Thermokon components in Terminal 3 at Frankfurt Airport
Airports –
Room automation for a next-generation airport
Thermokon components in Terminal 3 at Frankfurt Airport
With Terminal 3, Frankfurt Airport has opened up a new dimension in passenger transport. After around ten years of construction, a new passenger terminal has been built in the south of the airport, ranking among Europe’s most significant privately financed infrastructure projects. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on 15 October 2015; the investment amounts to around four billion euros. Since April 2026, Terminal 3 has been expanding Frankfurt Airport in its first development phase with Piers G, H and J, adding capacity for up to 19 million passengers per year.
Where international travellers arrive, depart, wait, work and find their way around every day, building automation has to do more than function reliably in the background. It has to measure precisely, offer convenient operation, integrate seamlessly into higher-level systems and at the same time remain architecturally discreet. This is exactly where Thermokon solutions come into play in Terminal 3: at the interface between function, integration and design.
Sensor technology that integrates seamlessly into terminal operations
Room operating functions were implemented, along with the measurement of CO₂, relative humidity and radiant temperature. The system integrator responsible for the project, Siemens Smart Infrastructure, used components from the Thermokon NOVOS 7 and NOVOS 3 series for this purpose. The devices record relevant room and ambient values and provide them for further processing by the building management system. In combination with Siemens controllers, they contribute to demand-based and efficient operation of the technical systems.
Reliable data is particularly important in a terminal building with large-scale halls, changing passenger flows and different usage areas. Temperature, air quality and humidity are key parameters for ensuring a high level of comfort and enabling efficient system operation. At the same time, intuitive operation must remain possible in selected rooms – for example where airport staff make specific adjustments.
NOVOS 7 and NOVOS 3: user comfort with system connectivity
During product selection, particular emphasis was placed on modern, high-quality design, strong functionality and intuitive user comfort. The images from the project show how unobtrusively the devices integrate into very different environments: into dark wall and glass surfaces in the terminal hall as well as into bright meeting areas overlooking the apron. The technology remains visibly accessible without taking centre stage.
From a practical perspective, interoperability was the decisive factor. Thermokon components integrate seamlessly into existing system landscapes and offer a high level of compatibility with Siemens systems. Added to this is simple and fast parameterisation via smartphone using Bluetooth. This saves time during commissioning and maintenance – a decisive advantage in large-scale projects where schedule reliability, coordination and continuously progressing construction processes are closely interlinked.
When scale becomes a technical challenge
The scale of the new terminal building presented all parties involved with particular challenges. Coordinating numerous trades, integrating building technology into a highly complex overall project and working within a tight time frame required solutions that are plannable, reliable and flexible to handle. Thermokon products were selected, among other reasons, for their proven product quality, simple commissioning and combination of appealing design and technical performance.
“In a project of this scale, every detail counts: the components have to operate reliably, be quick to parameterise and interact smoothly with the higher-level automation system. In combination with our Siemens controllers, the Thermokon solutions met these requirements convincingly,” says Siemens Project Manager Thorsten Ambron.
Reliable building automation for demanding operations
With Terminal 3, Frankfurt Airport has created a building designed for long-term use, high passenger volumes and complex operational processes. The Thermokon components used support these requirements through precise measured value acquisition, flexible parameterisation and open system integration. As a result, they form part of a building automation system that works as unobtrusively as possible in everyday operations – yet becomes tangible exactly where comfort, efficiency and operational reliability come together.
