Protection of airport facilities through radio frequency transparent fences: the SAS project

Nowadays structural design of critical infrastructure cannot be conducted without considering high dynamic loads, which could be induced by man-made malicious actions or natural events. As a consequence, these actions represent a fundamental aspect that influences design of infrastructures and its protection facilities. This issue is surely important in airport structures design, where protection is a primary issue. In December 2006 AMRA, an Italian research centre, with the cooperation of University ”Federico II” of Naples and other technical partners, started the SAS (Security of Airport Structures) project, focusing on this critical topic. End user partner of the project was ENAV, the Italian agency for air traffic control. This is a pilot project with the financial support of European Commission – Directorate General Justice, Freedom and Security, through EPCIP 2006 (European Programme for Critical Infrastructures Protection). The main objective of the project is to study structural systems, like barriers or fences, to protect critical airport infrastructures, as VOR stations, against man-made disruptions. Moreover, these particular elements are required to be transparent to particular radio frequencies to avoid disturbing communications. To obtain high structural performances without interfering with RF airport communications, it is planned that composite elements will be used. A precast solution will be designed to reduce costs of excavation and on site concrete pumping. Structural models will be built to simulate the conditions induced by malicious external actions and the results will be validated by blast tests performed on real elements. Radio frequency transparency of these structures will be also investigated through numerical models and specimens will be tested, to perform electromagnetic characterization at the frequencies of interest.