IFATCA The Controller - 3rd quarter 1993

• IFATCAAT GLOBALNAVCOM e 1994CONEERENCERR&VIEW

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You cou ld say we have hidden t alent

JOUR NALOFAIRTRAFFIC CONTROL

Volume 32 N° 3

United Kingdom , Sept emb er 1993 PUBLISHER

IFATCA , International Federation of Air Traffi c Controllers' Associations , P.0.Box I96 CH-1215 Geneva Airport, Switzerland

IN THIS AUTOMATION

EXECUTIVE BOARD OF IFATCA

Charles Stuart President and Chief Executive Officer Neil Vidler Deputy President Abou El Seoud El Karimy Executive Vice-President Africa/Middle East Samuel Lampkin Executive Vice-President Americas David Moores Executive Vice-President Asia/Pacific Preben Falkman-Lauridsen Executive Vice-President Europe Sture Ericsson Executive Vice-President Finance Bert Ruitenberg Executive Vice-President Professional Chris Stock Executive Vice-President Technical Edge Green Executive Secretary Terry Crowhurst Editor EDITOR

Terry Crowhurst 29 Heritage Lawn. Langshott.

Horley. Surrey. RH6 9XH. United Kingdom.

Tel. +44 (0) 293 784040 - Fax +44 (0) 293 77 I 944 COPY TYPING

Dona Crowhurst ADVERTISING AND SALES OFFICE

Ron Mahendran 13 Stanford Way. Broadbridge Heath. Horsham West Sussex, RH 12 3LH. United Kingdom .

Tel & Fax +44 (0) 403 256 798 ACCOUNTS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

Tim MacKay ··Dunadry". Minshull Lane. Wettenhall. Winsford.

Cheshire, CW7 4DU. United Kingdom.

Tel & Fax +44 (0) 270 73363 CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Patrick Schelling Ch. Sur le Moulin. 126 1 Le Yaud. Switzer land.

Tel +41 (0) 22366 2684 Fax +41 (0) 22366 4305 P RINTING

Mercury Press Unit 8. Astra Business Centre. Bonehurst Road.

Salfords. Surrey. RH I 5TL. United Kingdom.

Tel +44 (OJ 293 774549 Fax +44 (0) 293 820335

THE CONTROLLER /S EPTEMBER 1993

Chris

Stock

ISSUE

CONFERENCE

at Gl o bal Navcom

10

PA NE L R EPORTS

INTERNATIONAL Bert

5

AND THE CO NTRO LLER speaks

Ruitenberg

15

L ABO UR ORGA NIS ATIO N addresses

ILO

Conference

1994 lFAT CA CO NFERENCE PR EVIEW

18

PR ECIS IO N R UNWAY MONITOR

21

Special

Feature

from

MOR E ON BLOCKED Contran

- Pre ve ntion

Patrick

Schelling

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FREQUENCIES of Conflicting

Transmis

s ion s

LANDING

S YSTEMS IN THE FUTURE

VHF

28

Advertisers in this issue Alenia. Bre itling, Dorni er. H.A .N.D. Hugh es Aircraft. Hugh es Redifu sion. IBM . MGB Exhibi tion s. Siem ens Plessey Syste ms.

Thom son -CSF , Wes son.

Photos T. Crow hur st. P. Sche lling. An ne Brown Cover Precisio n Runway Monitor aerial at Ral eigh Durh am Airport - see spec ial featur e on page 2 1 Charlie Cartoon Ken Tull y Additional Cartoons by Yanan-D e l are reproduced. with the kind permis sion of the publi shers. from the book Say When . Details and copies of the book may be obtain ed from the publish ers at the follow ing add ress: Martin Leeuwis , P.O. Box 580 , 3740 AN BAARN, Holland, Fax - +3 1 2154 13294 Spec ial Price (Inc ludin g postage) DFL 27 .50

ISSUES APPEAR END OF MARCH, JUNE , SEPTEMBER, DECEMBER. CONTRIBUTORS AR E E XPRESSING THEIR PE RSONAL P OINTS OF VIE W AND OPINI ONS, WHICH M AY No r N ECESSARILY C OINCIDE WI TH TH OSE OF THE INTERNATIONAL F EDERATION OF A IR T RAFFIC CONTR OLLERS' ASSO CIATIONS , IFATCA . IFATCA D OES Nor As s u ME RE SPONSIBILITY F OR S TATEMENTS M ADE AND OPIN IONS EXPRESSED, IT ACCEPTS R ESPONSIBILITY FOR PUBLISHING T HESE CONTRIBUTIONS. CONTR IBUTIONS ARE W ELCOME AS ARE CO MMENTS AND CRITICISM. N o PAYMENT C AN BE M ADE F OR MANUS CRIPTS SUBMITTED F OR PUBLICATION IN TH E CONTROLLER. THE E DITOR RESERVES T HE RI GHT TO MAK E A NY E DITORIAL CH ANGES IN MANUSCRIPTS, WHI CH HE BELIEVES WI LL IMPROVE THE M ATERIAL WITH OUT ALTERING THE INTENDED ME ANING. WRI TTEN P ERMISSION BY T HE E DITOR IS NE CESSARY FOR REPRINTING ANY PA RT OF THI S JOURNAL.

CORPORATE MEMBERS OF

IFATCA

ADACELP'fY LTD. Canberra, Australia

IBM DEUTSCHLANDGmbH Stuttgart,Germany

ALENIA Rome, Italy

JEPPSESN& CO. GmbH Frankfurtam Main, Germany

ATS AEROSPACE St. Bruno, Canada

JERRYTHOMPSON& ASSOCIATESInc. Kensington,MD, USA

AVTELPTY Hawthorn,Australia

MARCONIRADARSYSTEMSLtd. Chelmsford,UK

BRITISH AEROSPACESIMULATIONLTD. Farnborough,UK

NETWORKSYSTEMSGmbH Frankfurtam Main, Germany

BURANJVC Rome, Italy

NOBELTECHSYSTEMS AB Jarfiilla,Sweden

CAE ELECTRONICSLtd. Saint-Laurant,Canada

NORCONTROLSURVEILLANCESYSTEM A.S. ChippingSodbury,UK

CESELSA Madrid, Spain

RAYTHEONCANADALtd. Waterloo,Canada

COMPUTERCOMMUNICATIONSSOFTWAREGmbH Rodedermark-Waldacker,Germany

REDIFFUSIONSIMULATIONLtd. BurgessHill, UK

COMPUTERRESOURCESINTERNATIONALNS Birkerod, Denmark

SCHMIDTELECOMMUNICATION Ztirich,Switzerland

COSSOR ELECTRONICSLtd. Harlow, UK

SIEMENSPLESSEYSYSTEMS Chessington,UK

CRIMPNS Allero, Denmark

SOCIETED'ETUDES ET D'ENTREPRISESELECTRIQUES Malakoff,France

DEUTSCHEAEROSPACEAG (DASA) Ulm/Donau,Germany DICTAPHONECORPORATION Stratford, CT, USA DIVERSIFIEDINT'L SCIENCESCORP. Lanham, MD, USA

SOFREAVIA Paris, France SONYCORPORATION Tokyo, Japan SWEDAVIAAB Norrkopping,Sweden

DORNIER,CommunicationSystems Konstanz,Germany

TELUBAB Solna, Sweden

ELECTRONICSPACE SYSTEMSCORP. Concorde, MA, USA

THOMSON-CSF,Division SDC Meudon,France

GAREXAS Oslo, Norway

UNISYSDEUTSCHLANDGmbH Sulzbach,Germany

HOLLANDSESIGNAALAPPARATENB.V. Hengelo, Netherlands

VITROCISETS.p.A. Rome,Italy

HUGHES AIRCRAFTOF CANADALIMITED Richmond,BC, Canada

WESTINGHOUSEElectronicCorp.

Baltimore,MD, USA

The InternationalFederationof Air Traffic Controllers' Associationswould like to invite all corporations. organisations, and institutionsinterested in and concernedwith the maintenanceand promotionof safety in air traffic to join their organisationas Corporate Members.

Corporate Members support the aims of the Federationby supplyingthe Federationwith technical information and by means of an annual subscription.The Federations' internationaljournal The Controlleris offered as a platform for the discussionof technical and proceduraldevelopmentsin the field of air trafficcontrol.

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FOREWORD_______

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THE CONTROLLER/SEPTEMBER

1993

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0 Terry Crowhurst - Editor

0 Bert Ruitenberg - Executive Vice President Professional

he success of the Professional Panel during the Christchurch Conference can and should be seen as an indication of the growing realisation that the human being is the central element in the aviation industry.

This realisation is not ju st growing within IFATCA but it is growing across the industry as a whole. In the previous issue of this magazine you've read an article in which ICAO's leading role in spreading the awareness of the importance of Human Factors in aviati on was highlighted.

To save you from having to look that article up again: ICAO is conducting a series of Regional Seminars and Global Symposia to educate managers from airlines, ATC and other agencies on Human Factors: they're producing a series of Human Factors Digests for different disciplines of the aviation industry and they're gradually incorporating Human Factors knowledge-requirements into Annex I (licensing) and other regulations.

Shortly after Conference I had the honour to participate on behalf of IFATCA in a meeting of the !CAO Study Group on Flight Safety and Human Factors (the forum behind the programme). Without wishing to degrade the other agenda items, the topic I considered to be of most importance for IFATCA was: Human Factors in Communication.

Navigation , Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) .

CNS/ATM is an acronym we had all better become familiar with - it stands for the concept adopted by ICAO for what our profession will look like within one or two decades' The Air Naviga tion Commission of !CAO has decided that the transition from today's system to the CNS/ATC system is to become a textbook example of well-applied Human Factors knowledge. In other words: the entire system is to be designed around the human operators - pilots. ATCOs. technicians and others - that have to work in it. IFATCA can play a major role in this process.

Civil aircraft are designed by PEOPLE to transport other PEOPLE from A to B. They are operated by PEOPLE. maintained by PEOPLE and even the Air Traffic Controllers guiding them safely. orderly and efficiently through the skies are rumoured to be PEOPLE. So. what cou ld be more logical than putting PEOPLE in the centre when designing an all-encompassing new system such as CNS/ATM7 The ANCs decision to put the item on the work programme of the Human Factors Study Group see ms like a natu ral con seq uence of thi s reasoning.

Unfortunately. Human Facrors is still regarded by many as a standalone discipline. Yet it is definitely not a stand-alone discipline. it is a philoso phy that should be integrated in all areas ol the aviati on industry.

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EDITORIAL ____

T

he last issue of The Controller saw the first production run in the UK - and not without a few problems' To tho se of yo u that received your magazines late as a result of an incorrect address label. I apologise. The transfer of the database caused some problems with the acceptance of accents over certain letters . Several of the accent s duplicated computer control functions which bore no relationship to the required result. It makes me wonder if we Brits will ever learn to be truly international I In the middle of the posting process we also discovered that Germany had revamped all its postal codes so perhaps we were not totally to blame. Hopefully. the lessons have been learnt and in most cases con-ected. If you are still receiving your magazine with some incorrect address information please let Tim MacKay. the Accounts and Subscription Manager. know and he will arrange for it to be con-ected for the next issue. Tim¡ s address can be found on page one of this issue.

Although I am not generally short of material for publication. I am very conscious of the fact that a great deal of articles emanate from Board and other IFATCA officials. Also there are large regions of the wo rld from which I have linl e or no inform ation about the developments. or lack of. in the ATC environment. In Europe there is a great deal happening and it is very easy for me to report from this area. However. that is not truly representative of the ATC world at large. Therefore. I am appealing to those of you from ALL around the world that have ATC related developments or problems of interest to other IFATCA members to write to The Control ler with a view to worldwide publication. There is no need to be concerned about the English content or grammar - that is my problem to resolve. Please let us hea r from yo u - it is yo ur maga zine and an id ea l way to co mmunicat e with fe llow control lers and the ATC in du str y worldwide.

Finally. I have one more apology to make to our Corporate Member, Coordinator. Rod Roper. I failed to mention that tht: compan y he works for. Cossor Electronics Ltd. was an exhibitor at the !FATC A Technical Exhibition during conference in New Zealand and the fact that Roel was there as an amba ssador for both his co mpan y and IFATCA. As with all our Corporate Members. we very much value the support of Cossor and hope that they will now pay your allowances Roel'

LEITERS TO THE EDITOR ARE E/VCOl 'RAGff)

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Air TrafficControl- In Focus

ex 9

ur

Bournemouth International Centr e 20 -22 October 1993

FULL

CONFERENCE

PROGRAMME

26 INTERNATIONAL COMPREHENSIVE LOW

TRADE

COST

SELECTED

SPEAKERS EXHIBITION

REGISTRATION

CONFERENCE

LANDING FEES BOURNEMOUTH ACCOMPANYING

HOTELS

DISCOUNTED INTERNATIONAL

BY 75% AT AIRPORT

PERSONS

PROGRAMME

of A.T.C.

- Are we Serious?."

EuroConv "De - Nation alisation

Should the Capacity Problems of A.T.C. be addressed by A Centralised Supranational European Agency or A system totally or partially dependent on private enterprise and commercial management?

For

Further

Peter Rose, Registration Secretary EuroConvex 5 Malmesbury Road, Ringwood, H ampshire . BH24 2OL. UK.

Inform

ation

Contact:-

93, Tel. +44 202 4 72 327 (Office) Tel & Fax +44 202 870 682 (Home)

Guild of Air Traffic Control Officers Eurocontro l Gui ld of Air Traffic Services

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OMAT N AND THE CONTROLLER

0 The Effect of Automation of the ATM Function on ATC Skills. The Controller's Viewpoint as presented to the 1993 Global Navcom Symposium in Seattle, by Chris J Stock Executive Vice President Technical AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

IN T RODUCTION

The history of air traffic control throughout the world will show that its deve lopment from the the mid thirties until the present has been a reactive process governed by external factors such as traffic leve ls. co nfli ctin g demands of military and civil aviation, and aircraf t performance . Int ernati onal and nation a l po liti cs have adde d a pote nt ingredi e nt which has crea ted a raf t of difficulties. some of which were. and still are, incomprehensible to the users and providers of the air traffic system. What can be said about the present system is that it has been established by an evolutionary process. For many. thi s ha s not bee n a parti cul arl y satisfactory route 10 follow. How many times has the statement ··if we could start with a plain sheet of paper, we would have had a very different system·· been heard. Of course. in the real world, such methods of planning and designing ATC systems are pie in the sky. However. the realisation that a new and di ffe rent ap proac h was req uir ed beca me apparent to the member states of ICAO when they agreed to the formation in the early so·s of the Special Committee to consider Future Air Nav iga ti on Sys tems (FANS) . It is significant that the need for FANS was forced upon the aviation community by the same factors that brought about change in the ATC system in the past.

