Airport Surface Awareness
Airside situational awareness for the teams beyond the tower
Airport Surface Awareness (ASA) is a web-based system that gives airport operations teams and vehicle drivers a live, shared view of aircraft and vehicles on the airside, together with traffic approaching the runway. Apron management, airside operations, rescue and firefighting and the airport operations centre see the same picture, receive advisory alerts and can review every movement afterwards.
ASA builds on ADS-B data, and other sources can be added through standard ASTERIX interfaces. It can be hosted or installed on-premise, and it turns recorded movements into reports for the aerodrome’s safety management system.
ADS-B Customized Solutions
Runway occupancy: actual and predicted
Shows when the runway is occupied, and when it will be, based on vehicles on the runway and aircraft on final approach.
Runway alerts based on ADS-B and MLAT data
Advisory alerts when the runway is entered, occupied or approached while in use.
Traffic display and alerts for vehicle drivers
Drivers see nearby traffic and runway status on a tablet in the vehicle and receive alerts such as RUNWAY OCCUPIED.
Situational awareness at aerodromes without A-SMGCS, in poor visibility and at night
A live picture of airside traffic where no surface movement system is installed or where visual contact is limited.
Data for airside safety management and investigation
Recorded movements, alerts and statistics as objective input for the safety management system and occurrence investigations.
Alerts on potential conflicts between aircraft, and between aircraft and vehicles
Advisory alerts based on configurable distance and time thresholds, shown to operations staff and drivers.
The Airport Traffic Monitoring and Alert System (ATMAS) is a sophisticated system designed to enhance the safety and efficiency of airport operations by monitoring and managing the movement of aircraft and vehicles on the ground and in the airspace surrounding the airport.
The system continuously monitors the movements of aircraft and vehicles both on the ground and in the airspace around the airport, ensuring that controllers have real-time visibility of all activities using all available surveillance methods: ADS-B, MLAT, SMR and SSR radars, GPS, and other navigational aids.
ADS-B elements
1
Runway occupancy monitor
2
Runway Monitoring and Conflict Alerting (RMCA) system based on ADS-B surveillance
3
Alerts for Vehicle Drivers (AVDR)
4
Situational Awareness in a non-A-SMGCS environment, in poor visibility and at night
5
Safety management of ground operations
6
Prevention of collisions between aircraft and between aircraft and vehicles
Key Features
Live Airside Picture
See equipped aircraft and vehicles on the movement area in real time.
Each target is shown on an aerodrome map with runways, taxiways and stands, together with its identification (callsign, registration or vehicle ID), ground speed and heading. Traffic approaching the airport is shown on the same display.
ADS-B 1090ES is the baseline data source, complemented by multilateration (MLAT). ASA displays aircraft and vehicles that are equipped with a transponder, an ADS-B transmitter or a tracking unit.
Shared Situational Awareness
One common view of airside traffic for every team that works there.
The airport operations centre, apron management, airside operations, rescue and firefighting, wildlife control, maintenance and ground handling all work from the same live picture in a standard web browser. Vehicle drivers get the same picture on a tablet in the vehicle. Map layers can be configured per user group or per individual user, so each team sees what matters for its tasks.
The result: fewer “where is…” queries on the radio and faster, better-informed response.
Zone Monitoring and Event Alerts.
Advisory alerts on runway occupancy, defined zones, speed and traffic proximity.
Operations staff define zones on the aerodrome map, such as runway strips, closed taxiways, works areas and restricted areas, and set the rules for each in a graphical editor. ASA alerts when an aircraft or vehicle approaches or enters a zone, leaves a zone without authorisation, or exceeds the speed limit set for it.
Alerts are visual and audible, appear on the operations display and on drivers’ tablets, and are advisory.
Recording, Replay and Investigation
Every movement recorded, every event reconstructable.
All traffic and alerts are recorded and can be replayed with a time slider. Reports and data tables can be exported as PDF, Excel or XML to support occurrence reporting. Use them for safety investigations, for debriefing drivers and rescue and firefighting crews after exercises, and for briefings of the Local Runway Safety Team.
Before going live, zones and alert settings can be validated with synthetic traffic scenarios.
Operational Analytics & Safety Trends
Turn surface movement data into safety and performance insight.
Recorded movements provide objective data on taxi-in and taxi-out times, runway occupancy times, vehicle activity in sensitive areas and stand utilisation, with statistics per zone. Together with the recorded alerts, these data support the aerodrome’s safety management system (SMS) and the work of the Local Runway Safety Team.
Light Deployment, Open Integration
Web-based, sensor-agnostic and light to deploy.
ASA runs in a standard web browser, with no dedicated workstations, and can be hosted or installed on-premise. Data is exchanged through standard EUROCONTROL ASTERIX interfaces, which allows a step-by-step path from an ADS-B-only installation to a multi-sensor configuration.
The interface is designed for airport operations staff and drivers rather than air traffic controllers, so little training is needed.