Ground controllers face the challenge of managing not just arriving and departing aircraft, but also guiding the service and emergency vehicles that support safe operations at the airfield. Adding surface safety nets to the controller’s display offers a means to provide early warning of potential conflict situations. Developing and implementing airport safety tools is fundamental to SESAR objectives to triple capacity and increase safety by a factor of 10.
Safety nets rely on information received from surface surveillance (automatic dependent surveillance – broadcast (ADS-B) messages emitted by aircraft and vehicles), flight data including clearances given, and taxi routes assigned. Built-in monitoring rules can be configured to an individual aerodrome in order to trigger alerts for the main conflict situations. Warnings can also be activated when meteorological data signals adverse weather. The solution develops further ADS-B applications to improve ground surveillance systems in terms of safety, performance, interoperability and security. Data quality is increased with regard to the current surveillance system by means of improved surveillance data.
The ADS-B ground station is enhanced to check the validity of the ADS-B derived data and to discard possible spoofing messages as well as messages transmitted by erratic ADS-B transponders, guaranteeing an improvement of the surveillance in terms of security and safety SESAR validation activities demonstrated an increased situational awareness in low‑visibility conditions. As a result of the operational acceptance of the research, the solutions were seen as suitable for development as part of surface movement guidance and control activity.
This solution is ready for industrialisation.
SJU references: #70/Release 3
Benefits
- Operational acceptance of airport safety nets
- Increased situational awareness in low visibility conditions
- Enhanced safety thanks to the generation of real alerts
Datapack
Technical Specs (zip file)