FANS has now beco me th e ICA O communications. navigation. and surveillance/ air traffic management (CNS/ATMJ concept: thi s paper will co nce ntr ate on the ATM aspects of the concept

Invoking the evolutionary nature of the air traffic system, there is nothing new about the components of ATM. In one form or another. the provision of air traffic services. air traffic flow management. and airspace management have been present to shape the progress of air tr ansport. Of co ur se, so me criti cs may suggest hinder rather than aid 1 Howeve r th e co nce pt def ines AT M fun cti ons so th at na tio nal ae ron autica l authorities can act in a co-operative manner ensuring the effective use of airspace and air tr a ffi c fl ows within th eir areas of res ponsibilit y. Th e emphas is is on co operative hence the global nature of ATM. Th e engin e dri vin g thi s process is th e adoption by the ICAO member states of a satellit e base d sys tem for nav iga tion and communications. The decisions of the FANS committee and the large investment in the deve lopment of both ground and satellit e based systems has lead to an unprecedented rate of technological change. The challenge for !CAO is to integrate and co-ordinate the impl e me nta ti on o f these sys tems in a standardised manner. The other challenge is to ensure that the role of the human in these changes is clearly established.

Separation Standards Current ly. there is little scope for further reduction in separati on minima exc ept in certain specialised areas. Howe ver future developments in area navigation and required navigational performance (RNP) will lead to new policy on the determination of separation minim a. Th e introd uct ion of automati c dependent surveillance (ADS). particularly on oceanic routes. is bound to have a direct effect on present separation standards.

Th e basic equ atio n is that by red ucing separation standards, there is a coITesponding increase in airspace capacity therefore more aircraft can use a part icular portion of airspace. The question is: can the controller or co nt ro ll ers cope with the increa sed workioad'.1 For many. in particul ar sys tem des igners and eng ineers . the answe r is an unqualified yes beca use automation in the form of computers. datalink. and the like will be available to reduce controlier workload. or even undertake the control task. On the other hand. many controllers will give a heav ily qualified affirmative because controllers need to be quite clear about the role of automation and the responsibilit y of the controller in relation to it.

AUTOMATION AND CONTROLLER

Obj ectives Before becoming overwhelmed by the scale and the scope of these technologica l and ideological developments. it is necessary to take one step backwa rds and consider the objectives. First: the present system has been unable to cope with the increased demand for many reasons; second: aviation in general and air transport in particular is a global business hence the necessity for ATC development on a g loba l bas is. From the co ntrol le r· s perspective. the overriding commitment of CNS/ATM is the need to increase capacity safely: to achieve this. separation standards have to be reduced and this means vertical. lateral. and longitudinal separation. At this juncture. the controller is involved. or should be in vo lve d. with the th eo ry. testi ng. validat ion. and verificatio n of the systems because safety and. consequently. separation standards are the core of the ATC task.

THE CON T ROLLER /SEPTEMBER 1993

SKILLS

Case For A11 romatio11 The controller needs to know the answer to the '"why"·. ··wh at"·. and ··how· · of th e automat ion. This may sound reactionar y however it is axiomatic that controllers must have co nfidence in the too ls of the trad e therefore they need to start with the basics.

" Pe rf ect a utol andl ng !"

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The operational case for automation can be justified in general terms: a. when any particular ATC functions or processes are becoming too burdensome or time consuming to carried out efficiently by human operators alone, or; b. when it becomes certain that substantive improvement with regard to regularity and expedition of operations cannot be adequately be obtained wi thout aut omati on whil e maintaining the required level of safety. 111 The economic case is more complex and controversial, particularly if some of the argu ment includ es the reduction of the controller work force. That is a subject in its own right with many implications for the control task. It is suffice to identify this aspect but cannot be progressed further in this forum.

In global terms. there is a good case for automation so the ·'why'· question is satisfied however the ..what .. and ·'how.. will be held over until consideration is given to controller skills where automation is likely to have a direct impact.

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and no more so when the issue of controller skills is considered. Before considering the pre se nt day skill s, turn the clock back .

Befo re radar, contr ollers opera ted in a procedural environment using either time, distance, or altitude, or a combinationof these to separate aircraft.

Althou gh sa fe, procedural control was a time consuming exercise requiring specialised skills based on certain rules and calculations. It is wholly inappropriate for handling large numbers of aircraft expeditiously. The introduction of

job " or, b . "I ca nnot see the benefit of s econdar y radar because the

primary is perfectl y adequate when you know how to use it".

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wea ther conditi ons and oth er unu sual circum stances such as anom alou s propagation. When these situations occurred, procedural control was the fall back position.

Even now, pro cedur al area and appro ach control are required ratings in many states before a controller can operate on radar.

However, regardless of whether a controller is operating procedurally or with radar, the predominant factor of the ATC system is that it is centred on the co ntroll er with all the safety critical decisions emanating from that source. This highlights the plethora of skill s that were. and are, still required by the present generation controller. A list of skills needed for the control task would include the following: a. ability to communicate b. receive and disseminate information c. ability to plan d. monitor tactical situations e. able to identif y problems , conflicts and track deviations in a timely manner f. make instant decisions to resolve control problems g. need to be flexible and able to change tactics or plan h. able to work as a member of a team.

Com roller Skills Consider these two statements: a. "I do not need radar to do my

These comments, or variations of them. have bee n utt ered by co ntro llers ov er th e ye ars in refe rence to two o f the most important ad vances in ATC to date. They are revealing because they can be interpreted in many ways. Reaction to progress. short sighted. typically bloody minded controller, are but a view that can be called to mind.

Alternatively, it co uld be arg ued that the speaker had an inherent pride in the job that he was doing, expressing a fear that the new equipment would denigrate his ability and skills, or even showing a scepticism about the advertised benefits of the new equipment.

Whatever else. it reveals an ambivalence of attitudes amongst the controller community towards change particularly if that change is going to call into question controlling skills or even the necessity to learn new skills.

ATC has been an evolutionary development

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radar changed the emphasis on skills towards those of visual percepti on and spatial aware ness . Also , it reduced separ ation standards allowing controllers to move much larger numbers of aircraft in a shorter space of time than was ever possible under the procedural (non-radar). With such a dramatic improvement in the handling of traffic, it is possible to conceive that the procedural skills in the rada r environment would beco me redundant. However this was not the case because radar had the irritating habit to fail occasionally, and even more galling, unable to see the aircraft targets under certain

The list is not comprehensive but it g ives an indi cati o n of the charac te ri sti cs th at wo uld be required of any automated system that was designed to replace some or all of th e hum an co ntroll er.

Returnin g to the indi vid ual controller. to achieve a competent level of controlling ability. he/she must pa ss th ro ugh a rigo rou s selecti o n to check aptitud e and temperament, undergo a lengthy training process followed by onthe-job and simul ation trainin g .

Further examinations and competency checks durin g thi s pro cess en sur e th at th e end product, the co nt ro lle r. is suit abl e and prepared for the task in hand which is the safe and expeditious flow of traffic. The airline operator would add the significant rider '· cost effective··

Capacitr Fae/ors Although the ATC work force is highly trained and moti va ted . th e a viati on communit y is faced with a crisis of epic proportions, namely air traffic system induced congestion and consequent delay. The cost of

THE CONTROLLER / SEPTEMBER 1993

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this de lay is cr ipplin g to th ose airlin es attempting to recover from recess ion. The irony is, that despite record losses, airlines are able to increase the numbers of aircraft and services which add to the airspace congestion.

When considerable effort is being expended to resolve current congestion problems, a change of priorities in airline strategies with smaller aircraft operating at a hi gher frequency adds to the overall dilemma. When the system becomes overloaded, the primary responsibility of the controller is safety. In this situation , the objectives of safety and ex pedition beg in to co nflict beca use the rigorous application of separation standards in ev itably create s de lays in an already co nges ted sys tem. Flow manag e me nt techniques are applied to ensure that sector capacity is compatible to demand. As part of the rationale of ATM is to increase capacity, will th e abilit y o f the controller be the limiting factor as to the amount of traffic to be handl ed? Befor e that qu es ti on is examined. it is worth noting that the capacity o f the syste m is directly re lat ed to th e separation minima but the flo w of traffic throu gh it is dictated by the lowest sector capacity , or in the ca se of airfi eld s, the runway capacity. In other words, there is a finite ca pac it y which can be a variabl e dependin g upon c ircum stances such as weather or runway availability. Since there are complex features to the capacity model of the air traffic system. the limiting factor may be co ntroll er workload but it wo uld be incorrect to state that it was the predominant one. Also. significantly. controller workload can be effec ted by automati on and ATM. Th e limit ati ons. be th ey hum an relat ed or system related or a combination of both are recog ni se d. Con se qu entl y . th e implementati on or the CNS/ATM co ncept with ad va nced tec hn ology becoming available means that automation or ATC in one form. or another. will take place.

WtL\ T LE\'EL OF AUTOI\IATION

The critical point for the controller is what will be the nature of the beast. As previously noted the current generation controller has a leve l of skills which will have taken some years to cultivate to a state of maturity. The intrndu ction or furth er automation to the control task will directly impinge on those skills. In addition. the advent of automation may necessitate the learning of new skills in the same way that the introduction of radar demanded a radical change.

The case for the introduction of automation wa, mentioned earlier. however it is not easy

_ IFATCAACTIVITIES _______ to discu ss th e effec t of automation on controller skills when the level of automation to be introduced is not known. Equally, the types of automation will vary from state to state, unit to unit , dep endin g on specific circum stance s and traffic demand , not to mention costs. This will have an unsettling effect since there could be a large variation in contro ller skills needed and future training requirements.

Total A11to111ati o11 The levels of automation can vary from the human being in compl ete control of the machine to the machine in complete control with the human monitor. The case against the fully automated ATC system is that it can never be guarant eed to be I 00% fail-safe.

There fo re. in th e eve nt of failure , th e co ntroll er mu st step in to res olve th e situation. The problem with this scenario is that the automated sys tem is likel y to be extremely reliabl e therefore the controll er remains a passive monitor not exercising any of his skills. The only way to ensure that he maintains those skills is to practice them in the simulator on a regular basis. Provided he remains proficient, it seems wasteful not to exe rcise them in the live situ ati on. Th e catastrophic failure of the system would be placed in the hands of a controller who may not have spoken to an aircraft for a long period of time.

Th e hea rt of th e full y automa ted ATC sys tem will be a co mput er or co mput ers programmed to meet all possibilities that it is likely to be confronted with. Really' The history of programming software for ATC has has a chequered record: it it stretching our credulity to believe that it can be done. What may be feas ible is that you only allow so many options so that the problems can be defined within certain parameters. However. this is the tail wagging the dog and probably reducing flexibility. therefore capacity. of the system. The replacement of the controller by a machine leads to many ethical and human factors problems. These are beyond the scope of this paper. howeve r suffice to note that qu es ti ons of lega l res ponsibilit y. highly ski ll ed human s o peratin g in a pa ss ive . monit orin g mode. j ob sati sfacti on. and motivation are some among many items that require research and further discussion in the design phases of new ATC systems.

IFATCA do es not believe that a full y automated ATC is either feas ible nor the correct way ahead. Since we accept that a deg ree o f autom ati on is nee ded. eve n essential. then the manuai system is equally

THE CONTROLLER /SEPTEMBER 1993

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rejected. So we must construct our view of the controller and automat ion and con sider how controlling skills will be effected.

Auto111arion Principles As a statement of principle regarding the controller and automation and taking account of the long term deve lopment of the ATC system, IFATCA believes the controller must remain an esse nti al e lement of the ATC system and must retain overall control of the system. Safeguards must be establi shed to ensure that the controller remains an active. ra th er tha n a pass ive. monit o r of an automated system.

Erolutionarr Process From the out se t, the int roducti o n of advanced automation into the ATC syste m will be an evolutionary process over a period of time which must be focussed on the human centred concept. As has been defin ed by experts in the field of human factors a simple phrase but a much less simple concept when it is explored rigorou sly Human centred automation can be defi ned as 路路automation designed to work co-operatively with human operators in pursuit of stated objectives路路 (2).

In term s of ATC. the controller acts as manager using automation as a resource to accomplish the mission but retains the overal l responsibility and therefore must posses~ the authority to fulfil that responsibility.

If we consider the three functions of ATC. two of them. air traffic flow management and airspace management. are prime candidates for using automation to a high degree because of the strategic nature of the tasks. It is not difficult to appreciate the use of computers to co-ordinate detailed information. correlate the various aspects and present the flow manager with the appropri ate figu res to plan and decide on flow rates within the sectors. These proc esses empha sise th e sub o rdin ate functions of ATFM and ASM to that of ATC which in direct contrast needs the information and dec ision supp ort to be abl e to make tactica l planning and insta nt dec ision~ a\ required by the current traffic solutions. The controller. whate ver his function. must be able to create and then retain. the picture of his control and traffic situation.

EFFECT 0!'1CONTIWLLER

SKILLS

So with th e tec hno log ica l ad va nce, beginning to race ahead of the glohal ATM plan. how are the dispara te acti vitie, and deve lopme nts to be coordi nated and mtegrated. [FATCA ha, recognised the need for automation but believe, that the controller

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_ ____________ remai ns at the centre of the ATC system which will evolve over a period of time. The question that has been asked is what effect will this evolutionary process have on the skills of the controller.

Unti l any aspect of automation or full automation has been proved feasible and can operate efficie ntly and reliably, then the controllers skills will be needed to ensure the ATC system is safe. The long term effect of automation is that controller skills will be effected through the lack of practice. In other words, whenever the comp uter take s on a portion of the control task then the human will not exercise that function to ensure a level of competency unless a programme of training is in place.

Decision Support Srs1e111 The fact that it is expec ted th at th e controller will remain in the decision making loop means it is essential that the controllers sk ill s 111 ust be pre se rved .

