Research Seminar 2017: "Planning and initial operation of an ATC-Tower"
The research seminar is supervised by the chair holder Prof. Dr. Hartmut Fricke and his
employees Kati Ahnert and Johannes Mund. Our practice partners Mr. Dr. T. Bierwagen and Mr. Dr. R. Leemüller from the German Air Traffic Control (DFS, Deutsche Flugsicherung) provide further assistance. We would like to thank for this commitment.
Besides the work on technical issues the research seminar has the goal to practice necessary skills in project management. In that way the students focus on all aspects of time management and on the ability to reach intermediate goals. Self-organisation and teamwork during the processing of the task in this autonomous project work are considered most important. The necessary activities of the project management are supervised, controlled and if necessary delegated by the project leader.
| Projectleader | Robert André Huhnd |
| Infrastructure | Melina-Sophie Janisch, Christoph Mrokwa, Michael Pröbster, Tim Westphal |
| Operation | Sven Eggert, Ksenia Jerke, Justus Matschewsky, Jannik Post |
The initial operation of new ATC-Towers on existing or extended or newly established aerodrome- and ATC- infrastructure as well as operator changes are among the recurring challenges of an Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP). Below are some examples of the recent, more recent and future corporate history of the German Air Traffic Control (DFS):
- In March 2012 the DFS put the new tower at BerlinSchönefeld Airport (SXF) into operation in order to handle the current traffic as well as the future traffic at Berlin Brandenburg Intl. Airport (BER).
- The DFS represented by its subsidiary company Air Navigation Solution Ltd. (ANS) became the operating company at London Gatwick Airport on March 1st, 2016.
- The ATC at Scottish Airport Edinburgh will be operated by ANS starting from April 1st, 2018.
One may expect that additional re-tenders for Air Navigation Services for existing European towers will require future solutions involving questions ranging from planning and executing operator changes up to the initial operation of ATC-Towers. Top priority has the constant guarantee for a safe air traffic supervised by the air traffic controllers giving rise to the development of appropriate transition strategies (personnel, technology, procedures, organisation). In this regard, individual ANSP aim at a harmonisation regarding established processes at other locations so as to minimize or even avoid inefficiencies resulting from heterogeneous training requirements or technical equipment.
Furthermore, ANSPs are confronted with the fulfillment of requirements and the realisation of infrastructural expansions at some of their controlled aerodromes. Especially the expansion of aerodromes with a new runway (RWY) may necessitate a review of the previous location of the ATC-Tower (e.g. Airport Frankfurt/Main (FRA), planning a new runway (25R/07L)). An assessment of conformity with the ICAO requirements, e.g. concerning the visibility of the thresholds of the new RWY, may raise questions regarding a change of location or operational concepts (e.g. multi-tower concept) – assuming that relevant requirements of the tower concerning the position of the RWY could not be considered in the planning phase.
The goal of the advanced seminar is to develop a strategy for the transfer of the aerodrome control services (including alerting services) at an airport within the scope of an ANSP operator change as well as a review or a redefinition of the tower-location or the tower-concept (single/multi tower) caused by an infrastructural expansion. Within the scope of the advanced seminar a fictive award of contract for a German ANSP is considered assuming a transfer of aerodrome control services at Edinburgh Airport (IATA 3LC: EDI) starting from 1.1.2025 for a period of ten years. The tendered aerodrome control services include surveillance and control of ground areas except for aprons for which the airport company takes on responsibility in the future. At the same time during the previously mentioned time period the construction of a new runway parallel to the existing runway 06/24 is intented (scheduled opening: 1.1.2025).
A feasibility study reveals that the existing tower does not satisfy the ICAO rules concerning the runway visibility. Due to physical limitations of the building structure a vertical extension of the existing tower is deemed impossible. Therefore, the following scenarios should be considered:
- Construction of a new tower at the current location (Single Tower Concept),
- Construction of a new tower at a different location (Single Tower Concept),
- Construction of a second tower (Multi Tower Concept).
The definition of a location or a concept for the tower operation should be primarily guided by the attainable conformity with the strategic, infrastructural, operational and technological requirements to be derived during the project. Nonetheless, cost efficiency aspects shall not be negleted. To further reduce costs the reuse of existing technological equipment of the tower-building and preferably a complete integration of existing technological systems to support and control the air traffic shall be verified. A possible extension and/or an exchange of these systems should be motivated accordingly.
A harmonization of the operational - and control procedures currently in place at Edinburgh Airport with those of the new operator is another key aspect of the planning strategy. Moreover, vital organizational aspects, e. g. the acquisition, instruction and employment of air traffic controllers and ATC engineers shall be arranged. Finally, for the resulting parallel runway system the flight-routes for departure and arrival shall be defined in compliance with ICAO PANS-OPS/PBN.
The advanced seminar is designed for students of the subject transport engineering with a focus on transport systems technologies and logistics. The processing of the tasks takes the form of workshops and progress reports and is scheduled for the summer semester 2016 each Friday during the second and third block periods (04/29, 06/03, 07/08). The results and the final report will be presented by the students on 07/15/2016 to an interested audience as well as to representatives of our practice partners.
Notice of disclaimer
The presented content appears within the context of student research projects. The TU Dresden excludes all warranties for scientific quality and accuracy of the results. Publication / transfer / usage of the drafts, either complete or in parts, requires the agreement of TU Dresden. Therefore, please contact the office of the chair.