Farnborough Airport is to be the first UK airport to adopt a next-generation ‘hybrid’ digital control tower working position, as part of a new project with air traffic service provider, NATS and the leading digital tower platform supplier, Searidge Technologies.
The new digital working capability will provide the airport’s controllers with enhancements to manage aircraft both by direct visual reference from the control tower window as they do today, and via fully interactive panoramic video presentation on screens displaying key parts of the airfield.
Strategically placed ultra-high-definition cameras will provide the controllers with customisable views of the airfield, including around the airport’s new, state-of-the-art hangar development, Domus III, due to open next year.
Not only will the cameras be able to provide views that could otherwise be distant or obscured from the tower, but Searidge’s technology platform will give the controllers access to tools which provide improved tracking of the whole airport surface via integration of new ADS-B surveillance and ‘head-up’ labelling of the panoramic video. This new technology will allow the controllers to monitor individual aircraft and airport vehicles more effectively, boosting safety and efficiency, especially during low visibility scenarios such as fog.
The deployment is the first of its kind in the UK and represents the next evolution in airport air traffic management, delivering the technology enhancements of a digital solution, but within an airport’s existing control tower.