Air traffic management
“These are complex areas to survey, monitor and basically maintain that scan; particularly as humans were designed to look in one direction,” says Andy Taylor, chief solutions officer at NATS. Digitally having that information in one view is enhancing the role of the ATC.
The system at LCY comprises 16 high-definition (HD) cameras and sensors on a mast to capture a 360º view of the airfield, fed through independent secure fibre networks to 14 HD displays providing a panoramic image to controllers at NATS’ Swanwick control room. They have live visual and audio footage, supported by radar information overlaid with call signs, altitudes and speeds of aircraft approaching and leaving; weather readings; and the ability to track other moving objects. As has been shown on a large scale in Norway, this allows operational control of multiple airfields from one site. In June, Avinor, the state-owned civil airports operator, opened the world’s largest single remote digital tower in Bodø. The facility would become home to 15 remote towers covering the equivalent number of airports. It was a major milestone for Avinor, after opening its first remote tower at Røst Airport in Norway in 2019.
AI and data on the same path This digitisation, however, creates significant amounts of data – arguably the next frontier for aviation. Earlier this year, while speaking to International Airport Review, Taylor said that less than 10% of data produced in Europe was being used, making it an untapped resource needing to be unleashed. He was speaking specifically on how the towers receive data can benefit operations on the ground – fuelling, aircraft spacing and so on. It’s a view he holds still. “Along with all the other operational data, we record everything from a digital tower. It’s normal that we supply a 30-day archive, that’s usually the regulatory requirement. But in some places we’ve deployed systems that have up to 90 days; then we store data externally, for an infinite time. So, you’ve got all of that additional data, available in real time, with a millisecond latency and the ability to harvest those archives.” This doesn’t just cover ATC – it provides an overview of the entire airfield and all the events that are happening. It’s also helping advance another huge development too – machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). Taylor believes this is the most exciting prospect in improving efficiency, safety and resilience at the world’s airports today, particularly when combined with the digital and remote tower concept. To understand what role AI might play, NATS and the Alan Turing Institute are working on a five-year project, supported by a £3m government grant through from the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Project Bluebird
Future Airport /
www.futureairport.com
aims to develop the world’s first AI system to control a section of airspace, using digital twinning and machine learning technologies for the ‘safe and trustworthy use of AI’. Combining these elements could herald the next generation of ATC. Each operation, input and assistance that AI provides can help inform what it might do in the future – essentially layering knowledge to continually build a response rationale. This ability is being capitalised on while training the technology, Taylor explains. For example, using archived data, information could be pulled from the previous winter to train the AI model in what it might potentially face in the future. He is, however, keen to stress this is not happening operationally. “That, certainly in our safety-critical environment, isn’t an approach we would take. We always deploy trained AI models that are closed,” he notes. “So, at this stage, they’re not able to continue to learn when they’re in operation.” AI training is something Project Bluebird is focused on, aiming to develop a probabilistic digital twin of UK airspace as a real-time, physics-based computer model that predicts future flight trajectories and their likelihoods, “essential information for decision making” the Alan Turing Institute says.
A helping, digital, hand
The project also hopes to bring greater understanding of how AI and machine learning can be fused with human interactions to increase efficiency and safety. Taylor says there is already evidence that bringing digital capabilities, joined with the expert decision making of controllers and AI, to ATC increases the effectiveness of operations. “When it comes to either a human, or particularly an AI, making decisions, the more information we have available [for] them, the better the decisions,” he says, adding that in these scenarios accuracy of the outcomes is improved by 14%, according to NATS analysis.
As anyone familiar with the digital tower concept knows – providing a full view of the airfield and
1.57minutes
The average en-route flight delay. It’s estimated that by 2035, if there is not a significant change, delays could be as long as eight minutes per flight.
Eurocontrol and Arthur D Little 49
Above: ATC requires the constant monitoring of myriad different factors – combining digital control towers and AI can help reduce the burden on air traffic controllers.
Opposite: The digital frontier of aviation creates significant amounts of data.
NATS
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