Ca re ful consideration of the human factors aspects is important to ensure that automation is kept at such a level to al low the co ntroll er to exercis e hi s skill s at a compe tent le ve l, because it is acknowledged by many experts that the human is a poor monitor.

Equally. it is important to acknowledge that human error remains an awkward factor in any complex system. For many. the need to eliminate human erro r. be it controller or pilot. from th e ATC sys tem ha s been a motivating force. The danger of such an appr oach, laudable as it is, is th at by transfe1Ting various functions to automation, the human en-or may also be transferred to the computer. Better still, the system should be designed to reduce errors but at the same time be en-ortolerant.

Full advantage should be taken of the major technological advances that are taking place within the ATM sphere of influence so that the Objectives are achieved and the customers receive an efficient and reliable service. In the nea r ter111and mid term future. th e controller using his hard earned skills will co ntinue to be th e decisio n mak ing machinery. After all. the human has a proven reco rd o f flex ibili ty, creat ivit y, and a capability to deal with the unexpected: all properties that computers have a poor record of achievement.

IFATCA views automation as a deci sion support system to provide the controllers with time ly and esse ntia l info rmati on so tha t he/ she can mak e dec isions within an acceptabl e tirne fram e Th e objecti ve of reducing controller workload is to create time 8

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for th e co ntrol task. If the means of automation requires extra skills, there remains a fine balance between the benefits received and disadvantages created by extra work to under stand and operate the sys tem.

Therefore , while accepting a le vel of automation is already available to the controller, it remains at a basic level and furth er introducti on of higher levels of automation will require a higher degree of management and integrationusing recognised formal management methods.

Formal S_rste111 Integration The continuing advance of technology and proce sses that are evolving to introduce automation to a hitherto unknown degree of sophistication requir es a formal method integration in the ATC system. We need to adopt a philosophy of syste111 s integrationthat is user centred so that account is taken of the need to preserve controller skills within an automated environment. For example: two such approa ches , that app ea r to be complementary, seem to offer considerable benef it: these are the stati stical proce ss improvement methodology - Total Quality Management (TQM) and Total sys tem performance enhancem ent 111 anage ment method , MANPRINT (Manpower and Personnel Integration). Both concepts are full y people oriented with MANPRINT looking at total system performance.

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not the controller needs to learn new skills, particul arly in the areas of system management and behaviour. The problems of the human machin e interface need clearly defining . The co ntinu ed emphasis on technology within CNS/ATM could lead to aviation authorities and industry becoming equipment orientated. Formal method s of system integration taking due regard of people need to be adopted as part of the CNS/ATM concept. With such management method s in place. controller skills can be examined objectively so that any necessary change s can be introduced to ensure continuity and safety of the system.

One final thought: ATM is a global concept which it is said can be introduced in varying degrees at different locations . The level of automation that will be introduced is dependent on the political will of the nation to invest in the ATC system. This is likely to lead to disparity of faci litie s and skill s ultimately affecting the flow of traffic. On any particular route, the overa ll capacity is dep endent on th e weakest link. Whil st nations may have pressing domestic reasons for upgrading ATC, the improvements on an international scale will come slower and be dependent on other external factors . One only has to look at Europe for evidence. We should be very wary about discarding any controller skills to automation because it will be a one-way proc ess . onc e gone - lost forever.+

CONCLUSION

Whatever aspect of ATM is considered, it is hard to escape that progress is evolutionary rather than revolutionary. The ATM concept enables aeronautical authorities to develop national ATC systems in the knowledge that they will be compatible with other systems.

The adoption of the CNS/ATM concept by me mber state s of !CAO has given considerable impetus to major technological advances. The rate of progress is increasing due to th e demands of an air tran sport indu stry under undeniable financial and competitive pressures. The concern is that these pressures plus those emanating from politi ca l sources will impo se immature concepts and techniques on an ATC system which is in a state of considerable flux.

IFATCA views the prese rvation o f controller skills as paramount and a requisite for the operation of safe, expeditious and cost eff ect ive air traffic co ntrol service.

Automation is necessary to provide support to the controller in his primary safety critical role and his need to make decisions. The level of automation will determine whether or

References: 1. Attachment D to PANS - RAC (Doc 4444) 21 November 1985 2. A Concept of Human Centred Automation Charles E Billings

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THE CONTROLLER /SEPTEMBER 1993

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It's trainin g , not simulati o n, that inc reases the productivity and proficienc y o f yo ur air traffic contro llers . Whi le simulat o rs are adequate for rev iew ing ATC rul es, it takes a so phi sticated , site-pro ve n trainin g system to deve lop deci s ionmakin g sk ill s and c rea te professionals ready to tackle th e de ma ndin g wo rld of a ir traff ic co ntro l.

You don't ha ve to tra ve l fa r to see a Wesson Int e rn atio na l ATC training sys te m in use . We've equipped mo re sites with stand-alone ATC training systems than a ll other c ompa nies wo rldwid e comhin ec/1 From v irtually eve ry major U .S. Air Force RAPCON around the wo rld to the bu sies t FAA fac iliti es in the United St ates - fro m un ive rsities doing ATC training to NASA and EuroControl - lea ders in th e fi e ld of ATC sy stems have cho se n W esso n.

TRACON/Pro , RAPCON/Pro , and ENROUTE /Pro - the most co mpl ete , cu stom iza ble ATC training systems ava ilable are ideal for training both nov ice and expe rie nced radar co ntroll ers. Graph ical air sp ace design too ls let you d uplicate your secto rs qui ck ly a nd accurately , while a sce nario genera tor autom atica lly provid es a n unlimit ed number of realis tic flight plans. Continuous vo ice recog niti on co mpr e he nd s ATC phrases in conver sat ion a l speec h with bette r than 96 percent accuracy.

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A FIRSTFOR CONFERENCE 0 The First ProfessionalPanel - A Personal Perspective by Ami Maoz

continued to a practical one and finishedwith o say that in Christchurch we saw "The Best Show Ever" would be too another theoretical topic. The start, as I simplistic, because this was the first mentioned, was with a theoretical model of Professional Panel ever to take place at an immediate practical consequences . Bert IFATCA conference. Nevertheless, the Panel Ruitenberg presented a brief summary of the and its organiser, Bert Ruitenberg, should be "SHELL" model and its possible use in ATC. paid some complim ents. It was the right Then he moved on to the "REASON" model thing at the right time . Aft er day s of of Human Factors and its modifiedversion to discussions in the more sombre committee the "Anyfield" case. The "Anyfield" case was a fictitious case-study "that could have never rooms we sat comfortably in the pleasant James Hay Theatre to listen to the speakers. happened " but, not surprisingly, is most When we left the venue we were better significant to our daily work. This is the right educated and possessed some clearer feelings opportunity to mention that the Israeli about things that are a latent part of our daily ATC0s Association has recently used this work. case-study (with Bert's permission), in a The first subject was "Human Factor s in workshop with the ATC0s from Ben-Gurion ATC", presented by EVP Professional, Bert International Airport.

Ruitenberg. The second , and astonishing The panel then continued with a presentation, given by Mike Dooling , of presentation of a rather "hot" issue in the Canada (our former EYP Technic al), dealt world of Work Psychology, namely "Stress with "Critical Incident Stress Management".

Management". The Critical Incident Stress This issue was accompani ed by a visual deals with the emotional , physical and prese ntation. Last but not least was the cognitive problems resulting in poor work subject: "The Use of Imagery in ATC", a performance, family crisis or other critical life theoretical subject prese nted by Dr Anne events. Rooted in the First World War, this Issac and Don Hamilton, with prospects of approach was developed through the years, impl ementation in the futur e. Dr Iss ac until lately it obtained its final shape as "Post (whom we all hope has managed to get rid of Traumatic Stre ss Disorders " (PTSD). A her walking cane by now). is a researcher in Critical Incident is defined as any situation the field of Neurop syc ho logy, in Ne w which causes unusually strong emotional Zea land. Do n Hamilt on is an ATC 0 reactions to arise and which has the potential instructor in the Airways Trainin g Centre, to interfere with the individual's ability to Christchurch. function, either during or after the incident.

The three presentations completed a circuit The Canadian Association and authorities which slarte d with a theoretica l mode l. have recen tly impl emented a "Critical -- ------- - -------------------------------------

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Incident Stress Debriefing" (CISD), an important procedure to avoid a PTSD. Mike Dooling accompanied his presentation with a rather shocking demonstration, taken from a real life story - a crash landing of a DC-IO in a small airport in USA. It is mine and others opinion that the CISD programme should form an integral part of our work environment and management. We all hope that Mike is already "flooded" with invitations to come and present his material all over the world.

From "inside information" (SC4) I know that the Australian Association is already interested in making this presentation to its members, as we in Israel also intend to do.

The last presentation, though by no means the least, was a research report on the ways ATC0s turn the information they get into a working tool. The researchers studied abinitio trainees in both radar and non-radar situations. They tried to find out how these trainees transpose two-dimensional map information into three dimensional mental pictures that allows them to make the right decisions. This theoretical subject will undoubtedly turn into an ATC0s selection tool. The theory may also improve training scenarios by enhancing traffic situation visualisation.

This lecture concluded the presentation part of the panel. The lecturers opened their issues to general audience questions and enquiries. From the questions one could feel that there is a great need for more information on the Human Factors subject.

This information can help us in at least two ways.

Firstly, it can help us better understand our behaviour and performance on the job.

Secondly, the modern human sciences can help us practically by improving our work life as well as our general well being.

I would like to thank again Bert Ruitenberg and all the lecturers for their succes sful efforts to help us achieve such important goals. Keep up the good work! 11 Ami Maoz is a Radar Specialist at the Tel Aviv ACC and is a member of IFATCA StandingCommittee 4. +

Editorial Note: Following the success of the Professional Panel it has been decided to make this item a regular feature at subsequent IFATCA annual conferences.

THE CONTROLLER/SEPTEMBER 1993

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TECHNICALPANEL CHRISTCHURCHNEW ZEALAND 1993

The Technical Panel held during the Annual Conference in Christchurch will be noted for the fact that only three papers were presented as compared to the eleven in Bournemouth.

However, this turned out to be an advantage for the speakers and the audience because it took the press ure away to complete the presentation within a fixed time limit and allo wed more tim e for the audi ence to parti cipat e and indeed, warm to its own theme. The panel was chaired by Chris Stock, Executive Vice President Technical. assisted

by Rod Rop er, th e Corporat e Members Coordinator.

The three presentations were in order of speakin g, Tony Bowden (Cossor) with a prese ntation entitl ed '¡Review of Mode S Deve lopments", Adrian Zeffert (Siemens Plessey Systems/Cardion Inc.) who initially confused us by advertising "Monopulse SSR in the Pacific Region in the Next Decade" as his subject and then presented "Where in the World are we 1" which was subtitl ed "A Glimp se at the FANS/CNS Confusion"'

THE CONTROLLER/SEPTEMBER 1993

Fin ally, Juli an Moore (Wa lton Radar Systems) gave an entertain ing visual presentation entitled "New Strategies in ATC Data Recording".

Each presentation was noted for its high quality visual aids and the informality of the speakers. This without doubt added to the enjoyment of the audience who responded in kind with lively and intelligent questions and comments.

It was significant that the Chairman had to call the proceedings to a close when time ran out with many questions left waiting from the audience. The success of this year' s panel has given EVPT and the Corporate Members Representative food for thought as to the format of future technical panels.

One final comment that presenters of papers may care to note for the futur e is that audiences are always requesting copies of the presentational text. Furthermore. if this text is made available it is always included in the official conference report and very often used as an article in later edi tio ns of The Controller.+ 11

Everyt h ing under cont rol.

Tot al flight control means comm and of th e sky; precision in movement and excellent adaptability to the environment.

IBM has the so luti on in Air Traffic Control based on a network of open systems. The most advanced technology is in us e in some of thf' most active airports and ATC cente rs in thf' world. MPD, our MultiPu rpos e Display System, dt>veloped as a part of CATMAC (Coopcrativf" Air Traffic Managf'mf'nt Concept ), improvPs your t\TC systf'm to new function alit y, morf'

capa bility and to higher flf"x ibi lity. Providing timely, distinct and accurat e information. Offering cost -effe ctive, modular solution s, adaptable to the unique ne eds of eve ry use r. IBM is ready to work with you in Air Traffic Control. For furth e r details rega rding IBM capabilities in Air Traffic Control, p lease contact th e IBM Air Traffic Center Europe , Posenf'r Str. I, ~~== D-7032 Sind e lfing en, GC'rmany , === = ,;,::,= ==-=== or simp ly call 49/70 31/17 -28 01. ~ =c=~ ~

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Have you ever wanted to control traffic at say, Miami, Los Angeles or even Munich Approach on your home computer? Well. your dream could come true with a copy of TRACON II for your Macinto sh or PC equipped with Windows.

THE CONTROLLER has evaluated the Macintosh version 2.03. However. sold as a computer game. this sof twa re with it s professional look and feel behaves more like a simulator. The test was conducted on a Macintosh llcx, equipped with two monitors. a colour I 3" and a black and white 21 '' display. This combination permitted use of the full screen space of the colour monitor placing the three dialog windows, Pending, Active and Communications, on the black and white screen. However. the optimum would be to use a 21" co lour display. as TRACON II supports the flexible handling of windows.

The radar picture. or now called HMI (Human-Machine Interface). features the basic information needed about the chosen area. Airport symbols as well as approach tracks are permanently displayed, whereas airport and intersection names can be called up on request. Range marks and the antenna sweep can be selected as an ON/OFF basis.

Geographical landmarks and sec tor boundaries can also be displayed as required.

Once the area to control is selected and the scenario activated. the flights will start to appear in a flight control strip format in the Pending wind ow. Th ese are rand omly selected for each scenario. The flights then call up (synthetic computer generated voice. but still int elli gible) either at the sec tor boundary or for a ··release·· for take-off.

As in real life traffic. the object ive is to '·bring ·em down safel y". and ··keep ·em apart". Traffic can become hectic and should you omit to descend a flight in time for its destination airport. the pilot will. at intervals. remind yo u with a reque st for a lower altitude. Should you fail to provide adequate se parati on. an alarm . together with a information box will point out your mistake. etc.

TRACON II can also be linked up with the Microsoft Flight Simulator for real -time co ntroll er-t o-pil ot int eraction s. Thi s is achieved via direct connection or modem - so you can talk clown a friend into a major airport without him leaving his house.

