The Purdue University Airport (LAF) opened in 1930 as the first university-owned airport and today remains one of only a handful of airports still owned and operated by a university. Encompassing over 500 acres, the airport is the second busiest airport in the state of Indiana. The airport supports pilot training, university-related aviation needs, private and charter flights and other educational and innovation programs. The airport is planning a terminal upgrade and expansion in 2024 to establish daily commuter air service between West Lafayette and Chicago O’Hare.

The Lab2Life (L2L) platform was established in 2023 through a collaboration between Ericsson, Saab, PRF and Purdue. The L2L platform at the Purdue airport is comprised of an Ericsson Private 5G wireless network that enables advanced aviation solutions and Saab’s airport operations safety platforms called Aerobahn and SAFE.

Saab wanted to evaluate their respective platforms within a wireless environment for future enhancements and other use-case areas outside FAA controlled airspace (i.e., autonomous drones). It is working with Purdue on a variety of other innovation and educational programs to leverage this asset including the potential build-out of digital twins of major international airports for training and simulation.

The Purdue University Airport environment is an ideal setting to develop and evaluate aviation innovation including:

• Safety and security (e.g., object and intrusion detection, and passenger screening);
• Airside operations (e.g., runway operations and turnaround management);
• Terminal operations (e.g., retail and passenger management);
• Landside operations (e.g., parking management and POS);
• New vehicle platforms and operating model in advanced air mobility (e.g., autonomous VTOL);
• Sustainable aviation (e.g., eVTOL and eCTOL).

Like the establishment of the Technology Leadership Advisory Board (TLAB) for the Discovery Park District at Purdue connected community environment, PRF is actively working with Purdue faculty to create a complementary set of companies and aviation partners to develop a future of aviation accelerator.