  It is widely acknowledged that the proliferation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
(UAVs) may lead to serious concerns regarding avionics safety, particularly
when end-users are not adhering to air safety regulations. There are, however,
domains in which UAVs may help to increase the safety of airplanes and the
management of flights and airport resources that often require substantial
human resources. For instance, Paris Charles de Gaulle airport (CDG) has more
than 7,000 staff and supports 30,000 direct jobs for more than 60 million
passengers per year (as of 2016). Indeed, these new systems can be used
beneficially for several purposes, even in sensitive areas like airports. Among
the considered applications are those that suggest using UAVs to enhance safety
of on-ground airplanes; for instance, by collecting (once the aircraft has
landed) data recorded by different systems during the flight (like the sensors
of the Aircraft Data Networks - ADN) or by examining the state of airplane
structure. In this paper, our proposal is to use UAVs, under the control of the
airport authorities, to inventory and track various tagged assets, such as
luggage, supplies required for the flights, and maintenance tools. The aim of
our proposal is to make airport management systems more efficient for
operations requiring inventory and tracking, along with increasing safety
(sensitive assets such as refueling tanks, or sensitive pieces of luggage can
be tracked), thus raising financial profit.
