Remotely Controlled Airports a Reality

SAAB Efforts

Saab, Sweden ANSP Make Remotely Controlled Airports a Reality

According to Ken Kaminiski, general manager of Saab Air Traffic Management (ATM), the RTC uses multiple video displays for a 360-degree view of the airfield along with input devices and other tools that provide the same functionality as those in use at the airport’s tower.

“Installation of the sensor suite and RTC typically costs much less than building a tower and also offers the possibility, in the future, of providing services to more than one airport from a single RTC location,” Kaminiski said, noting that Saab has been working to develop the technology for more than eight years, after LFV approached Saab with the hopes the company could help the airport institute the remote tower concept.

Saab then used new technologies, such as high-definition fixed cameras, controllable (pan-tilt-zoom) cameras, video compression and encryption along with remote control of airfield lighting to effectively implement the remote tower operations. It wasn’t all smooth sailing, however; the company faced both technical and practical challenges, from ensuring cameras could operate in all weather conditions to changing the way people think about providing air traffic services.

Tower Technology Gets FAA Test At Leesburg Airport - Leesburg Today Online—Daily News Coverage of Loudoun County, Leesburg, Ashburn: News

The decision to test at Leesburg Airport also made sense from SAAB’s standpoint.
“It’s a busy general aviation airport and it doesn’t currently have a air traffic control tower, but it does have a really good mix of different aircraft types flying in and out," SAAB media relations manager Rob Conrad explained. “They have a flight-training operation and it’s in a complex airspace near Dulles, so it’s a good test situation for the project.”
The only cost to the town during the three-month testing period will be two phone lines and electrical power estimated at $2,000. Coffman believes that fee is small considering how much money the town would save using SAAB’s product rather than constructing a traditional traffic tower.
“For us, it’s an interesting product,” Coffman said. “Number one, it’s less expensive than a brick and mortar control tower because this is essentially a camera array that’s on an existing building or tower that looks at the airspace around our airport.
“It’s much simpler to build a camera array, and the remote part of the tower means that the air traffic controller is in a remote location. They don’t have to be looking out a window. Their product is designed so they could be essentially anywhere. It’s kind of cool.”

NASA ARC Efforts

NASA Ames Aviation Systems Division: SARDA Main

Airport Remote Tower Sensor Systems - Nasa Tech Briefs :: NASA Tech Briefs
Monday, 20 November 2006

Better weather information will be available for guiding approaches and landings.

Networks of video cameras, meteorological sensors, and ancillary electronic equipment are under development in collaboration among NASA Ames Research Center, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). These networks are to be established at and near airports to provide real-time information on local weather conditions that affect aircraft approaches and landings.
The prototype network is an airport approach- zone camera system (AAZCS), which has been deployed at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and San Carlos Airport (SQL). The AAZCS includes remotely controlled color video cameras located on top of SFO and SQL air-traffic control towers. 

Richard Papasin, Yuri Gawdiak, David A. Maluf, Christopher Leidich, Peter B. Tran,  Airport Remote Tower Sensor Systems.pdf

Ronald J. Reisman and David M. Brown, Design of Augmented Reality Tools for Air Traffic Control Towers.pdf

A series of head-tracking, see-through, head-mounted display prototypes were developed and evaluated by five controllers at Moffett Field air traffic control tower. The controller cadre identified several deficiencies in the initial prototype, such as low optical transmissivity of the display, unacceptable compensation for tower lighting conditions, inadequate symbology and data block information display, and unacceptable discomfort caused by wearing the head-worn displays. Though the cadre found the initial prototype too immature for operational use, they were unanimously supportive of the potential for augmented reality technology to eventually address operational tower issues. These issues include surface control, coordination with facilities and vehicles, information acquisition and runway incursion.

Harris Remote Tower

Remote Tower Operations: Staffed/Automated Airport Technology

The Harris Remote Tower can provide both voice and surveillance data from previously uncontrolled/unmonitored airspace and airport surfaces to controllers located at existing controlled facilities allowing monitored approaches to be flown to previously uncontrolled airports.
The Remote Tower Operations take advantage of the FAA Next Generation Aviation technology development such as Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) technology and VoIP radios. Using ADS-B technology and VoIP radios, the Harris Remote Tower can relay pilot/controller voice communication and aircraft position to existing control facilities using radios or secure landlines. With Remote Towers, the need for clearance delivery in-flight is negated.

FAA WA Hughes Efforts

Comparing the Tower Operations Digital Data System to Paper Flight Progres Strips in Zero-visibility Operations - dot-faa-tc-09-08.pdf

Staffed NextGen Tower: A Camera Integration and Computer-Human Interface Part-Task Evaluation - dot-faa-tc-13-45.pdf