airports Mapping tasks on the apron
Fuelling and baggage handling – time-critical processes to which integrated communications and IT systems will bring enhanced efficiency
W
ith the TETRA radio system now in full operation, the IT department is tackling a further step – to integrate it more fully with the airport’s IT
systems. Michael Zaddach highlights a software application called Airport Map, which provides on-screen visibility of the apron and aircraft stands. The aim is to match communications to the airport’s processes, using real- time information about the location of aircraft and vehicles on the apron. “If you want to establish now a voice connection to any people who are
working here on the apron – a loader or anyone else – you have to know his call number and you can call him”, he explains. “But we know exactly which person is dispatched to this aircraft handling. And if the system knows it, we can give the user of this application the possibility to make up a short context menu here and to switch to voice communication. We can then give him a pull-down menu with all the different people working on handling this aircraft, and he can call them directly, by an interface to the TETRA system..” Using new applications developed in-house, managers will be able to
click on a context menu to see a Gantt chart showing all processes that are running on the aircraft stand. With a mobile PC connected via the wireless LAN, they will be able to view activity at the stand and to set up a voice connection. “We are right now working on this interface to integrate voice communication in this application”, Zaddach says. “We have the APIs to the TETRA system to do this.”
flight schedule SITA messages
AIMS radar
air traffic control
docking system
AIMS: Airspace information
management system
DEPCOS: departure control system
estim. arrival data
landing data
apron control
on block
control of flight handling
ground
arrival baggage
handling
aircraft towing (perhaps)
Turning an airliner round: from arrival to departure, smooth operation of the many interlocking processes depends on extensive IT and communications support. The radio system provides scope for improving efficiency (diagram: Munich Airport)
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call for buses
flight movement workflow
dispatching of terminal resources
gates further processing
start data
apron control
off
block start
release
estim. depart data
ground handling
AIMS radar
DEPCOS, air traffic control
docking system
DEPCOS, air traffic control
SITA messages
Dynamic menus in the TETRA radios enable users to find groups or individuals and to call them without
having to remember numbers. “We have a list of short calls and we have everybody from fire brigade, winter
service, loading staff, even my colleagues”, says Peter Waltner, airport ramp supervisor, flicking through the screens. “You can look what folder you want to have.
You can choose the group you are in, you can choose everybody you want to talk to. You put in a letter – maybe T for team leader, and then you can look at
team leader 1, team leader 2, 3, 4, 5. You just push the call button and you make a single call. And if you go
back, you can make group calls. So, for example, if I go to vehicle management, I call the whole group”
used here. And we get major troubles if we allow anyone to bring their own radio system. We have many radio systems here – for air-to-ground communication, for special purposes, for the authorities and so on. So it’s very restricted.” He adds that the airport already has to deal with TV
productions at the airport and celebrities arriving: they want to bring their satellite trucks and these need to communicate. A special office at the airport deals with such requests to ensure that they will not cause problems. “You have to check very carefully the frequencies they are using, otherwise you get interference with the important systems in the airport”, Zaddach comments. For a premium services such as external telephone calls, users pay for access to the telephone interconnect, plus call charges at a rate comparable to normal telephony costs. But user groups can save money by choosing their service grades appropriately to match the speed of response they need in the event of a fault. Robert Wondra cites an example from among the ground handlers. “We have 50 radios – ten radios for the team leaders and 40 radios for the loader personnel”, he says. “Te 40 radios are usually on the economy tariff because, if there are 39 other radios around, it doesn’t matter. Te ten team leaders have radios on the business tariff – and if one radio goes broken, the team leader has a changed radio the next day.”
TE TRA TODAY Issue 1 November 2010 - February 2011
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