The quality of this software presents few hazard s as the compan y producing thi s program. Wesson International. is already in the market with professional tools such as TRACON/Proand TOWER/Pro Simulator, For further informati on on thi s produ ct contact: Wesson International SOOS.Capital ofTexa s Hwy. Building 5. Suite 200 Austin. Texas 78746. USA .

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ONE STOP FLIGHTAROUND THE WORLD rJ Br Philippr Donwgala

On the 16thJune 1991 an Airbus A.140-200 took oil from Paris with the aim or circling the world in -18 hours with only one one stop Auckland in New Zealand.

Tilt' aircraft. piloted hj ihe Airhu, L'hicl'pilllt Pierre Baud. had 22 passengers 011board and 1-10tnn, or ruel. It too~ 2 1 hllur, and 32 minute, to cover the 1910()Km ( 10307 Nm) foll1rn,i11gnmmal ATS rnute, and normal

ATC procedur es via the Siberian - Japan route.

After a 5 hour technical stop in Auckland the AJ-10 took oil again for Paris. this time taking the Pacific - Greenland rnute. The A~-10 landed hack in Paris after 2 1 hours and -16 minute, after co1·er i11 g 10.,92 Nm ( 19258 Kill) The onlj problem, e11counte1t~d during thi,

THE CONTROLLER/SEPTEMBER 1993

wor ld reco rd fligh t were in the oil consumption of the engines. Becau,e the engines were not designed to run for ,o long continuously. engineers feared some pan , might suffer from lack or oil towards the encl of the first leg. and had to thoroughIy check the engines before starting the second. This explains the abnormally long technical stop or 5 hours in Auckland.

Another problem encountered wa, that the toilets filled up faster than planned. but with the ingenious help or a flight engineer who transformedthe air mattress he had brought to sleep 011into an emergenL·y tan~. at least the mak passenger, could relieve themselvc, and enjoy the flight.

Todaj one expecb such records to he broken almost ,ill the 1i111 c. but to give a pcrspcctiw into the achic'Velllellt. one h,h t() remember that 66 years ago I,1ndhcrgh tnt1~3-1hours to cros., the Atlantic. a mere .'i80()Km !'light.and that a Boeing 7-17--100.which 1s le,, than 10 year, uld. would burn 27"i 1011 , ol ruel to do 11·hat thi, A_1-I0 did with 12.'i1t1n, +

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INTERNATIONALLABOUR ORGANISATION(ILO) Extract of the address given by EVP Professional, Bert Ruitenberg, to the 80th International Labour Conference in Geneva,on 10th June 1993.

One of the objectives of IFATCA is "To protect and safeguard the interests of the air traffic control profession" . For this objective, IFATCA has maintained a close relationship with the !LO for many years. One of the highlight s in the relation ship was the Tripartite Meeting of Experts on Air Traffic Control, convened by the !LO in 1979, from which a report containing 52 conclusions on ATC workingconditions resulted.

Since then, those 52 conclusions have been used in many cases by air traffic controllers all over the world when negotiatingwith their employers for improvementsin their working conditions. Several conclu sions were the basis for IFATCA policies on professional matters - policies that are still used today.

At our 32nd Annual Conference, held in April 1993 in Christchurch (New Zealand), the 52 conclusions were reviewed for their validity in today's workingenvironment. The JFATCA conference found most of the conclusions as valid today as they were in I979, thus countering the recent argument of some employers that (quote) "material of I979 is to be considered outdated".

Air traffic control has traditionally been a part of the Civil Service system in almost all co untri es, for it is the responsibility of governments to provide air traffic services in their airspace, but of late there is a strong trend to remove ATC from the Civil Service and make it an independent operation. This trend is generally referred to as privatisation of ATC, although in some cases the word co mmercialisation wo uld be more appropriate.

This privatisation of ATC is seen by some people as a panacea for all existing problems within the current systems. Problems such as under-staffing. inability to cope adequately with changing traffic demands, and offering terms of employment to air traffic controllers that are commensurate with their high degree of specialisationand responsibility.

Experience shows that indeed. a number of those problems are solved. or at least handled better. in countries that have privatised their

"THE

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF AN AVIATION ACCIDENT"

I

I "Coming from the right, I had right of way "!

ATC services. But is it only fair to say that so me probl ems still appear to re main unsolved and, what is worse: privatisation is creating some unforesee n probl ems of its own!

In most cases where ATC is privatised, we see that the major changes in the structure of the organisation are in the top levels. The managers are no longer career civil servants. the y are ca ree r manage rs, of ten with a commercial background. Another change is that the orga nisat ion no longer runs on a Government budget, but has to operate out of its own income.

This inevitably leads to a highly commercial set-up of the organisation: ATC becomes a product that has to generate a profit to allow the orga nisat ion to run and even expand where and when necessary. So. after a while. management starts looking for areas where expenses can be cut and discovers that staffcosts is an area where a lot of money goes.

The next logical steps seems to be eith er reduce the m,mber of"staff, or to make better use of the existing number by increasing their productivity, which in ATC means having them work longer hours. At first glance this looks OK. But what tends to be forgotten is that ATC's primary product is Safety. and it is almost impossibl e to attach a pri ce-tag to that product. If controllers work only for a limited

THE CONTROLLER /SEPTEMBER 1993

amount of hour s in one stret ch, and fo r limited stretches per day, that is because they need . in the int erests of sa fety. to be concentrating fully all the time. Therefore. the commercial way of thinking doesn¡1 apply to ATC is this respect.

When considerin g pri va ti s ing ATC or det erminin g workin g co nditi o ns in a pri vati sed en vironm ent. IF ATCA ur ges Government s and other employe rs of ai r traffic contro llers not to ove rlook ATCs primary goal: that is. the provision of safe air navigati on. The co nte nts o f th e 52 conclusions from the 1979 ILO Meeting of Experts were agreed upon with air safety in mind and are therefore as applicable to ATC in the Civil Service as they are to ATC if privatised.

If some commercially oriented managers think Safety is expensive. we suggest they consider the fina nci al implic ati ons of having an aviation accident. IFATCA has a stron g feeling that in the encl it will be cheaper to have a healthy ATC system with co ntro llers who ca n perfo rm safe ly and efficiently all the time. whilst controlling air traffic. even if il means employing more staff than in a strictly commercial organi~alion.

The safety standard in aviation needs to be and is high. in no small part thanb to air traffic control. IFATCA works to establish that high standard and to mai111 ain it.+ 15

SOLVING WORLDWIDE ATC NEEDS eff ic ie nt management

Hu g hes A irc ra ft Compan y provid es a w ide ran ge of sys te m so luti ons fo r the of a ir traff ic - wor ld w ide.

TracView. for examp le . th e rada r data process in g and disp lay syste m for contro l to we r and a pproach co ntrol fac iliti es is -an ideal. low cos t ATC sys tem for loca lized application s. It is curr entl y in se rvi ce in Europe . th e Middl e East and orth Am e rica .

Fo r larger. nat ion- w ide ATC sys te m s suc h as CAATS , to co ntr ol Ca nad a 's 5 .8 million squ a re mil es of airsp ace, Hughe s is introdu c ing automated too ls for the air traffic co ntroller - c lea rance proc ess ing , fl ight conformanc e m o nit o rin g, flo w mana ge m e nt , co nflict pr e di c tion , a le rt a nd reso luti o n be in g seve ral e xamp le s. T hese high ly a utomat ed sys tem func tions are prese nted on the Hu ghes la rge scree n (20 inc h x 20 inch ) Ad vanc ed Multimis sion Di splay, the AMD-44.

A utomation of th e man y repet itious act ions requir ed wi ll provid e cr itica lly nee ded tim e for th e co nt ro ller to co nce ntrate on the pri m ary task of a ir traff ic m anage me nt.

No m atter w hat th e si ze of yo ur sy ste m , Hu ghes ca n provid e the App lica tions, T ec hn o logy and Capab ilit y to m a ke it happ e n.

For further 1nformat1on. p lease contact the Busin ess Development Departments of: Hughes Canada Sysrems Divis ion (604) 279-5615 or Fax (604) 279-5 795 Hug hes Brussels (32-2) 725-6050 or Fax (32-2) 725 -6162 Hughes Fullert on . CA (714) 732-9505 or Fax (714) 732-9503

HUGHES Subsidiary of GM Hughes Electroni cs

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ACCOMPANYINGPE SONS ROG AMME 0 A Personal View by Anne Brown, Christchurch ATCO and Accompanying Persons Manager for the IFATCA 93 Conference in New Zealand

Now I know how the person on the opposite side of th e standb y co unt er feels when confronted by 180 people. with an extra 35 on the waiting list and j ust 5 spare seats on the only flight' Thankfull y. we had. unb ek now n. bee n cunning and orga nised functions for the previous evening. the ¡¡no shows"' allowed everybody who turned up a seat. a sheep tag (around their neck) and two clays or organised activities.

In su1n1nary the memoriesare: TUESDAY 20th APRIL 1993 A superb sett ing at a country homestead south of Christchurch.

A beautiful clay and a great bunch o f participants.

A glass or punch in hand. sitting on a hay bale soaking some Kiwi sunshine with the aroma of a BBQ lunch.

A hot air balloon being buffeted from side to side by a gusty Canterbury northwesterly.

An exhilarating j et boat ride amongst the foothills or the New Zealand Southern Alps.

45 passengers pushing their coach out or their paddock and the sheep manure.

The beautiful hand-knitted ga rments on display from the local community.

And to end the day. a coach surrounded by sheep. as the farmer mol'ed his flock l'ia the main sta te high way - 15 mi nutes fro m Christchurch. with most people too tired from a great dar outing to notice.

THE CONTROLLER /SEPTEMBER 1993

THURSDAY 22nd APRIL 1993 !11 cle111e111 11 -ec11l1er.

A fantastic insight to life at Antarctica from both out side and inside the Internat ion al Antarctic Centre.

A gondo la ride . in a Canterbur: southwesterly. stabilised by sandbag, A love ly lun ch in a cosy ca,tk w ith beautiful models displaying their coswrne, at your table.

Punting abandoned clue to cond ition, hut that hot cuppa and scone keeping us happy.

Losing two of our Mexican friends en route.

Thanks to a great group of par1ic ipanh (.+ co ach load s) and espe c iall y th e Ki\.\ i controllers or their wives whn acted a, tour leaders. It wa, a pleasure to sho\1 everyone who came a long a ta stt' or life in Nn1 Zealand.

17

----------------CONFERENCE

PREVIEW----------------

1994 IFATCA CONFERENCE OTTAWA,CANADA

by Paul E. Ellis, ChairmanIFATCA 94 OrganisingCommittee

T

he Canadian Air Traffic Control Association (CATCA) provided attendees at IF ATCA 93 with information on IFATCA 94. to be held in Ottawa.Canada,April I 8-22, I994.

To assist you in preparing for the conference, we present this updated information which we hope will ease your decision to join us for what will be a tremendous conference. Our objective is to provide appropriate information in sufficient detail. withoutgetting into "information overload". Previous information provided in Christchurch,including the registration form, is to be disregarded.

CONFERENCE VENUE The conference hotel is the historic CHA.TEAULAURIER. an elegant example of Canada's traditionalrailroad hotels located right next door to Parliament Hill and many other downtown attractions. This is a "four diamond" (equivalent to four star) hotel operated by Canadian Pacific Hotels and Resorts and comprising 450 rooms/suites. 18 meetingrooms,4 ballrooms. a dining room. a grill. a piano bar and a fitness centre comprisingpool. sauna. exercise equipment. and showers. As you can see. the Chiiteau Laurier will meet all requirements of the !FATCA 94 Conference and Exhibition. It is ideally located. overlooking Parliament Hill. the historic Rideau Canal locks. the Ottawa River and the Byward Market area. The Conference Committee will make accommodationbookings on your behalf at the CHA.TEAU LAURIER. To confirm a reservation, $100.00 CDN. is required in advance.

The cost per night. per room i.e. single/double.is as follows: StandardRoom $ l l 2.00 CDN. includingtaxes BusinessClass $140.00CDN. includingtaxes EntreeGold $168.00CDN. includingtaxes The CHA.TEAU LAURIER is holding Standard rooms for the conference. If 18

April 18-22, 1994

delegatesrequire either a BusinessClass or an Entree Gold room, indicate this in the space provided on your IFATCA 94 registration form included with this edition.

In addition to the CHA.TEAULAURIER,a second hotel is available to delegates. The Holiday Inn (approximately 5 minute walk from the CHATEAU LAURIER) has been chosen as an alternate place for accommodation. The rate is $84.00 CDN includingtaxes for a single/doubleroom.

The Conference Committee will arrange your accommodation at either the Chiiteau Laurier or the Holiday Inn, as indicated on your registrationform.

REGISTRATION To register for the conference,completeone registration form for each person attending, providing the information requested as well as clearly indicating your choices of any of the options presented.

Upon receipt of your registrationform and the applicable fees, the Conference Committee will send confirmation of your registration to you at the postal address or facsimile number that you provide on your registrationform.

IMMIGRATION Visa and Passport requirements for IFATCA Member Associations visiting Canada is provided below. Previous information on this subject is to be disregarded.

The following are not required to apply for and obtain a Canadian Visitor Visa before coming to Canada: A. Citizens of Andorra,Antiguaand Barbuda, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium. Botswana, Brunei, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominica, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kiribati, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Namibia, Nauru, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papu New Guinea, St. Kitts and Nevis, Lucia, St. Vincent, San Mario. Saudi Arabia, Singapore,Solomon Islands, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland,Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Western Samoa and Zimbabwe.

B. British Citizens and British Overseas

Citizenswho are re-admissibleto the United Kingdom.

C. Citizens of British dependent territories who derive their citizenship through birth, descent, registration or naturalisation in one of the British dependent territories of Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Montserrat, Pitcairn, St. Helena or the Turks and CaicosIslands.

D. Nationalsof the United States.

The following individuals are not required to be in possession of a valid passport when seekingadmissionto Canada: A. Citizensof the United States.

NOTE:Individualmemberswho are planning to attend !FATCA 94 are encouragedto verify their visa and passport requirements with the closestCanadianConsulate.

TRAVEL Travel to Ottawa by air is straightforward, althoughinternationalflights direct to Ottawa are limited.

