Avalon 2019: RAAF trials air traffic management technologies

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is trialling emerging technology in air traffic management with an active demonstration of a virtual control tower that can be operated remotely anywhere in the world, the RAAF announced on 25 February.

Indra Australia and Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace have been working in partnership with the Surveillance and Response Group to install a Kongsberg 360 camera system and integrated inNOVA air traffic management system next to the air traffic control (ATC) tower at the RAAF Base Amberley.

The installation work has been as a result of an offer by Indra Australia and Kongsberg to demonstrate the system’s remote ATC tower capabilities. The installation marks a significant milestone as the first virtual air traffic management system installation on a defence establishment in the southern hemisphere.

The system includes a panoramic out-the-window view, external surveillance feed of augmented reality information on the display screens, and an integrated view of ATC information for remote control.

The system live streams images to a remote site on the RAAF Base Amberley, which are then displayed on window-sized monitors, fused through the air traffic management system with radar data and supporting ATC information.

Eirik Lie, president of Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace, said: ‘This system features an ultra-high-resolution real-time day and infrared camera system capable of detecting, tracking and identifying aircraft and ground objects at military and civilian airfields. The system is now installed on 15 airports in Norway – the largest remote tower programme in the world.’