In the Middle East there is a huge disparity between very small and very large airports. How candigital tower technology enhance the safety and reliability of air traffic management (ATM) facilitiesready for changing air traffic demand? Frequentis Middle East Managing Director, Josef Kutschi andAerosense Digital Tower Expert, Peter Gridling, explain.

As we begin to look towards airspacerecovery, we turn our attention backto the modernisation of the ATM

system and the benefits for the MiddleEast. In Saudi Arabia, for example, weconsider the huge number of remoteairports and the efficiency enhancementsthat could be gained by rethinking airporttower services. Handling peak traffic formajor planned events in the Middle Eastcould also be solved with the samesolution.

In contrast to conventional air trafficcontrol towers, remote digital towers(RDT) provide additional support tools forthe controller, which create a safetyenhancement. Features like augmentedreality, automated object detection andvirtual safety nets, which all assist thecontroller in their challenging role. Mostimportantly, RDT provides location-independence for air traffic control (ATC)services, something which doesn’t exist ina traditional tower.

To give an example, Saudi Arabia has

27 international and domestic airports, notto mention nine military airbases. So wesee the benefit of a RDT facility, also calleda virtual remote tower centre. This wouldallow multiple airports to be controlledfrom the same facility, enhancing both thesafety and the availability of ATM servicesat the remote airports. This set up bringsadvantages of flexible staffing and ad-hocallocation of ATM services depending ontraffic volume. Single facilities could alsobe set up as a contingency solution forairports, and two centres can be connectedto provide additional resilience toovercome pandemics or events withsimilar severity. By geographicallydecoupling ATM services from a location,virtual centres increase agility, capacityand cost-efficiency, while enabling bettercontingency planning.

RDT for sudden capacity changesOne issue with the wider ATM systemtoday is the lack of flexibility. Flexible andmodular digital tower features are key to

managing reduced air traffic now,increased future demand, while preparingus for traffic peaks, and for the nextpotential crisis.

The virtual centre concept, based on IPtech, will become more important thanbefore, because of its flexibility forcontingency situations and generalscalability. What we are looking at is anetworked solution, which seamlesslyintegrates the air traffic flow from theairports in the upper airspace, but which isscalable and flexible in terms of resourcesand traffic load. This allows air navigationservice providers (ANSPs) to integrateremote digital tower and approachsolutions, therefore adapting to trafficdemands in a holistic way.

This solution requires the ability to addand remove controller modules andcombine or separate functions. An RDT isdesigned to manage sudden traffic peaks,making it ideal for annual events like theHaj Islamic Pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia,which draws close to 2.5million peopleeach August. But, in contrast, when welook at the recent and current reduced airtraffic levels across the world, ANSPs arestill having to run fully staffed towers. Thisis because one controller is required fortower services and another for approach.With an integrated solution, the tower andthe approach module can be combined intimes of low traffic volume and separatedwhen traffic increases. Being able to adaptto demand allows for increased businesscontinuity.

Frequentis DFS Aerosense, a jointventure company formed in 2018 betweenFrequentis and DFS Aviation Services, isfocused on providing advanced turnkeyremote sensing solutions for ATC acrossthe world to support airports with capacityand growth. At the start of 2020, thecompany was awarded a contract from theDanish ANSP Naviair to build an integratedRemote Tower centre, including theapproach automation solution PRISMA.

The PRISMA approach solution (PRISMAAPP), is designed to autonomously processflight plan data and surveillance data forair traffic services (ATS). The APP functionincludes Safety Net functionality such asshort-term conflict detection, areaproximity warnings and minimum safealtitude warnings, all designed to assistthe ATCO with optimal situationalawareness.

With additional automated controllertools it is possible to integrate an advancedsurface movement guidance and controlsystem (A-SMGCS) into the digital towerenvironment, to further enhance airportsurveillance and controller functionality.An automated tower pad, for example, willintelligently unite information and theappropriate action into a single userinterface, allowing increased safety andmore efficient taxi, improving airportcapacity as a result. The ability toexchange data with other tower modules inreal-time, further enhances controllers’workflow allowing them to fully focus onplanning and traffic coordination.

Reliability and resilienceThe virtualisation of ATC systemsempowers air traffic controllers to workfrom any location, but also to serve anyairspace – even beyond national orregional borders. The ability to alsocombine civil and military ATM services inthe same RDT facility also offers itsadvantages for shared situationalawareness, and reduced costs ofownership for contingency management.

As we become more digital, we mustconsider the potential for cyber-attack.These new safety risks can only be

mitigated if manufacturers and systemoperators take responsibility for safety andsecurity together. Operational Technology(OT) cyber security measures mustsimultaneously fulfil dedicatedperformance and safety requirements.There must be a cyber security and qualityof service solution which upgrades thetelco network to an ATM-grade network,able to react to changing networkdemands, ensuring continuous availabilityand the quality of service between theairport and the Control Centre. The secureintegration of solutions to operationalenvironments, and the protection of thesystems, can be best achieved byunderstanding and applying security bestpractises from both OT and IT worlds inthe right places.

With customers on all continents, theFrequentis remote digital tower solution isalready widely deployed and usedoperationally. This integrated combinationof tower and approach, allows the user tohandle multiple airports from onecentralised system, providing automaticand instant coordination between towerand approach systems. With added A-SMGCS and tower automation tools, highthroughput airports are able tosignificantly enhance their airportoperations and manage sudden trafficchanges safely and efficiently.

Frequentis is the only vendor able toprovide a fully integrated solution, byhaving all these components in-house,while DFS provides the vital change andtransition process and stakeholdermanagement, key to a successful remotetower project. The extensive experienceDFS gained when implementing its own

remote tower with Frequentis, created theperfect partnership for complete remotedigital tower delivery projects.

To manage the reduced traffic of today,prepare for the recovery, and futurecapacity crisis, while also staying resilient,we need to look at digitalisation assomething we adopt now, to prepare forthe next decade.

Josef Kutschi, ManagingDirector, FrequentisMiddle EastJosef has worked in theMiddle East for the last 10years, in variousmanagement positions for

satellite communication and ATMindustries. Josef joined the FrequentisGroup in 2019 as ATM Sales Director,Frequentis Middle East, and was appointedManaging Director for the region inJanuary 2020.

Peter Gridling, DigitalTower Expert and VicePresident SalesFrequentis DFS AerosensePeter graduated with anengineer’s degree incomputer sciences and has

strong camera and image recognitiontechnology background, including forminga start-up company for image recognitiontechnologies. Peter joined Frequentis in2016 to support the digital tower team andis now VP Sales for Frequentis DFSAerosense.

Frequentis AG and German ANSP DFSDeutsche Flugsicherung GmbH, throughits wholly owned subsidiary DFS AviationServices, formed joint ventureFREQUENTIS DFS AEROSENSE in 2018, todeliver turnkey remote tower solutionsworldwide.

Frequentis contributes thetechnologies, as well as expertise indeveloping customised remote towersystems, and its worldwide network oflocally represented subsidiaries that canimplement remote towers globally. DFSAviation Services contributes itsoperational air traffic managementexperience in consulting, validation,transition and training, as well as the deepoperational experience gained throughdeveloping its own remote tower solution.

For more information, visitwww.aerosense.solutions

Developing resilience with digital tower

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