The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has successfully completed operational trials showing that one air traffic controller can simultaneously handle traffic at two low-capacity airports, using remote tower technologies.
“We believe this work represents the world’s first trial of multiple tower remote operations by a single air traffic controller,” said Peter Kearney, the IAA’s director of ATM operations and strategy.
The finding follows more than 50 Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) Joint Undertaking-sponsored operational trials carried out from June through August at the Cork and Shannon airports in Ireland. Saab Digital Air Traffic Solutions built and installed the remote tower equipment and a remote tower center (RTC). The IAA provides air traffic control services for the Cork, Shannon and Dublin airports.
Pending the development of operational procedures and the completion of a safety assessment, regulatory approval and “stakeholder consultation,” Kearney said, “It will almost certainly be possible to allow one controller to simultaneously provide air traffic management services for more than one low-volume aerodrome.”
Saab installed the RTC and remote equipment in March 2016. For the Cork and Shannon airports, that included a tower structure and “crow’s nest” with high definition cameras; pan-tilt-zoom cameras; microphones; light guns; and supporting equipment at each airport.
Data from the Cork and Shannon remote towers is sent via ground communications networks to the Dublin RTC, where controllers direct operations at both airports. The RTCs include controller workstations with video feeds, as well as a semicircular wall of high0definition video monitors serving as an analog for the tower cab windows at whichever airport is selected. Some advanced visual features built into the Dublin RTC include integrated track and label information as well as the ability to digitally enhance imagery.
Sweden in April 2015 certified the first operational remote tower and RTC—developed by Saab and Swedish air navigation service provider LFV—at the Ornskoldsvik airport on Sweden’s Baltic coast. The RTC is located at the Sundsvall-Timra Airport. By 2018, Saab hopes to control multiple Swedish airports, including Ornskoldsvik and Linkoping City and Timra from the Timra RTC. The company also continues to operate a demonstration system being evaluated by FAA controllers at the Leesburg Executive Airport in Virginia.
At Cork and Shannon last summer, the IAA started the trials with low traffic levels to emulate nighttime operations, then increased the traffic levels to investigate how much air traffic a single controller could handle.