The nearest other international airports are Montreal/Mirabeland Toronto/Pearson,both of which are served by a variety of international carriers in addition to Canadian Airlines International and Air Canada. Each of these airports has air links to Ottawa. Flying times are approximatelyone hour from Toronto and 40 minutesfrom Mirabel.

Ottawa is serviced by Voyageur Bus Lines with hourly departures from downtown Montreal (2 hour trip) and several daily runs fromdowntownToronto(4-5 hour trip).

Thereis also train servicefrom both Montreal and Torontooperatedby Via Rail.

As a courtesyto those arrivingat Mirabeland Ottawa airportsbetween noon Saturday, April 16 to 9:00 pm Sunday, April 17. an IFATCA' 94 booth will be in operationat these airports.

We will be pleased to provide complimentary transportation to the hotel for persons who present themselves at the IF ATC A booth duringthesehoursof operation.

THE CONTROLLER/SEPTEMBER 1993

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Air Canada and Canadian Airlines International have agreed to be co-official carriers for IFATCA 94. With both airlines supporting IFATCA 94, most Member Associationsare able to avail themselves of the reducedair fares for IFATCA 94.

Air Canada has agreed to a 50% savings on the BAPEX fares for international attendees. In addition, Air Canada is prepared to offer reduced air fares on Domestictravel to provide further cost saving for conference delegates. Air Canada has profiled the IF ATCA 94 Conference in two categories within their reservation system. They are ORI 126I 9 (English) and ORF 12619 (French). Travelling delegates are requested to identify the ORI or ORF # in addition to the !FATCA 94 personalised convention number CV940073 when contactingthe nearest Air Canada office.

Canadian Airlines International is offering a 50% discount on the applicable APEX fare at the time of booking for international travel.

Canadian is also offering to provide reduced air fares on Domestic travel which will result in significant savings to conferencedelegates.

In addition, Canadian will, in order to promote the conference , distribute to their internationaloffices an IFATCA Membership list which should help to alleviate any potential problems delegates may encounter with their reservations. Canadian Airlines International has profiled the IFATCA 94 conference in their reservation system as !FATCA 94 CV 16023. Delegates are requested to refer to the IFATCA 94 registration number when contacting the near est Canadian Airlines office.

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TECHNICAL EXHIBITION

The Technical Exhibition will take place on the main floor of the Conference Hotel. There is more than enough space for the Exhibitors expected to attend. Details are near finalisation and should be distributed to potential exhibitors by the middle of September. 1993.

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An Accompanying Persons Programme is being planned to allow individuals who indicate that they are attending as an accompany person to experience the geography. culture and cuisine of Ottawa and the surrounding area which includes events in both Ontario and Quebec. The programme is intended to run for three clays (Tuesday.

April 19 to Thursday April 2 1) of the five-day conference. The following table is the tentative AccompanyingPersons Programme:

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Tuesday, April 19 Wednesday,April 20 Thursday, April 21 Tour of Ottawa Tour of Parliament A fun filled trip to Lunch Lunch Montreal Museum of NationalArt Gallery Civilisation The registration fee for the Accompanying Persons Programme is $ 125.00 CON. which is to be included with your registration form.

Participation in the programme may be limited. so it will be handled on a first come. first served basis. Final details of the Accompany Persons Prog ramme will be prov ided to IFATCA Memb er Associations· through a separate information circular in the near future.+

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Compas Clearsthe Sky

The already existing bott lenecks in air traffic will become even more critical in the future .

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Dornie r GmbH V F1 300 P.O. Box 10 04 24 7B4 04 l<onstan z Germany Phon e (7 5 3 1) 85 -2 5 01 Fax (75 31 ) 6 65 48

Due to computeriz ed coordination of aircraft approachin g hi ghl y fr equent ed airport s, air traffi c contro l is impro ved step hy step an advant age for passengers and airlin es, too.

Compa s plans and coordin ates th e confli ct-fr ee approa ch sequence for th e air traffi c controll ers alr eady 150 km befor e th e destin ation is reached and indi cates th e arriv al tim es at th e gate.

Thi s is a compl ex plannin g perform ance that is clearl y clispl ayecl on color monitor s and can be changed acr:orrli ngly via a simpl e keyl>oard.

Compa s contain s reli able

technolo gy and know -how.

The air traffi c contro ll ers of th e airp ort in Frankfurt hav e been usin g it s advanta ges sinc e 1989.

13y th e way , Compa s can l>e in tegrated into all comput er systems for air -traffi c control takin g into consid eration air space ancl airp ort stru ctur es.

Please cont act us .

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PARALLELRUNWAYOPERATIONS OVE CLOSER 0 Patrick Schelling - Contributing Editor

ndependent parallel runway operation gains momentum at Raleigh-Durh am International Airport (RDU) , North Carolina, USA. with the commissioning on June 30, of the PRM (Para lle l Run way Monitor). The PRM-system is one of the key elements necessary to permit closely spaced runway operation.

The system was demonstrated on-site to THE CONTROLLER in early June by the supplier , Allied Signal Aerospace Communications Division with the kind assistance of RDU (FAA) Tower personnel.

The parallel runways at RDU are separated by only 3500ft between centrelines and ther efo re simultaneou s independent ILS approaches were not allowed with the conventional ASR-9 Radar system.

Simultaneous independent approaches can be provided with conventional radars at 4.8 sec update rate but need to have a minimum separation of 4300 ft or more.

With the installation of the new. high update radar system. these approaches are now possible at Raleigh-Durham. However, apart from the special hard- & softwa re requirements. new ATC-procedures had to be cleve lopecl to ensure maximum safe operations at all times.

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The Precision Runway Monitor (PRM) is a monopulse seco ndary sur veillan ce radar (MSS R) system that emplo ys an electronically scanned phased array antenna and high resolution colour CRT displays for the co ntr ollers. Th e E-sca n antenna is

depicted on the front cover of this issue of THE CONTROLLER.The system inte1rngates civil and militar y aircraft transponder s, processes the replies, and provides air traffic controllers with a visual presentation on a 20"x 20" monitor. Two PRM equipped consoles are currently installed at the RDU Tracon and are operated by Monitor co ntroller s during simultaneous operation.

On the PRM display, the runway centre lines are extended along the approach path out to 15 NM (27.8 km). A 2000-foot-wide (6 l 0 m) No Transgression Zone (NTZ) has been established between the extended centre lines and is designated by a reelborder Most strikin g to a controller when fir st observing traffic moving on the display is the high target update rate. The rate at RaleighDurham is set at I second. compared to the 4-5 seconds of conventional rotating radar antennas. With each update. the controller verifies the progress of a target. To positively identify a turn. several updates are usually needed. With slower rates. turns or deviation from ass igned tra ck by aircr aft ca n go unnoticed for a comparativel y "路Jong路' time which translates into travelled distance.

Likewise. getting an update each second. the co nt ro ller can react much fas ter to de viation and nee d not wai t betwee n 路路painting''. The uncertainty factor is greatly reduced and so is the accumulation of stress when handling heavy traffic. Just imagine. sittin g in front of your scope with traffi c ticking along at the rate of a Swiss cuckooclock..

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THE CON TROLLER /SEPTEMBER 1993

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(projected track vector). If this track vector touches the no transgression zone (NTZ). the aircraft data block changes from green to yellow (e.g. DAL496 on Picture I) to alert the controller. A voice alert states "the aircraft is deviating". If the aircraft actually enters the NTZ, the symbol cha nges to fla shing reel (Pictur e 2). Th e rapid response of the projected track vector to target manoeuvring gives the controller a po werful tool to qui ck ly find out if an aircraft is j ust wanderingor truly beginning to blunder.

OPERATI0'\AL PR0CEDCRES

With th e int roduction of PR M. two dedicated Monitor co ntroller s, using two PRM equipp ed con so les, are on duty at Ralei gh-Durh am when simult aneou s independent !LS approaches are conducted .

Their task is to monitor all traffic. regardless of weather. on the respective approach paths and to inter ve ne on the local (Tower ) frequency if required. As a basic principle. aircraft estab lished on final appro ach are considered separated from traffic on the parall el fina l. pro vided neither a ircr aft penetrates the NTZ. The monitoring starts once the aircraft i, over or has passed the IAF (Initial Approach Fix) and is in contact on the Tower frequency.

The segment to monitor is about 15NM. Prior to this. two final controller s (East & West) are handling the final appro ac h guidance to either RWY 23R / 11 Lor 05 R / 0SL and sequence the traffi c. Th e Fina l controller coordinates with the appro priate ..,_..,_Page 32

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CONTRAN Preventionof ConflictingVHFTransmissions oice communications between air traffic control and flight crews use conventional Amplitude Modulated VHF radio which suffers, as pilots and controllers know only too well, from a serious weakness. Common frequency transmitters, when operated simultaneously, cause intendedrecipients to hear a heterodyne squeal or garbl ed speech or , if relative received signal strengths are significantly different, the weaker transmission may be completelyswamped.

Conflicting transmissions may be the result of two users choosi ng the sa me time to transmit, or by a pause in voice perceived as the end of a radio call , at which point a seco nd and overlapping transmis sion is initiated.Similarly, a misheard call sign may result in two pilot s making coincident responses.

Controllersand pilots cannot predict when a channel is about to become occupied with other radio traffic and conflicts are rarely, if ever, caused by incorrect radio discipline. In most cases radio conflicts are detectable to the controller and, generall y, are only a nuisance which requires that messages be repeated. The cumulative effect may cause delays to the air traffic system but there is usually no threat to flight safety.

However, undetected VHF conflicts have resu lted in hazardous flight deviatio ns, runway incursions and serious accidents. The United Kingdom CAA Manda tory Occurrence Reporting (MO R) system requires that an MOR be filed when, in the opinion of flight crews or control lers, an incident has occurred in which flight safety was threatened. Current records show that, during a ten month period of 1992, a VHF related MOR was filed, on average. every ten days. In many of these incidents simple and undetectedVHF disruptions resulted in pilots leaving assigned headings or altitudes.

In April 1992, the European Organisation for Civii Aviation Electronics, EUROCAE, and the US Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics, RTCA, published Minimum Operat iona l Performan ce Stand ards fo r tech nica l met hods of pr eve ntin g VHF conflicts. These methods, in simple terms, are intended to cause automatic inhibition of a transmission when external and coincident receiver activity is detected. The rece ive mode of the ' lagg ing ' opera tor is then maintained. This reception is the primary cue

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that a tran smiss ion attempt has been inhibited.

Successful flight evaluationsof the airborne system, Contran, were carried out aboard UK registered aircraft with pilots immediately accepting the systems electronic assistancein preventing their inadvertent transmissions into a busy frequency.

A rapid response to the detection of channel activity, by the equipment of the 'lagging' operator , is of primary importance to the effec tiveness of conflict prevention. With simplex airborne radio's very rapid response times are possible which, with relativelyrapid trans mitter rise times, produce a level of 'anti-conflict ' effectiveness of better than 90 %. Total effecti veness is technically impossible. If two pilots press to transmit (PTT) at the same ' instant' then a conflict cannot be prevented.

Principles of the airborne Contran system are applicable to ATC equipment. However, ground radio syste ms are significantly different to airborne. ATC generally uses a se mi-dupl ex arrangemen t with remot e independent tr ansmitt ers and full time rece ivers co nnec ted by land-lin es and switc hin g eq uipm ent bet wee n control positions and the radios. These installations can introduce significant time delays between a controllers press to transmit action and consequent transmitter operation.

Full time ATC receivers, unlike airborne equivalents, are not muted on transmission and are theoretically capable of receiving aircraft calls at the same time as ATC sidetone. However, ATC receivers which are colocated with tran smitters can, due to the difference in received power levels, cause coincident aircraft calls to be swamped within the controllers side-tone.

Semi-duplex installationdelays are a major cause of ATC/aircraft radio conflicts. Aircraft radi o's produce RF energy almost immediately at PTT and a pilot may press to

transmit after the controller but before the ATC equipment has produced RF. In this case both pilot and controller have correctly identified the channel to be free when they initiated transmission , yet a conflict is inevitable. In such cases , and incorrectly , poor radio discipline will be blamed.

For those pilots who have been rebuked by controllers , and told to "listen out before transmitting"they may rest easy. They could well have keyed their radio after the controller, but before the ATC transmitter had operated.

It can be seen from Figure 1, that the controller's PTT has preceded the pilot's, but the pilot's PTT is the first to produce radio energy. Unless the controller detects the split second of aircraft transmission prior to reception of ATC side-tone then the two transmissions will conflict. This will, at the very least, require further transmissions from both controllerand pilot.

I. ATC TRANSMISSIONDELAY OUTBOUND. 2. AIRCRAFTPRESS TO TRANSMIT. 3. ATC RECEIVERON FROM AIRCRAFT TRANSMISSION. 4. ATC RECEIVERDELAY INBOUND. 5. AIRCRAFTRECEIVEDAT CONSOLE. 6. ATC TRANSMISSIONRECEIVEDAT CONSOLE. ATC PTT--i~---2---A~T-C---~--< L I TX/RX ---1

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Airborne Contran automatically inhibits a PTT when coincident receiver activity is detected. The primary trigger event is pilot closure of the PTT switch at which point the system tests for coincident receiver activity. If inactive, a transmission will result. If active, PTT inhibit takes place.

However, applying this 'simplex' principle to semi-duplex ground sys tems would produce a system effec tiveness too low to justify the cost of implementation. Simply testing for receiver activity at the moment of PTT closure ignores those cases shown in Figure I and overall anti-conflict effectiveness would be minim al. Currently , a qui ck thinking controller may recognise the start of an incoming ca ll even after console PTT

THE CONTROLLER/SEPTEMBER 1993

__________________ closure. Here, controller reactions, which would cause release of the PTT, are theoretically equal to a simple ATC anticonflict system. In fact, it could be argued that a simplex anti-conflictsystem, installed as part of a semi-duplex network, could actuallyincreasethe incidenceof conflicts.

Consider a controller equipped with a simplex anti-conflict system but as part of semi-duplex ATC radios. Could this controller be lulled into reliance on electronicsand so miss the post P1T conflicts which would, otherwise, be detected and manuallyprevented?

Conflict prevention with semi-duplex systems requires a completely different approach to that applied to airborne radios.

