Page 14 - ATC Special Bulletin Series - Remote and Digital Towers 2023-01

MULTIPLE REMOTE TOWER MULTIPLE REMOTE TOWER © SESAR 2020 IS IT BECOMING REALITY SOON? IS IT BECOMING REALITY SOON? By Joern Jakobi, Business Manager, DLR and Michael Drews, Communications Manager, DLR 14 Do you know why planes are the safest means of transportation? One of the main reasons is air traffic services. Because they operate no matter how much traffic there is and always put safety first, these services can be costly to run. Particularly for airports where demand may be high on weekends and holidays, but low at other times of the week. Is there a way to offer the same or even higher level of service provision in a more cost-efficient way? One way is through the implementation of the SESAR 2020 “Multiple Remote Tower” solution. At its core is the presentation of the control tower’s out-of-the-window view using the latest technologies, such as a high definition video panorama and a pan tilt zoom camera. Optical sensor systems at the airport produce a video stream, which is relayed and displayed at any required location, preferably at a remote tower center to which several airports are connected. The remote tower center is operated by a pool of air traffic service officers, who provide their services to airports where and when needed. At a remote tower centre, air traffic service officers can also provide air traffic services to multiple low traffic volume airports at the same time. Thanks to the pooling of resources, controllers can also assist each other in cases where the traffic at one of the airports becomes too complex to handle alone. | SPECIAL BULLETIN SERIES | 2023 | |