Maintain
Calibrate to the method
Noise monitors are calibrated as the method requires, air monitors serviced on schedule, surface sensors checked before each winter and lidar maintained with the meteorological service. Work is booked in closures, and every change is recorded. Spares are kept ready, so a monitor is swapped the same day.
06Data products and integration
What it delivers, to whom, and into which systems.
Data products
- Apron weather and runway surfaceAirport operations and winter teams
- Lidar wind in support of reportsThe meteorological service
- Noise reports with matched flightsEnvironment teams, communities and regulators
- Air quality reportsEnvironment teams and permit authorities
Integration
- Airport operations databaseApron and surface conditions are delivered to operations and the winter plan.
- Flight dataNoise events are matched to flight tracks the airport already holds.
- Public reportingNoise and air reports are published through open formats where the airport agrees.
Exchanged through OGC SensorThings API, ISO 20906, ICAO Annex 3.
07Questions buyers ask
Before you scope it.
Does this replace the official aviation weather?
No. The designated meteorological service provides it; our data supports operations and the service where it agrees.
Is equipment safe on the airside?
Sites are approved against obstacle limits, and mountings are frangible where required.
Can the community see noise data?
Yes, where the airport publishes it; events are matched to flights.
When is equipment installed?
In runway and apron closures booked through the airport’s permit system.
08Resources
The sources behind this page.
Public standards, regulations and guidance, cited where they apply. Each applies only where its jurisdiction or scope does.
- 1Guide to Instruments and Methods of Observation (WMO-No. 8)World Meteorological Organization
- 2Guide on Meteorological Observing and Information Distribution Systems at Aerodromes (WMO-No. 731)World Meteorological Organization
- 3Annex 3 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation: Meteorological Service for International Air NavigationInternational Civil Aviation Organization
- 4Annex 14 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation: AerodromesInternational Civil Aviation Organization
- 5ISO 20906: Acoustics, unattended monitoring of aircraft sound in the vicinity of airportsInternational Organization for Standardization
- 6Directive 2002/49/EC relating to the assessment and management of environmental noiseEuropean Union · 2002
- 7Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality and cleaner air for EuropeEuropean Union · 2008
09Related
Use cases and solutions.
SolutionHybrid air-quality networks
Reference analysers plus calibrated low-cost nodes, with co-location calibration and an open-data interface.Solutions for transport →SolutionSensing as a Service
Observation networks designed, installed, operated and maintained for a monthly fee: weather, hydromet, air, seismic and environmental stations, with data delivered under a licence.Solutions for transport →SolutionEnvironmental and permit monitoring
Emissions, water quality, noise and dust monitoring for permit conditions, with traceable calibration and evidence bundles.Solutions for transport →10Transport: specialized fields
Other fields of this industry.
Specialized fieldRoads and bridges
Road weather and surface state, traffic counts, bridge vibration and scour, and cameras along the corridor, on cellular and fibre to the traffic centre, for safer winters and evidence-based maintenance.The full field →Specialized fieldRailways
Earthworks and structures, track-side weather and flooding, rail temperature and cameras at level crossings, on the railway’s own mobile network and fibre, for fewer speed restrictions and safer lines.The full field →Specialized fieldPorts and terminals
Wind for cranes, water levels and depths, air quality and noise at the boundary, and cameras over the quays, on a private 5G network across the terminal and fibre to the port’s systems.The full field →Specialized fieldRoad and rail tunnels
Air quality and visibility, air flow and ventilation, fire detection, cameras and radio coverage inside the tube, on a radiating cable and fibre with an industrial network kept apart from the internet.The full field →Specialized fieldUrban transit
Passenger counts, station air and climate, escalator and lift condition, traction energy and cameras for metros, trams and buses, on private 5G and fibre, with real-time information riders can use.The full field →Specialized fieldInland waterways and locks
Water levels and depths, flows at weirs, wind and visibility, and cameras at locks and bridges, on LoRaWAN and cellular along the river, feeding the river information services skippers use.The full field →Bring us the site.
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