Note, from Figure I, that the controllersP1T is followedby a delay period, I, during which time the channel is unoccupied. Within this period a pilot may correctly identify the channel as free. An airborne P1T during the delay periodwill produceradio energyalmost immediatelyand conflict with the imminent ATC transmission.This is particularlytrue if the controller and pilot are 'competing' for the channel immediately following the terminationof precedingradio traffic.

To realise any meaningful effectiveness with semi-duplexATC systemsit is necessary to know the 'round trip' time of a particular installation. That is, the time delay from a controller's PTT to consequent reception at the console. Once this period is known it is reasonable to say that any receiver activity following a controller's PTT, and which occurs prior to expiry of the known time period, is the result of a preceding aircraft transmission. Knowing this, it is in everyone's interests to automatically terminatethe controller's P1T and allow the aircraft transmissionto continue undisturbed.

This achieves,electronically,what controllers strive to do but are, at times, humanly incapableof; detectingand yieldingto aircraft transmissionswhichprecedeATC calls.

Automaticallyinhibitingconflict producing PTT's is the basis of Contranoperation,both air and ground.

Immediate Inhibit Override is available to the controller through two independent means. The first is a console mounted manually operated Bypass switch, the operation of which restores the console to normal operation. The second means of override, as with airborne versions of Contran, allows instant system override without the delay of locating the Bypass Switch. Here, the application of two rapid PTT actions causes normal transmitter operationat the secondPTT. ATC Contranoperationis controlledby fail

SYSTEMS_________________ passive circuitry which automaticallydetects the inherent 'round trip' period of the associated console, land lines and transmitter/receivercombination, see Figure 2. This period is then electronicallystored as the Calibration Period. From this, a Conditioned Calibration Period is produced.

This is the CalibrationPeriod less a brief time period to prevent signal overlap. Automatic recalibration of the system occurs following initial power on, a double key override or systembypass.

Once calibrated, subsequentconsole PlT's trigger the Conditioned Calibration Period.

Receiver activity is then monitored throughout expiry of this period. Should activity be detected after expiry of the period then the receive signal is regarded as a consequence of the console PTT and the transmissionis allowedto continue.

Conversely, if receiver activity is detected before this expiry then the 'early' receive light signal is the result of an aircraft transmission and the console PTT is automatically deactivated. This allows the preceding aircraft transmission to continue withoutdisruption.

The analogyto this automaticswitchingis a controller who initiates a transmission but then, before receiving side-tone,immediately detects reception from an aircraft. Here, the PTT would be manuallyreleasedto allow the aircrafttransmissionto be monitored.

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ATC Contran includes an Electronics Unit housed within a compact metal enclosure for shelf mounting at the rear of a console.

Controller access to the system is not required. The only addition to the console is the Bypass Switch indicator. Wiring to the console is through a simple harness and a miniatureD type connector.

The front panel of the Electronics Unit incorporates indicators and switches for use by installation and technical personnel.

Indicatorsare, Transmit,P1T Inhibit, Bypass, ReceiverActive and Power. The switches are Lamp Test, Reset and Calibration Period/ConditionedCalibration Period select.

A digital indicator displays, in milliseconds, the period selected.

Failure modes have been considered in circuit design and, generally, any failure will revert the system to a passive state in which the console operates as normal. Additionally, the method of wiring to the console ensures that it is impossible for the system to 'fail hard' in a mode which will prevent total overrideby the operator. The Bypass Switch, for example,is wired in parallel with the PTT line control element of the electronics unit.

Even if the unit is removed from circuit the operation of the Bypass Switch maintains normalcontinuityof the PTT lines.

Power for the electronics unit is 5VDC which may be providedfrom existing console supplies or from a dedicated mains operated power supply. Failure of this supply reverts the consoleto normaloperation.

The internal processing of Contran is relatively complex but the principles of operation are simple. A first event, the occupationof the radio channel by an aircraft, should not be disrupted by an 'accidental'. and second, ATC transmission. Controllers strive to operate within an electronic system in which circumstances change in milliseconds. Human press to transmit fingers, and brains, cannot hope to contend with these changes.The electronic assistance of Contran will go a long way to making controllersliveseasier, and the system safer.

Airborne Contran prevents deliberate 'queue jumping' by a pilot holding down an inhibited PTT in the belief that transmission + will occur the instantthat the channelclears.

For ATC Contranthis 'priority' switchingis FOR FURTHER INFORMATION an advantageand a controllerwho makes and CONTACT: maintains a PTT during reception from an LanSec Ltd., Tooley Barn House, aircraft will automaticallyswitch to transmit Sapperton, Cirencester, Glos., GlL76LW, the moment that the channel clears. This United Kingdom. feature, particularly with busy frequencies, Tel. (44) 0285-760750. relieves the controller of the burden of Fax. (44)0285-760760. judging the precisemomentwhen the channel "Contran" is a registered Trademark. The becomes available. A very brief audio cue system described above is the subject of may be wired to the console phones or Patents issued and pending.

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THE CONTROLLER/SEPTEMBER 1993

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FIRST C OICE THEU O E'S LEADING ATCTRAININ A In today's air traffic control training environment, one simulator clearlystands out fromthe rest - FIRSTfromHughes Rediffusion Simulation.

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IFATCA CONFERENCE FUND TAKES OFF At the 1993 IFATCA Conference. in Christchurch New Zealand. a Conference Attendance Fund was established. The purpose of of the fund is to allow the Executive Board to dispense assistance to up to 5 Member Associations with financial problems, to send one Director each to conference. In the short time since the fund was established , New Zealand , Uruguay , France and Hong Kong have made welcome contributions to the fund. Other member Associations are invited to consider making a contribution to the fund if they are in a position to assist.

REDUCTIONIN EUROPEANAIR TRAFFICDELAYSIATA Director General, Pierre J Jeanniot recently reported that air traffic delays in Europe have shown a welcome reduction in the early part of this summer. He stated that '·Many small , tena ciously achieved improvements have brought this about. It has been a case of airlines, governments, air traffic controllers, airports - above all people - working together to a common end - which is to give our customers a good summer." He went on to say that, " Our common aim is the elimination of delays which are costing the European economies at least $5 billion US a year. Incidentally, similar sums are lost in the US and could be lost in the Asia/Pacific region without early concerted air infrastructure planning. The staggering losses of the air transport industry during the past three years are. in part. a symptom of the airlines not having 'got it right' in terms of the balance or traffic capacity. Air traffic delays are a symptom of governments not having 'got it right' for infrastructure planning . But a new partnership is emerging to change that. The partnership involves everyone connected with the industry.··

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URUGUAY In June 1993 the Asociaci6n de Control adore s de Transito Aereo de! Uruguay (ACTAU) arranged the First Centr al American Regional Meeting of the Civil Aviation Organisation in the Hotel Victoria Plaza, Montevideo. The meeting was formally opened

by Sr. Jorge Azar, the Sub-Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism for Urugua y. Durin g the opening cere mony the President and Chi ef Executive of IFATCA, Charles Stuart also addressed the delegates .

The EVP for the Americas, Samuel Lampkin spoke to delegates about the organi sation and function s of IF ATCA and the EVP Europe .

Preben Falkman-Lauridsen, gave a presentation to the delegates about the experiences learnt from European regionalisation and privatisation.

Durin g the co urse of the ACTUA mee ting a ro uti ne IFA TCA Executive Board meeting was held in the same Hotel. thus giving the opportunity to share experiences and knowledge to all in attendance.

ACTAU and their sponsors are to be thanked for their excel lent hospitality and organisation of a most productive event.

II UNITED KINGDOMThe Civil Aviation Authority 7.7 million pound Manchester Area Control Centre. located in the control tower at Manchester Airport, was officially opened on 14 July 1993. The new centre manages air traffic in the Manchester Terminal Control Area and adjacent airspace. The centre has been completely up-dated and reequipped to help air traffic controllers manage increasing movements at Manchester Airport. Nine key airports lie within the coverage of the Centre's area which encompasses a large area of of the central and northern parts of England. The development marks a landmark in the CAA 's massive 750 million pound investment to increase the capacity of the UK air traffic control system.

Hughes Rediffusion Simulation has delivered the first phase of a suite of ATC radar training simulation equipment for the CAA College of Air Traffic Control at Bournemouth, UK. The delivery includes a network of five training and data preparation computer workstations which are powered by the Flexible Independent Radar Skills Trainer (FIRST). The complete simulator will be delivered in November 1993. and includes ten trainee controller stations. two supervisor stations. two flight strip management stations. two data preparation stations and twenty three aircraft control positions. The equipment will provide facilities for training students in both en-route and approach radar functions.

• USA The FAA believes that it has regained control of the troubled $5 billion Advanced Automation System (AAS). A key component of the sophisticated ATC modernisation system is the development of the Initial Secto r Suite System (!SSS) - the new ATC workstati ons.

Modified software development of the 1.5 million lines of logic has been blamed for much of the slippage. Acting FAA Administrator.

Del Balza. reports that the project is now on line for an operational system in Seallle by October 1996.

THE CONTROLLER /SEPTEMBER 1993

Sr. Jo rge A.::ar op ens the me eting in Mont ev ideo

• GERMANYIn June. I993. German controllers finalised salary negotiations relating to their recent privatisation. The results saw a significant increase in salaries to bring German controllers more in line with other European ·'commercialised.. ATC organisations.

• ROMANIA This summer has see n an increa se in air tra ff ic movements of some 300% within Romanian airspace. The increase is mostly clueto the continuing crisis within the former Yugoslavian area.

• FIJI The US FAA has agreed with the Fijian authorities to use the Pacific islands as a test site to deve lop air tra ffic manage ment techniques for aircraft using global-positioning systems (GPS ) as a sole navigation aid. In the u·ials. pilots and controllers will develop a sys tem of en-route navigation and desce nt unti l clear o f c loud.

Conventional back-up aids will be used to ensure safety standards are met. It is hoped that approval for the trials will be in place to allow a start elate in March 1994. The trials will be watched closely by other South West Pacific countries.

• PORTUGALCAE Electronics has been awarded a contra ct to supply an Oceanic Flight Data Processing and Visual System 10 be installed in Lisbon. The system will be used to monitor and control air traffic within the Santa Maria FlR. over the Atlantic Ocean. Feature of the equipment include very high resolution situation display screen,. automatic aircraft conflict detection. managemen1 of ATC clearance, and automatic processing of position report,. It wiII also provide 1rallic flow information. data recording and statistical data generation.

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IATA Speaking at the Global NA VCOM Conference in Seattle, lATA·s Directo r General. Pierre Jea nni ot. ca lled for the urge nt introduction of the Future Air Navigation System (FANS). a satellitebased system for Communications. Navigation and Surveillance, and Air Traffic Management. ·The development of FANS by !CAO (International Civil Aviation Organiza tion) has been a magnificent ach ieve ment."' said Pierr e Jeanniot. ·Thro ugh more direct routings. shortened flight times and reduced fuel consumption. FANS provides maj or opportunities for cost savings by the airlines. which have had substantial losses from the recession of the last three years.·· The new system needs to be implemented urgently to cope with increasing costs of inefficient and inadequate air traffic systems to the travelling public and the airlines. Air traffic is expected to double worldwide by the year 2000 and is growing at a rate of 890 per year in the Pacific region.

Mr Jeanniot stressed that ··time is not on our side'·. and explained that while airlines would like to introduce the new system urgently, they cannot justify their own substantial expenditure unless there is a clear indicat ion that plans will be impl emented, ther eby allowing the benefits to be realized.

The industry must have this tech nology introdu ced quickly and economically. To this end. !ATA has proposed the establishment of a new mechanism operating on commercial principles under the auspices of !CAO to address the challenges of implementation. ·-we believe that !CAO is the organisation to take a maj or leadership role in implementing the new system.·· said Mr Jeanniot. ··1tis essential that it acts rapidly to enable the airlines to realise large cost savings and. of equa l importa nce. to avo id the pena lties associated with congestion today and tomorrow. The alternative to FANS would be rationing supply: the worst kind of regulation.·· • FINLAND Denro, of Gaithersburg. Maryland USA. is to provide the Finnish CAA with a digitally controlled Voice Communications

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Management System (VCMS) for the Kajaani ATC Towe r. The co ntract follo ws a series of other successf ul proj ec ts for voice communication facilities in many parts of the world that include s the Philippines. the UK, Germany and the U.S.

SAUDI ARABIA The Hughes Aircraft Compan y. of Fullerton California, has been awarded a multi-million dollar contract to upgrade the ATC sys tem fo r the Jedda h ACC at th e King Abdula ziz International Airport in Saudi Arabia. Hughes will be assisted by Xenal Systems Limited of Saudi Arabia. which will provide support in test and installation. post commissioning operations and maintenance activities. The system will consist of state-of-the -art controller work stations and will become operational in late 1994. The system will also provide the capability for flight strip progress strip printing and flight plan filing from control stations throughout Saudi Arabia.

FRANCEThomson-CSF and its software-house subsidiary. Syseca. have won a contract to produce the software for the future training simulator that will be used by French air traffi c controller s. The software is called Electra and will run on the new training simulators at the national civil aviation school (ENAC) , the five ACC's in the French en-route network and the approach control centres at Roisy and Orly in the Paris area. Thomson-CSF will be the lead company for the contract and will be responsible for the traffic management and display functions whilst Syseca will handle all simulation exercise preparation and management tasks.

SWITZERLAND Hughes Aircraft of Canada Limited has been selected to build a new $50 million (Canadian) air traffic control system for Switzerland. Advanced technology equipment to be used for the control of both en-route and terminal air traffi c across the country will be installed at sites in Bern. Geneva. Lugano and Zurich.

Hughes operations in Canada, Belgium. US and the UK will provide engineering development, products and support. +

NEW MEMBER ASSOCIATIONOF IFATCA NIGER At the last IFATCA Annual Conference, Niger was elected as a new Member Association of IFATCA. All new MA's are given the opportunity of introd ucing themselves to the rest of the world by means of a short article in The Controller.

The President of APACAN, Abouba Alfari very kindly submitted the following article to introduceyou to his association: We are de light ed to know tha t o ur association was elected as a full member of IFATCA at the 32nd Annual Conference in Chri stchur ch. We wo ul d li ke to thank eve ryone in one way or anoth er who contributed tow ard s our aff ili ation to the International Federation.

