That image of the air traffic controller looking out the window with binoculars may soon go the way of smoking in the cabin – a relic of the past. Yes, screen time is taking over even in the control tower as the iconic windows are replaced by data-enriched video screens.
Canadian company Searidge Technologies is working with some of the world’s larger airports – Dubai International (one of the world’s busiest), Malpensa Airport in Milan and Budapest International – to deploy the new “digital towers”. Says Neil Bowles, head of air traffic management, “Looking out the window is the last analog element of air traffic control.”
“Looking out the window is the last analog element of air traffic control.”
– Neil Bowles, head of air traffic management at Searidge Technologies
Bowles explains Searidge uses its software called Enhanced Airport Vision Display (EAVD) to stitch together video from up to 50 high definition cameras positioned around an airport’s runways. A panoramic view is recreated on the window-sized screens. In addition to the video, on the smaller support screens, 2D visual displays are augmented with 3D positional and tracking information that provide a real-world view of aircraft position at and near an airport.
A key responsibility of any airport controller is to ensure sufficient separation of aircraft, not just on the ground but in proximity of the airport. A standard 2D view, however, can hinder a controller’s ability to properly perceive depth. Offers Bowles, “Literally, you can look at a screen and see two planes, or dots, converging upon one another but an experienced controller knows there’s 2,000 feet between them. By looking at that in 3D, you see them as they really are – separated by ample air space.” Adds Bowles, “We’re always asking controllers to look at something in 2D but to think about it in 3D.”
Virtual towers can also look after more than one airport. NATS, the UK’s air-traffic management company serving 14 airports, is working with London City Airport to provide it with remote digital air traffic control. While cameras will be aimed at the runway in London City, controllers will be moved some 100 miles away to a video control center at the airport in Swanwick, Hampshire, and monitor both airports. Says Steve Anderson, head of airport transformation with NATS, “The controller’s job doesn’t change but the view will.”
“The controller’s job doesn’t change but the view will.”
– Steve Anderson, head of airport transformation with NATS
Anderson says London City is already a challenging airport because it’s surrounded by water and has no taxiways – all aircraft taxi on the sole runway. To help controllers here and at other digital towers, real-time data from multiple sources will be overlaid onto the video – data such as weather, outlines of taxiways, ground lighting systems, radar and digital call signs of aircraft – allowing controllers to focus on just one screen.
Anderson says overlaying information such as runway and taxiway outlines can augment the air traffic controller’s view particularly at night or in low visibility conditions.
Sometimes, the digital tower will be the first tower of any sort for an airport. The Leesburg Airport in Virginia, just outside Washington D.C., will become the first U.S. airport to be served by a digital tower. The airport serves corporate jets, medivacs and flight training aircraft.
At airports like Leesburg, that currently have no dedicated air traffic controllers, pilots communicate with each other, announcing their position and distance over a common radio frequency – and keep their eyes peeled. Airport manager Scott Coffman says the new service will relieve pilots of the burden of looking out for themselves. “Traffic has gotten to the point that we need it. It’s complicated air space, close to the Dulles Airport and inside a 35-mile security ring of Washington D.C.”
Matt Massiano is director of business development for FAA programs at Saab Sensis, which is working with Leesburg to build the digital tower. (Saab sold its car line to GM in 1995.) Saab helped deploy the first digital airport control tower in the world, which serves two small airports in northern Sweden.
Massiano says an advantage of video beyond the real-time aspect and augmenting it with data, is being able to replay – and recreate – what happened. In the case of an accident, this could prove invaluable. “We can re-create a situation that occurred and have recordings of everything.” He believes video is also a valuable way to train controllers.
Further into the future, in place of binoculars, air traffic controllers may be looking into AR or VR headsets, with enriched real-time views never before seen, and may feel as if they’re actually down on the runways themselves.
Let us know what other enhancements you think could prove valuable to controllers, and of course, passengers.
