The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has begun testing 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, with high definition cameras providing 360-degree coverage, 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 are sent to the RTC in Dublin where it is displayed in real time.
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.
Saab’s Remote Tower solution is the world’s first operational and approved system.
The Remote Tower installation at Cork and Shannon will be operated from Dublin Remote Tower Centre and will be a part of the large scale evaluation carried out by SESAR, Single European Sky ATM Research.
IAA Director of ATM Operations and Strategy Peter Kearney said: “We are focused on the implementation of safe, leading-edge and cost-efficient technology for the benefit of our customers. In our drive to become ever more cost effective, we’re constantly seeking innovative approaches, through cutting edge technology, to enhance our ATM service offering.
“Remote tower operations are part of the future and it is something the IAA is very keen to exploit. Through this work with SESAR and Saab we will lead a further evolution of remote tower technologies in Europe paving the way for permanent deployment of remote tower solutions,” Mr Kearney added.
“There are many critical areas to be addressed and safety and operational reliability must be guaranteed. Once this is successfully addressed, the IAA envisages that the remotely-operated tower will play a vital role in the future of ATM service provision in Ireland and beyond,” Peter Kearney said.
The IAA also confirmed that trial requires that the authority to conduct 50 large scale demonstration trials of the remote tower system, which will occur in 2016.