Monitoring of Airport Runways by Satellite-based Remote Sensing Techniques: a Geostatistical Analysis on Sentinel 1 SAR Data
Authors: Gagliardi Valerio , Trevisani Sebastiano , Bianchini Ciampoli Luca , D’Amico Fabrizio , Alani Amir M. , Benedetto Andrea , Tosti Fabio 
Published: March 2022

&lt;p&gt;Maintenance of airport runways is crucial to comply with strict safety requirements for airport operations and air traffic management [1]. Therefore, monitoring pavement surface defects and irregularities with a high temporal frequency, accuracy and spatial density of information becomes strategic in airport asset management [2-3]. In this context, Multi-Temporal Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (MT-InSAR) techniques are gaining momentum in the assessment and health monitoring of infrastructure assets, proving their viability for the long-term evaluation of ground scatterers. However, the implementation of C-band SAR data as a routine tool in Airport Pavement Management Systems (APMSs) for the accurate measurement of differential displacements on runways is still an open challenge [4]. This research aims to demonstrate the viability of using medium-resolution (C-band) SAR products and their contribution to improve current maintenance strategies in case of localised foundation settlements in airport runways. To this purpose, Sentinel-1A SAR products, available through the European Space Agency (ESA) Copernicus Program, were acquired and processed to monitor displacements on &amp;#8220;Runway n.3&amp;#8221; of the &amp;#8220;L. Da Vinci International Airport&amp;#8221; in Fiumicino, Rome, Italy.A geostatistical study is performed for exploring the spatial data structure and for the interpolation of the Sentinel-1A SAR data in correspondence of ground control points.The analysis provided ample information on the spatial continuity of the Sentinel 1 data, also in comparison with the high-resolution COSMO-SkyMed and the ground-based topographic levelling data, taken as the benchmark.Furthermore, a comparison between the MT-InSAR outcomes from the Sentinel-1A SAR data, interpolated by means of Ordinary Kriging, and the ground-truth topographic levelling data demonstrated the accuracy of the Sentinel 1 data. Results support the effectiveness of using medium-resolution InSAR data as a continuous and long-term routine monitoring tool for millimetre-scale displacements in airport runways. Outcomes of this study can pave the way for the development of more efficient and sustainable maintenance strategies for inclusion in next-generation APMSs. &amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Acknowledgments and fundings: &lt;/strong&gt;The authors acknowledge the European Space Agency (ESA), for providing the Sentinel 1 SAR products for the development of this research. The COSMO-SkyMed Products&amp;#8212;&amp;#169;ASI (Italian Space Agency)- are delivered by ASI under the license to use.This research falls within the National Project &amp;#8220;EXTRA TN&amp;#8221;, PRIN 2017, supported by MIUR. The authors acknowledge funding from the MIUR, in the frame of the &amp;#8220;Departments of Excellence Initiative 2018&amp;#8211;2022&amp;#8221;, attributed to the Department of Engineering of Roma Tre University&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;References&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1]Gagliardi V., Bianchini Ciampoli L., D'Amico F., Tosti F., Alani A. and Benedetto A. &amp;#8220;A Novel Geo-Statistical Approach for Transport Infrastructure Network Monitoring by Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI)&amp;#8221;. In: 2020 IEEE Radar Conference, Florence, Italy, 2020, pp. 1-6&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2]Gagliardi V, Bianchini Ciampoli L, Trevisani S, D&amp;#8217;Amico F, Alani AM, Benedetto A, Tosti F. &quot;Testing Sentinel-1 SAR Interferometry Data for Airport Runway Monitoring: A Geostatistical Analysis&quot;. 2021; 21(17):5769. https://doi.org/10.3390/s21175769&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;[3]Gao, M.; Gong, H.; Chen, B.; Zhou, C.; Chen, W.; Liang, Y.; Shi, M.; Si, Y. &quot;InSAR time-series investigation of long-term ground displacement at Beijing Capital International Airport, China&quot;. Tectonophysics 2016, 691, 271&amp;#8211;281.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;[4]Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Advisory Circular 150/5320-6F, Airport Pavement Design and Evaluation, 2016&lt;/p&gt;