T he Niger Air T raff ic Co nt ro llers · Ass oc iat ion: 111 Fre nc h. Assoc iati on Prol"cssionncllc des Controleurs f\ ericns du Niger !APCAN). came into ex istence as a prore,, iunal organisation in 1992. At present

26

we are 23 ATCO's. grouped under APCAN, working inside the country. 18 of us provide procedural aerodrome, approach. area control se rvice and fli ght inform ation service at Niamey International Airport.

There are 22 airports in Niger. the most important ones are Niamey and Agadez. 7 int ernati onal ai rlin es are operat ing their regular services to and from Niamey.

Nige r is a wide country located in West Africa in Sahe!. It covers 1.287,000 square kilometres. two thirds of which is covered by dese rt on the north and east sides. The famous Tenere Desert is one of the most beautiful dese rts in the world. The main river. ca lled Niger River. crosses the west side of the country from north to south on 550 kilometres.

We shar e co mmon FIR boundari es with Algeria and Libya to the north. Senegal to the west. Ghana and Nigeria to the south and

Chad to the east. With all or them. apart from Libya and Nigeria, we are linked by satellite telephone.

Niger is a member of ASECNA - Agency for the Safety of Air Navigation in Africa and Madagascar. The Agency Training School has been located in Niamey since 1963.

Niamey FIR covers the north-east part of Mali. east and north part of Burkina-Faso and north of Be nin - all o f thi s air spa ce is delegated to Niamey FIR by ASECNA. Niger airspace has two terminal control areas and 23 international airways.

Our Association is honoured to join the Federation which is now a very powe rful international organisation. We will do our bes t to co ntribut e by parti c ipatin g in Federation wo rk and act iviti es . We are look ing forwa rd to rece iving docume nts abo ut th e las t co nf ere nce and furth er information concerning IFATCA activities. +

THE CONTROLLER /S EPTEMBER 1993

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AL ENIA BECOMESA CORPORATE MEMBER lenia recently became a Corporate l\lcmber of IFATCA. As with new MA 's, new corporate members arc invited to introduce themselves to the other members of IF ATCA by means of an article in The Controller. The following article is that as submitted by Alcnia for this purpose: ALENIA'S RADARS AND SYSTEMS FACE THE EUROPEAN CHALLENGE

The development of Air Traffic Control Systems , today falling under the new acronym ATM to signify the achievement of a more general cost effect iveness goa l, traditi ona lly relies upon a strong bond between industrial capability and operational awareness of the user. Both parameters are today faced with a new need for harmoni sation and integration within the community of air traffic controllers within Europe, which often extended beyond the boundariesof the Old World.

What is "harmonisation"?If one was not aware of the implications of the Maastricht Treaty. he or she may be led to believe that it is a new marketing catch, meant to ransack industrial brains and User pockets. Air Traffic Services harmonisation is just one of many significant changes to our way of thinking and li ving standards which ari se as a co nsequence of the political wi ll of the European nations to promote and consolidate irreversible ties with each other.

Now is the time for careful planning and of strategic decisions which shape our future.

All we can do in this respect is to trust that our politicians in charge of the planning are sufficiently illuminated and independent in their approach. In industrial terms we are faced with the task of shaping our design and operational skills according to a model which is consistent with the present political trends.

Alenia, a Finmeccanica Company. has been active in the ATC field for over thirty years and is currently present in fifty five different countries. In particular. Alenia's relationship with the Italian ATC Authority. AAAV. has always been a constant reference in terms of all new developments in the area of ATC systems. A uniting factor in this sense was the military origin of AAAV and Alenia. In fact. the origin of the ATS of most co untr ies stemmed from the military need for airspace sovereignty and even today the concept of National FIR boundaries survives. albeit not for miIitary purposes.

THE CONTROLLER/SEPTEMBER

European CA As. back in I 960 made an The development of the European ATN is attempt to unify their service s under a also under way and Alen ia share s the common denominator, creating Eurocontrol. specificationswith the other European users to but later revised such policy so as to maintain secure that, through gradual implementation. national independence. With the Maastricht there will be the de sired degree of treaty. all thi s has been modified into a harmonisation and integration of European com mon European approac h, towards a Centres. Specific work in line with the above compatible, harmonised ATS. Instrumental has already taken place in Europe and Alenia in thi s approach is the Council of the shares a number of project s based up on Ministers of Transport (ECAC). who have interconnection of ATC facilities in line with assigned a leading role to Eurocontrol as a international standards. One of these is the Technical Authority for Harmonisation of Radar Data Exchange project between the ATS in Europe (EATC HIP programme).

Monte Lesima PSR/MS SR site (at about They have accepted the membership of many 2000m a.s.I.) and the centre s of Zurich. of the Eastern European countri es, a fact Geneva and Marseille. where the availability which could have a very significant impact on of early data on aircraft is vital in the hostile the future of the EEC. environment of the Western Alps.

How do Alenia and AAA V face thi s In the EuropeanCore Area. the Luxembourg complex sce nari o? And what are the TMA is now also connected to the RADNET initiatives in the technical and operational network of radar data serving Benelux and fields which will secure the integration of the Germany. This full respect of international Italian airspace into that of Central Europe, standard protocols for radar data exchange has while maintaining full transparency to !CAO also been implemented in the Europa 2000 SARPS') SSR/PSRsystems for the DFS. These include The ans·wer is in the major projects which a tracker and interface towards the German are under way in Italy. The upgrading of the segmentof the RADNET. Milan. Padua and Brindisi ACCs are part of In the technological field. the development this effort. They are at present subject to a of a Commo n Operator workstation for short term exercise which will provide these Ciampino is, for Alenia. the opportun ity to centres with standard functionalities as those intr oduce the functiona litie s which were of ot he r Europ ea n Centres of eq ual developed through the Eurocontrol ODID importance. In parallel, the Rome FIR Centre project. Moreover. the same workstation is based in Ciampino is a much more ambitious now being equipped with an ADS interface project. All standard functionalities were in which will enhance controller·s facilities in fact already present in this Centre. and their selected areas. life cycle was coming to an encl.

Alenia has already co mmenced an It was therefore the time to introduce new exper imental programm e for ADS in the functionalities for the controllers. supported Mediterranean together with AAAV and the by new tec hnologies. Ciampino will be very first results of the benefits arising from based upon Ale nia arch itec tur e with the adoption of ADS were presented at the last controller workstations and client processors. exhibition in Le Bourget.

IBM cen tral proces so r and software More is to follow in terms of development developed by Alenia and Vitrociset. all under effort. such as a data fusion algorithm for Alenia·s prime contractor-ship. simultaneous and optimised use of radar and ADS data. which will take into account all Moving away from the already established AFTN system, and as a second step to the mutual shortfalls to provide a high integrity projects above. Alenia is now implementing a form of surveillance.

Part icu larl y in the radar fie ld . with a compre hensive network for aeronautical technological effort which will be repaid in tel ecommu nicat ion purpose s whic h will stretch across the entire country through an X terms of lower life cycle costs. Alenia has 25 support. so as to optimise the exchange of developed a new generation of so lid state transmitters for the Italian Air Force and there data between radar sites and centres and allowing for the integration of the Eurocontrol are development activities on the new family CFMU. The OLDI and ASTERIX protocols of primar y radars for the terminal area . are part of the standardisation process already known as the TASS project. with Manin under way in Alenia within the European Marietta of the USA. standardisation process. ..,._... pug e 32

1993

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AGENDA SEPTEMBER 15 - 17 First SIPTA (International Air Transport Show), Palais des Congres.

Porte Maillot, Paris, France.

Contact - Mondail Convention.

Phone +33 (1) 42 26 33 45 Fax +33 (1) 42 26 15 05

21 -24 lnter Airport 1993.

Contact Blenheim International GmbH, Neusser StraBe I I I. D-4000 Dusseldorf 1, Germany.

Phone +49 2 11 90 I 91 0 Fax +49 2 11 901 9 1 80

OCTOBER 93 5 - 7 Americas Regional Meeting, Sonesta Hotel & Seaport Village, Aruba.

Phone + 297 8 2400 - ext 136 Fax + 297 8 23038

10 - 13 Country to Country, ACI World Exhibition and ACI North Ame1icaRegional Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. USA. Contact within No1th America, D Whitt Phone 202 293 85000 Fax 202 33 1 1362 Contact outside North America, L Johnson Phone +4 1 22 798 4 1 4 1 Fax +4 1 22 788 09 09 14 - 17 Executive Board Meeting, London, UK. Contact - Edge Green.

Phone + 44 628 23 699 Fax + 44 628 78 1 94 1 20 - 22 Euro-Convex 93, Bournemouth, UK. Contact - Peter Rose.

Phone & Fax + 44 202 870 682

NOVEMBER93 6 · 7 European Regional Meeting,

Dublin, Eire.

Contact EVP EUR, Preben Falkman-Lauridsen.

Phone & Fax + 45 325 027 7 1

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LANDING SYSTEMS IN THE FUTURE ::i by Paul Johnson There has been considerable debate recently over the possible replacement of the Instrument Landing System (!LS) with a new landing aid.

Due to the kind assistance of IAT A, I was fortun ate to be ab le to attend the Flight International symposium entitled ·'Landing and Approach Systems: What happens after ILS" in Geneva in March this year. The meeting was attended by about 200 representatives of Srntes, Airlin es. Manufactur ers and lnternal!ona l Organisations. mainly from Europe and North An;erica. but also from as far away as Hong Kong_ Australia and South Africa. Here, the opti;n s available to the aviation industry were put for ward in a numb er of powerful presentations. As will be seen. there are two . , .. . · 0 the two proposed new nva1· camps suppo11111 "' . , TI ey each hold their views strongly.

S) stems. 1 leading to some lively exchanges.

The d; bate stems from 1987 when. after many . ·011a11ddevelopment. !CAO years O f d !SCUSSI . · d . . to rep lace !LS with the took the ec1s1on ' Coverage: +/- 40 or 60 degrees out to 20 Nm

Fig I MLS Co l'erage \lo/ullle

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L d.

S)1stem (MLS) and Micro wave an i!le0 · · ·on PIan that would see MLS adopted a trans111 become the main landing aid from !998. At that time. it appeared that !LS had reached the encl o t. ·t·.

I s use f Lii life. There are problems with frequency congestion in busy areas, and there will be problems in the future with interference from new. more powerful. FM radio stations.

At the tim e. there were no other systems available to overcome these problems. and the decision to choose MLS seemed to be a good one. The MLS sys tem has und ergone considerable development since then and it can now provide a highly accurate and reliable approach system that offers many advantages over !LS. ILS only radiates a narrow beam clown the final app roach pat h. but the MLS beam scans electronically across a wide area horizontally and vertically (Fig I). Anywhere within this area the aircraft receives an accurate guidance signal. A simple straight in approach can still be flown. but MLS also enables complex curved approaches to be flown (Fig 2). It is possible that these new types of approaches can be used to avoid obstacles where an ILS cannot be used at present and also to avoid built up areas and traffic patterns at adjacent airports. These new approaches may reduce aircraft track distances and ,ave fuei costs. in some cases. it may be

possible to reduce conflictions and so reduce ATC workload.

ILS is one of the most reliabl e systems in aviation today. with Ca t Ill operation s in everyday use in many cournries. It is recognised that any system to replace !LS must offer at lea_ st the same standard of service from the day 1t 1s introduced. MLS was des igned to this standard from the outset and. in aclclition, offers the possibility of increased capac ity in Low Visibility Operations clue to its much smaller protected areas. MLS can be installed in areas of difficult terrain where it is not possible to install ILS. All the procedures and standards for the introduction of MLS have been prepared by !CAO but it is possible that the airlines may ask for the transition elate to be delayed in order to spread the replacement costs.

The emphasis in the debate about approac h systems has now switched to satellite systems.

These are generally refe rred to as GNSS (Global navigation satellite system). This refers to any satellite based system. There are two available today. the US GPS and Russian GLONASS sy stem s . As the curr ent developmentof these systems is almost entirely based on GPS. this is the system discussed in this article.

The GPS system consists of a network of 24 satellites. Each satellite transmits coclecl time signals which are compared by the receiver in the aircraft (fig 3). Comparing the signals from a number of satellites enables the position to be calculated. The GPS system could potentially offer a single navigation system for both enroute and approach and landing. As there would be considerably less equipme1;trequired on the ground. and at each airport, the overall cost of the system could. potentially. be less than todays ground based aids.

It is generally accep ted that to achieve the accuracy and reliability required for a Cat I approac hes or bett er. a sy stem ca lled Differential GPS will he required. This uses a ground station at the airport which also receives the satellite signals. As the gro und station knows it' s position very accurately. it can measure any inaccuracy in the satellite signals.

The ground station then calculates a corr;c tion

The approach consists of one or more curves efined by a series of aypoints

Minimum fina bout 3.5nm for jet air aft and about 2nm for propeller aircraft

Fig 2 ML S Cun •,,-dApprouch

THE CONTROLLER /SEPTEMBER 1993

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GPS satellites

t ff "--.V f,/

$!{ fln Communications ~ ~ satellite .J!t3f:..

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Fig 3 GPS Pos ition Fix ing

signal which it transmits to the aircraft on a separate frequency (fig 4). Differential GPS considerably improves the accuracy of the system, but increases the cost, and removes one of the potential benefit s of GPS, that it is independent of ground equipment.

In the USA, the FAA claims that the accuracy for Cat I approaches has been demonstrated in trials, and they are studying the feasibility of achieving Cat II/III standards. They ha ve overlaid 5000 domestic non-precision approach proc edur es with GPS procedures for tri al purposes. Their intention is to develop and test these procedures so that they can be used for Cat I operations by 1998, allowing Cat I !LS to be phased out shortly after then. It is not yet known if it will be poss ible to achieve the accuracy required for Cat II/III. Airlines in the USA have demonstrated the use of Flight Manage ment Systems (FMS ) in co njun ction with Diff erenti al GPS for approaches and departures. When used with these systems in the aircraft it is possible to fly the curved approaches and other advanced proc edur es poss ible with MLS. General Aviation in the US also strongly supports the introduction of GPS as meeting their needs for a straightforward and affordable system.

The major outstanding issues with GPS are the integrity and reliability of the system. There are techniques that can be used to improve these areas including the differential ground stations. and the use of other satellites to check the signal from the GPS satellites. Considerable improvements in the reliability and integrity of the GPS signals is required before it will be acceptable for precision approaches.

