Route-Based Detection of Conflicting ATC Clearances on Airports

Runway incursions are among the most serious safety concerns in air traffic control. Traditional A-SMGCS level 2 safety systems detect runway incursions with the help of surveillance information only. In the context of SESAR, complementary safety systems are emerging that also use other information in addition to surveillance, and that aim at warning about potential runway incursions at earlier points in time. One such system is "conflicting ATC clearances", which processes the clearances entered by the air traffic controller into an electronic flight strips system and cross-checks them for potentially dangerous inconsistencies. The cross-checking logic may be implemented directly based on the clearances and on surveillance data, but this is cumbersome. We present an approach that instead uses ground routes as an intermediate layer, thereby simplifying the core safety logic.Comment: Presented at the International Symposium on Enhanced Solutions for Aircraft and Vehicle Surveillance Applications (ESAVS 2013

Software Design Principles of a DFS Tower A-CWP Prototype

SESAR is supposed to boost the development of new operational procedures together with the supporting systems in order to modernize the pan-European air traffic management (ATM). One consequence of this development is that more and more information is presented to - and has to be processed by - air traffic control officers (ATCOs). Thus, there is a strong need for a software design concept that fosters the development of an advanced (tower) controller working position (A-CWP) that comprehensively integrates the still counting amount of information while reducing the data management workload of ATCOs. We report on our first hands-on experiences obtained during the development of an A-CWP prototype that was used in two SESAR validation sessions.Comment: Presented at the International Symposium on Enhanced Solutions for Aircraft and Vehicle Surveillance Applications (ESAVS 2013