Remote Control Towers - Cork and Shannon

Saab To Test Remote Control Towers

By Paul Bertorelli

Two of Ireland's busiest airports, Cork and Shannon, will soon get remote control towers operated from a third airport in Dublin in what appears to be the first operational full-scale test of remote tower technology. The Swedish aerospace and industrial conglomerate Saab is providing the equipment and overseeing the test program. According to Saab, the remote sensor suites at Cork and Shannon will be operated from a central location at Dublin, first in parallel with manned towers and later as stand-alone remote operations, at least during some times of the day. The three airports, although small by international standards, account for more than 20 million passenger enplanements a year. SAAB said the system consists of an array of high-definition cameras with pan-tilt-zoom capability as well as meteorological sensors, microphones, signal light guns and other devices that all can be operated remotely from the Dublin tower center. The camera array is installed on a physical tower, along with other sensors, and a photo provided by Saab depicts controllers seeing a panoramic view of the airport through more than a dozen large monitors providing what appears to be a virtual control tower window view. Saab claims the remote tower gives controllers the same capabilities to separate traffic and provide services as a normal visual tower would. The system includes an electronic flight strip system, which replaces the traditional paper strips controllers use to summarize data on the aircraft they're working. Saab told AVweb that the remote system is capable of runway separation and sequencing if equipped with the right sensors, but this isn't part of the contract it sold to the Irish Aviation Authority. As part of the European Union's so-called SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) project, the system is supposed to test the concept of a single site or controller overseeing many airports. IAA believes the potential for such technology is greatest at smaller regional airports where the volume of traffic is insufficient to justify the cost of a manned tower.