OSLO — Norwegian airport operator Avinor has expanded operational deployment of autonomous airfield snow sweepers at Oslo Airport Gardermoen following successful high-intensity field trials during severe winter weather.
The autonomous sweepers, measuring 20 meters in length and 5.5 meters in plowing width, operate using high-precision RTK-GPS guidance, LiDAR sensors, and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) wireless mesh communication. Fleets of up to four units clear runway and taxiway surfaces in synchronous echelon formation, clearing a 3,600-meter runway in under eight minutes.
Avinor confirmed that autonomous operations maintained an airport on-time departure rate of 88.4% during sustained sub-zero snowfall, setting a global benchmark for harsh-climate airport automation.