Invercargill Airport is planned to be the first airport in New Zealand to have its air traffic control tower replaced with a digital system operated from a remote location. On 8 May Airways NZ issued a request for proposal (RFP) seeking a supplier of digital tower technology for the southern airport.
Airways is looking to the technology as a national alternative to bricks-and-mortar towers to provide greater aviation safety, resilience and the option to provide extended levels of services to New Zealand’s regions. The RFP also signals Airways’ intention to implement a digital tower at Auckland International Airport as a back-up to its existing tower by 2020, and a full replacement in the future.
Digital tower technology allows air traffic controllers to direct traffic from a remote location by watching live footage of the aerodrome from high-definition video cameras. The vision is enhanced by surveillance sensors, flight data and augmented reality overlays, providing controllers with a panoramic view of the aerodrome in more detail than is possible with the human eye.
Expected to go live in 2020 following operational tests, Invercargill’s digital tower will operate first from a building on the airport before moving offsite in the future to a centralised hub providing services for a number of regional locations.
Airways conducted a demonstration of Frequentis digital tower technology at Auckland Airport earlier in the year. Getting the digital system up and running in Invercargill will allow Airways to work through the regulatory requirements for a wider roll-out, says Airways CEO Graeme Sumner.
Lithuanian air navigation service provider Oro Navigacija (ON), DLR and Frequentis last month performed a validation exercise for multiple remote towers to test the concept’s operational feasibility. The SESAR 2020 project PJ05, Remote Tower for Multiple Airports, aims to bring the concept of remotely controlled multiple airports to the next maturity level.
In the test setting, one air traffic controller provided air traffic services to three Lithuanian airports simultaneously. In a real-time simulation at the DLR Air Traffic Validation Centre, six Lithuanian controllers managed extensive traffic in a mixed VFR/IFR environment.
They were provided with a newly developed flight strip planning system from Frequentis AG, a threefold radar and a threefold outside view with integrated voice communication system and augmented weather information.
The validation exercise was planned and put into practice by human factors and simulation experts from DLR’s Institute of Flight Guidance. In the V2 validation controllers ran four different scenarios, each lasting 50min, with diverse use cases.
Equipped with several support functions such as weather, aircraft and vehicle information overlays (labels) on the panoramic screens, PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) cameras, airport associated squelch indication and a Frequentis planning tool, controllers handled up to 22 movements per scenario, both air traffic and ground movements.
ON air traffic controllers tested the Frequentis system in two-day sessions where interaction screens were adapted to the ON controller’s working procedures, so they had a split arrival and departure timeline available during the validation. The exercises were run in pairs for the observing controller to analyse safety, workload and overall wellbeing of the executing controller.
Using results from this V2 level, it is planned to take the operational feasibility of multiple remote towers to the next step, collecting more controller feedback and challenging them with particular, more detailed, use cases which have not been previously tested. Air traffic controllers from another air navigation service provider will evaluate the concept on a V3 level at DLR’s simulation platform with an adapted planning tool by Frequentis in November.
According to Graeme Sumner, “Invercargill is an ideal location for New Zealand’s first digital tower. Traffic levels are low enough compared to an international airport to make implementing a totally new system manageable, but busy enough to give a meaningful demonstration of how this technology will work on a larger scale.”
Digital towers are being trialled worldwide, at airports including Changi and London City. They have also permanently replaced traditional towers at a number of airports throughout Europe.
Invercargill’s digital tower, however, will be world leading. “Invercargill can proudly claim it will have the first fully operational digital air traffic control tower in the southern hemisphere,” says Mr Sumner.
Invercargill Airport Board chairman Tommy Foggo says, “Invercargill Airport has been working with Airways to ensure the digital tower will deliver improved operational service across the airport while maintaining the current levels of safety and efficiency.”
Nigel Finnerty, Invercargill Airport general manager, says, “Invercargill Airport is Southland’s gateway to the world, so getting it right is important. The current tower will require significant upgrade over the next few years, so other options to deliver safe and reliable air traffic control must be considered.
“This technology, while still relatively new, is proving itself to be the way of the future. We are proud to be leading its introduction into New Zealand.”
- Report by Peter Owens, photography by Airways NZ.