Experimental System for Remote Airport Traffic Control Center Research

Abstract

An experimental environment is described for research in remote surveillance and control of several small airports from a central location. Since 2004 a corresponding Remote Tower Operation (RTO) testbed has been realized by the German Aerospace Center at the Braunschweig research airport [1]. Technical as well as human factors aspects of the Remote Airport Traffic Control Center (RTC) are investigated within this environment [2][3]. Because small airports usually lack any electronic surveillance such as ground movement radar the basic philosophy consists in replacement of the controllers direct view out of the tower windows (far view) by a high resolution videopanorama system. This initial design is based on work and task analyses as well as results reported in the literature [4] which indicate the importance of the visual information for present days controller's work procedures. The research environment consists of an experimental part for field testing technical components, verifying specifications and validating operational procedures under live as well as video replay conditions and simulation systems for repeatable experiments with the new work system under controlled conditions, allowing for quantitative evaluation of different technical and operational concepts. The present 180°-video panorama system for live field tests consists of four digital high resolution CCD cameras located near Braunschweig tower, and a remotely controlled pan-tilt zoom (PTZ) camera (including automatic tracking option). The cameras are connected to PC clusters for compression, image processing / movement detection, decompression and panorama reconstruction with 4 + 1 standard high resolution displays. A 450 m fiberoptic Gbit Ethernet link connects sensor and display clusters. Cameras are calibrated for geographically correct superimposition of relevant data for augmenting the (reconstructed) view out of the tower windows with flight data. Field testing of the reconstructed far view with participation of local controllers shows an effective visual resolution of 2 arcmin in agreement with the theoretical predictions. The PTZ camera provides a "foveal" vision component including object tracking options, with a high resolution exceeding the human eye (1 arcmin) within an observation angle < 15°. The replay function allows for detailed reconstruction of specific events. Full day video data (typically 500 GB) are stored on hard drives with 4.5 Tbyte memory. Video-see-through augmentation of the reconstructed outside view, e.g. by means of data from electronic non-visual sources superimposed on the far view of the cameras improves the controllers situational awareness. The augmented vision function also supports a compact RTO-work environment due to reduction of numbers of displays. As an extension of the local field test system a second more distant international airport controlled by DFS (the German ANSP) will be equipped and connected to the experimental system, to provide the framework for long distance and passive mode testing. Tw...

How to Evaluate Remote Tower Metrics in Connection With Weather Observations

“…As mentioned earlier, the most important difference between the CWP-remote and the CWP-tower is the visual reproduction of the out-the-window view (Fürstenau et al, 2008; Fürstenau et al, 2009; Schmidt, Rudolph, Werther, Möhlenbrink, & Fürstenau, 2008). Therefore, the apparatus for the validation experiment consisted of a CWP-tower, a CWP-remote prototype, and synchronized questioning software.…”

“…In the past few years, German air traffic control has transitioned from a conventional air traffic controller workplace (CWP-tower) to a new remote controller working position (CWP-remote). The German Aerospace Center project RapTOr (Remote Airport Tower Operation Research, 2005–2007) focused on the feasibility of remote tower operations (RTOs), while the follow-up project RAiCe (Remote Airport Traffic Control Center, 2008–2012) focused on controlling multiple small airports from a remote center (Ellis, Fürstenau, & Mittendorf, 2011; Fürstenau, Schmidt, Rudolph, Möhlenbrink, & Halle, 2008; Möhlenbrink, Friedrich, & Papenfuss, 2009).…”

Investigating Multimodal Augmentations Contribution to Remote Control Tower Contexts for Air Traffic Management

“…These remote control rooms would not be located on the controlled airport areas but centralized in more accessible and more densely populated places. Air Navigation Authorities and laboratories have already issued information and recommendations for further developments in this context (Calvo, 2009;Braathen, 2011;Fürstenau et al, 2009). The present study falls in this research field with the purpose of increasing human performances in Remote Tower context by using Human-Machine Interaction (HMI) concepts, and therefore, increase safety.…”