Air Traffic Control (ATC) at Shannon and Cork Airports could, in the future, be managed from a remote centre at Dublin Airport.
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has successfully carried out a number of trials using a new a state-of-the-art system that would allow air traffic control functions at Shannon and Cork airports to be undertaken from a remote centre in Dublin.
Dedicated pylon-type towers have been constructed at Shannon and Cork and will feed high definition imagery to a Remote Tower Centre (RTC) at Dublin Airport.
Aerospace and defence company Saab has pioneered the development of the remote tower system in cooperation with air traffic controllers and air navigation service providers.
The Swedish company signed a contract with the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) last year to deliver the remote tower installations at Cork and Shannon airports.
The towers are equipped high definition, pan-tilt-zoom cameras, surveillance and meteorological sensors, microphones, signal light guns and other devices for deployment at the airport. Data from these towers is sent to the RTC in Dublin where it is displayed in real time.
The IAA began testing the system in March at Shannon and Cork as the authority believes, with their relatively low traffic levels, both airports are suitable for such a system.
Traffic levels will be progressively increased during the ongoing trial to see what level of air traffic can be safely handled.
The IAA’s General Manager of Terminal Services Operations Billy Hann said: “As part of our strategy to provide safe, innovative and cost effective Air Traffic Services, we are validating the concept of providing Air Traffic Control Services at Shannon and Cork airports from a central control room in Dublin.
We are very pleased to announce that the first of these trials has been successful and we will continue in our efforts to realise the potential of this technology. There are many critical areas to be addressed and these trials are a significant milestone in proving the reliability and integrity of these systems. Remote tower technology will play a vital role in the future of air traffic service provision for low density aerodromes in Ireland,” he said
“Remotely operated towers offer significant potential to assist air navigation service providers (ANSPs) such as the IAA to reduce and control their costs in line with airline and European Commission expectations, whilst maintaining safety and service delivery. This potential is greatest at smaller, less busy regional airports where the volume of traffic is likely to be insufficient to cover the costs of service provision at a user charge that is sustainable from the customers’ perspective,” Mr Hann added.
Controllers at the Dublin RTC have the tools, in addition to the live video feeds, to operate the airport’s in a similar manner as he or she would in a normal Air Traffic Control Tower.
The IAA has to conduct 50 large scale demonstration trials of the remote tower system as part of the test programme.
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