The future potential of satellite systems is that this one sys tem ca n prov ide a co mplete navigation capability for all phases of flight, plus communication and ATC surveillance facilities. There are still many issues that need to be addressed before this can be achieved such as the owners hip and co ntro l of the system: how much ground backup should be retained; who pays for it, and should we have ..all our eggs in one basket'"1 It is clear that the long term retention of !LS is not possible. MLS is now rea dy and ca n provide the replacement to Cat Ill standard. but is considered by many to be too complicated and expensive. The development of GPS is proceeding rapidly. lr is expected that Cat I

FEATURE _ __

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GPS can be certificated in the period 1998 to 2000 and this will then be available as the replacement for Cat I !LS. It seems likely, however, that Cat II/III operations will not be achieved for many years, and MLS will be requir ed at least initi ally for Cat II/III operations.

The implications for ATC are immense. It now appears very unlikely that ILS will be replaced by one single approach aid. In areas where Cat II/III operations are not required, GPS seems the most likely candidate. At the major hubs, MLS will be used to all ow for Cat II/III operations. This presents ATC with the real possibility that there will be proliferation of approach aids. It is not inconceivable that a major international airport may simultaneously be using an !LS for aircraft that have not yet been updated, GPS for General Aviation and co mmut er aircra ft, and MLS for large j et aircraft. It also appears unlikely that there will be a short, clearly defined, transition period, but rather a period of evoluti on, perh aps with regional differences, where the new technology gradually replaces existing systems. !CAO will convene a worldwide meeting in GPS satellites~

dJJ3( ., ..

d

AGEND A NOVEMBER93 7 - 11 Dubai 93, International Aerospace Exhibition.

Dubai International Airport.

Contact - Fairs & Exhibitions Ltd., London.

Phone + 44 71 935 8537 Fax + 44 71 935 8161 7 - 12 Lima 93, Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition.

Contact - LeProton LIMA Sdn. Bhd and F & E Fairs and Exhibitions ( 1992) Ltd. Phone +44 7 1 935 8537 Fax +44 7 1 935 8161

DECEMBER 1993 30 - 1 Africa/Middle East Regional Meeting, Tunis, Tunisia.

Contact - EVP AFM, Abou El Seoud El Karimy.

Phone + 20 224 463 22 Fax + 20 224 754 73 FEBRUARY94

Differential GPS ground station passes corrections by datalink

Fig 4 Differe ntial GPS

1995 to consider the MLS transition plan in the light of rece nt deve lop ments. IFATCA co ntribut es to these di sc uss ions thr oug h attendance at the !CAO All Weather Operations Panel (AWOP). On the basis of the outcome this meeting. the future of approach and landing operations will be decided. Controllers must be prepared for the substantial changes which can be expected to come quickly after this meeting.

Any replacement for !LS will cost the airlines a substantial amount to update their fleets. There will then be considerable pressure from the airlines to provide a return on this investment as soon as possible. not only by using the new eq uipm ent. but also by int rod ucing new procedures such as curved approaches which offer the possibility of reduced flying times and fuel savings. Airlines, Administrations and Air Traffic Controllers must not allow this desire for the latest technology to override the normal ca ref ul preparat ions cover ing procedures . training and testing of this equipment that must take place before it can be introduced. They must also be aware that they may be presenting ATC with a much more complicated scenario than in the past. T his must be eva luated carefully before complex new procedures are introduced. ~ ... Pag e 32

THE CONTROLLER /SEPTEMBER 1993

4 - 7 Executive Board Meeting, Melbourne, Australia.

Contact - Edge Green.

Phone + 44 628 23 699 Fax + 44 628 781 94 1

APRIL94 15, 16 & 23 Executive Board Meeting, Ottawa, Canada. Contact - Edge Green.

Phone + 44 628 23 699 Fax + 44 628 78 l 941 18 - 22 IFATCA 33rd Annual Conference, Chiiteau Laurier, Ottawa, Canada.

Contact - Paul Lewis (Chairman IFATCA 94), 162 Cleopatra Orive, Nepean, Ontario, Canada K2G 5X2.

Phone+ l 6 13 225 3553 Fax + I 613 225 8448 OCTOBER1994 25 - 27 Inter Airport '94 Atlanta, U.S.A. Contact - Julia Milne.

Phone +44 707 275 64 1 Fax +44 707 275 544

29

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USE OFSATELLITES l:'11 ATC Before long we will be overpoweredby satellite technology; that is a fact, and alreadytoday some effects of this technology can be felt. The use of satellite pay telephones on board aircraft for business class passengersis increasingrapidly. You just have to put your credit card in the machine, and in seconds, from the middle of the Indian Ocean, you can call up your mother-in-law in London telling her you will be late for dinner.Meanwhile, the Captain up front is desperately trying to get his ATC clearance on a congested HF full of static, shouting: " ...BOMBAY 1 BOMBAY, DO YOU READ??..." loud enough to be heard by the first row of passengers.

But another interesting use of satellite pay phones was discovered recentlywhen during a n01mal emergency descent initiatedby the crew of a B767 experiencing a slow depressurisation, a first class passenger

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IIN1I'IJUJ) ID7llC 'JI' III[})N

(!})IF

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took up one of the pay phones and called 9 11 (the emergency police number in the USA) to report " ... the aircraft is out of control and in danger of hitting a mountain..." . This caused some confusion in the police station as they did not know where to send the rescue teams .... in the meantime the aircraft landed normally at its destinationairport.

Another advantageof satellites is of course GPS, which is so accurate and easily available that it creates further ideas for some people.

Recentl y, for the first time in a magaz ine, there appeared an adve1tisement to sell an aircraftto be inspected and seen at: GPS 35.03 N 118.IOW. What a wonderful idea' Our British friends are well known for having such lengthy postal addresses with unpronounceable postal codes. I would suggest to replace all this with GPS. Imagine lFATCA's address to be Edge Green, Exec. Secretary, 51.32'02"N 00.44'35"W.

!/'A'JIQI/> JJJJ (!})N lE~ IIN1!'(!})

llRrIISIIN!ESS rt:JLASS

FLIGHTPLANNINGIN THE 90s

With the new opening of Russian territory for Western airlines, some air traffic control centres, which have never seen a Western aircraft before are now faced with some stark reality. This was illustrated a couple of months ago when a B767 sta1ted a new Siberian route from Copenhagen to Hong Kong. When the aircraft arrived at the RussianChinese border it had to hold because after a few attempts to call the Chinese ACC a shy, nervous and polite voice replied in brokenEnglish that the officially qualified English speaking controller of that ACC could not be found at the moment....Fo1tunatelyhe was found before the fuel reservesdried up and the flight could proceed to land in Hong Kong without further incident.

Today in Europe, and especially during the Summer, airlines have to show imaginationto flight plan to their intended destination. Mixed

30

with the flow restrictions, aircraft are trying to avoid the traffic orientation scheme combined with the avoidance of former Yugoslavian airspace and a few other nasties like airport curfew times and gate availability - they really enjoy themselves! The result is, of course, delays which then have to be explained to a crowd of angry passengers waiting to board the aircraft.

I have noted that in Disney World they have now eliminated the long queues that they used to have to get to their attractions, by simply not calling themqueues anymore, but: "Pre-EntertainmentAreas". What a wonderful engineering idea' Change the name and you get rid of the problem! I would strongly suggest the airline wonderboys eliminate the word "DELAY" from their vocabulary and replace it with the expression: "Pre-flight Planning Phase".

THE CONTROLLER /SEPTEMBER 1993

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Talking about engineers, here is a nice one about Fire Protection engineeringat its best: "WITH POWERINTO THE TOWER" is the slogan one of the newly created privatised ATC companies has found to attract young people to become air traffic controllers (see picture of the adve1tisement).

What the authors of this brochure did not expect was that Mother Nature would take the slogan seriously, and decide to strike the brand new FrankfurtAirportTower with lightning. But the lightningdid not follow the path the engineers had planned for it (the anti-lightning conductor rod) but chose instead to follow the communicationslinks, telephone, frequency and electrical cables all nicely packed together.

The lightningimpulsealso did not stop at the numerousfuses along the way but continueduntil the last element- this meant the telephonesets, the radio transmitterand the fire detectorsamongstother elements.

Not only did the Tower lose all telephone lines and all frequencies, but the 57 smoke and fire detectors were destroyed and, without reason, initiated a sudden discharge of Halon gas inside the Tower.

This producedan instant fog reducingthe visibility to zero in a mater of milliseconds. As no windowscan be opened in the tower (an air conditioning restriction) and because Halon gas by diminishing the oxygen of the ambient air is a lethal gas in that concentration, all controllers on duty had to flee via slipperystairs in no visibility.

The first fire brigade truck anived 20 minutes after they were called because the truck could not get clearance from the Tower to cross the

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active runway! But once they were there they could not enter the building becausethe electronicsecurity system operating the doors via code cards had also suffered from the lightningstrike. It took 2 hours for the fire brigadeto reopenthe buildingto the controllers.

No controllerwas seriously injured (there were some minor injuries) despite a very hectic evacuation. Fortunately, no aircraft found itself in difficulty , bec ause at the time of the lightning strike , a CB was overhead the field and little traffic was involved.

Also the Approach, located a few Km away, was able to take over.

It is now believed the planning engineers will not make joke s with mother nature anymore, and will design a new, more attractive lightning deviationrod. +

LETTERS To THE EDITOR ARE ENCOURAGED AND APPRECIATED AIR TRAFFI C CONTROL, is published quarterly by the InternationalFederation of Air Traffic Contrnllers' Associations (IFATCA).

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.... page 3 FOREWORD Ironically, it is of paramount importance to the chance of success of the Air Navigation Commissio n· s intent that this realisation becomes more widespread within the offices of ICAO itself.

From the outsider's comfortable viewpoint it is sad to notice that knowledge available on one floor of a building seems not to be used by departments on other floors in the same building.

IFATCA is involved in the FANS Study Group (where the CNS/ATM-concept was born), in RGCSP. SICASP, AOPG and more.

I see it as part of our tas k to ensure that Human Factors considerations are taken into account at al l leve ls where we are represented. In practical terms this probably means a closer coor din ation betwee n the Technical representatives (Committee B) and the Professional representatives (Committee C) . (The phrase "representatives" is used on purpose; it shou ld inc lude Standin g Committees. Executive Board members and those who represent IFATCA externally).

The implementa ti on of the CN S/A TM co ncept wi ll deter min e what ATC will become in the near future. Let' s make sure that this future is to our liking' + .... page 2 1 PARALLEL RL'NWA l' OPfRAT!Ol'·.:SMO\'£ CLOSERAT RnLI Monitor contro ller before an aircraf t is being vectored onto Final. He ensures that the contact. by the aircraft. on the appropriate local control frequency is established before crossing the IAF . abou t 11NM from touchdown.

Monitor controller instructions are issued to ensure that aircraft do not penetrate the NTZ. In the event of a blunder. the adjacent monitor controller turns away the aircraft on (adjacent Final) approach from the intruder aircraft.

According to operatio nal proced ures laid down for RDU. the Monitor controller is also res ponsible for appropr iate longit udinal separation for the monitored segment. bearing in mind. however, that the sequencing is done by the Final controller.

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In case of a "pull- out" , the Monit or controller coordinates immediately with the appropriate Final controller and switches the aircraft to his frequency for reintegration.

Other procedures, ranging from standard hea din gs after "pull-out " to minimum equipment availability/performance are also specified to ensure maximum safety during simultaneous parallel runway operation.

The basic quali fica tion of the Monitor controllers is FPL (Full Performance Level).

Additional training has been disseminated to cope with the unique monitoring/intervention tasks at RDU. Howeve r, primar y res ponsibilit y for navigat ion on fin al approach remains with the pilot. Pilots are informed when simultaneous !LS approaches are in use via the ATIS. CAPACITY INCREASE

The commissioning of the Raleigh-Durham system will " safely reduce air traffic delays in inclement weather by 40 to 50 percent", according to Allied Signal. There is no doubt that this technology will favour capacity increases at airports where only staggered approaches were previously possible with closely spaced runways. This technology will also certainly be used when planning new ru nways at sites where buildin g-land is scarce.

In the U. S., Minn eapolis-St.P aul International will receive the first of five pro duction PRM. Memphis, Atlant a and Baltimore -Was hi ngton have bee n "earmarked" to eventually benefit from the system. RDU will see its present system replaced by a production PRM. It is believed that the pre-production system at RDU will be transferred to Atlantic City, FAA's test centre.

Acco rding to Alli ed Signal, two, undi sc lose u, Inte rnatio nal airp orts are expected to order PRM system during the coming year and Sydney International Airport will shortl y iss ue a RFP (Re ques t for proposal) with the intention to acquire PRMtechnology. +

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.... page 27 ALE.NIA /JECOMES r-1 CORPORATE MEMBER When implemented, thi s new famil y of Primaries will be able to provide information on wind shear and micro turbulences on the run way , as well as increasing detection capability by means of the electronic scan of a mobile pencil beam.

The secondary radars which are presently of the Monopul se type , were des igned for upgrade to the Mode- S when thi s is introduced into operation in Europe. With Mode-S, AAAV will have another facility for integration into the ATN mentioned above throu gh Routers and GDLP facilitie s presently under design.

As a result of this activity, the services of AAAV will become much more cost effective and will moreover adhere to the emerging European standards. Particular attention will also be given to services directed towards Eastern European states, either in terms of ACC and radar cove rage or in terms of satellite based ADS, the two areas in which the technical and operational collaboration betwee n AAAV and Aleni a continu e to provide outstanding results. +

Page 29 LANDING SYSTEMS IN THE. FUTURE The changes must take place in easy stages, to allow controllers a gradual learning process in which they can co me to ter ms with. and understand. the new equipment and procedures. and so that staff are not overloaded during this period. It will be important for the controller to know which approach aid the aircraft is using.

New equipment and training may be needed to help controllers dea l with the new, more complex procedures and traffic patterns.

Paul Johnson has been a tmver and approach controller at London Heathrow Airport fo r over 15 years. He i.1 a 111 e111 ber of IFA TCA Standing Co111111i11ee I (The technical co111 111i1 1ee) and is the IFATCA observer 0 11 the !CAO All Weather Operations Panel (A WOP). +

To Advertise in THE CONTROLLER Contact : THE ADVERTISI NG MANA GER

Ron Mahendran See Page 1 For Sales Office Details 32

THE CONTRO LLE R/SEPTEMBER 1993

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