Working towards innovative air traffic control management
Brunswick - The DLR Institute for Flight Guidance, in collaboration with the EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre, has developed an operational concept and logical architecture for a Total Airport Management system. The new concept builds on the current CDM (Collaborative Decision Making) system for airports to produce a comprehensive airport management system based on an Airport Operations Plan (AOP).
The concept envisages an Airport Operations Control Centre or APOC in which people responsible for individual areas (such as the airport, air traffic control, airlines etc) come together in order to draw up, dynamically update and implement this plan with a tactical and strategic time horizon (30 minutes to several months). Operators would be supported in this decision-making process by technical assistance systems such as the recently presented Total Operations Planner CLOU and other, existing systems such as AMAN, DMAN and TMAN. This entire approach is known as human-centred automation, which refers to technological development centred around people and processes.
Because the requirements of individual airports can vary significantly, the Total Airport Management system allows for several variants in its implementation, be it cost-effective solutions for small airfields, a distributed virtual airport control centre or a real control centre for European transport hubs. This approach is designed to enable airports to serve as innovative integration models for the air transport network by operating an efficient, results-oriented Air Traffic Management system. The concept was presented at the closing event of the EUROCONTROL CDM Task Force in Brussels, where it was enthusiastically received.
Prototype applications for these assistance systems will be presented next February on the DLR stand at the ATC Maastricht 2007 international trade fair.