Delair's Electronic Flight Strip System selected for Dubai International Airport

The electronic flight strip system focus is an operationally tested module of the Advanced Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) product suite. focus not only replaces paper strips by electronic flight strips, but it also adapts content and layout according to the requirements of the user for each individual working position.

This approved procedure guarantees that only the information which is important for the respective working position is indicated to the controller. Thus, clarity and efficiency is improved.

Furthermore, this facilitates the co-ordination between the controller working positions as well as the ability to distribute data between the different organisations, e.g. airport, airlines, ATC and handling agents.

"With the unprecedented growth of traffic at the Dubai International Airport and just released record results for our home carrier Emirates Airlines, DCA undertook a number of initiatives to optimize the airport operation and enable Dubai Airport to cope with the expected further traffic growth.

We have just opened the Airport Operations Data Management Centre and the selection of focus provided by Lochard and its technology partner delair is a logical step to improve the operation at the DIA", says Mohammed Ahli, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board and Director of Operations, Government of Dubai DCA.

The focus adaptation is planned to be finished at the end of October 2006 which coincides with the refurbishment of the tower and the start of staggered operations at Dubai International Airport.

Each working position has different operational requirements and the airports have their own individual demands. focus covers all the essentials to assist each controller in the optimal way.

The electronic flight strip system focus has the following advantages:

Controller

• Intuitive HMI and easy transition from paper strips
• Strip content tailored to each single controller working position
• Pull down second line with additional information displayed if needed.
• Ability to join and split different views depending on the traffic load and the number of available controllers
• Easy to use design and Computer Based Training (CBT) minimises the transition from paper to electronic flight strips.
• Multiple data entry methods (pen touch screen, mouse) enable the controllers to select their preferred data entry method
• Simple 'one click' actions to hand-over the strip between positions
• Situational awareness of the complete traffic flow (e.g. arrivals, departures and tows for tower controllers) helps planning, enhances efficiency and safety
• The system prevents mistakes and error messages by 'greying out' functions when they are not available
• Modal dialogs, where users must respond before continuing their tasks
• Watchdog timer that the system is operating correctly

Design

• Focus was designed to assist controllers in the most suitable way. This guarantees minimising the transition time from the existing paper flight strips to electronic flight strips and at the same time to have the underlying architecture capable of handling more complex functions like arrival manager, departure manager etc
• Its fault tolerant architecture is designed around redundant computer clusters. This guarantees the availability required for dependable ATC operation. Experience from existing installations shows no unplanned down times.
• Focus has been operational and proven in the field from 2003
• No limit on the number of positions.

Administration and Analysis

• Continuous performance monitoring
• Remote maintenance
• Video stream recording feature and playback through Windows ™ Media Player
• Off line version for training purposes.

Expansion

• Same look and feel for more advanced applications within the A-CDM product suite minimises training and transition times.
• Additional positions can be easily added without interrupting the operational system.

"focus was designed in order to supply the tower controllers as well as the radar controllers with exactly the relevant data for their specific working position. This avoids an overload of the electronic flight strips with unnecessary information and, consequently, increases the acceptance of the controllers as well as the efficiency of their work.

As the designed information is updated continuously and the co-ordination between the working positions is also realized via the system, the situational awareness is clearly improved which makes a contribution to prevent mistakes. Additionally, focus is already designed and tested to be applied in combination with planning tools.

At the Zurich International Airport, focus has been used successfully already for several years in combination with darts and sally, i.e. systems for arrival, departure, stand and gate planning. darts and sally are further modules of our A-CDM product suite", says Dietmar Dippe, Managing Director, delair.

With A-CDM, delair and Lochard offer the first tested product suite in the world which has the capability to plan and optimize the airside process at an airport. This optimization process starts with arrivals when they are still at cruise levels, it coordinates the ground activities and ends with the handover of the departure from the tower to the departure sector. A-CDM brings together air traffic control, airport, airlines and ground handlers into a combined, harmonized process.

A-CDM has been in operation at Zurich Airport since 2003 and is currently being installed at Frankfurt Airport.

The suite comprises the A-CDM platform for data harmonization and sophisticated decision support tools like Arrival and Departure Manager - darts 4D, Resource Manager (Gates, Stands, Check-In Counters, Busses) - sally and Environment Manager - AMONS System 8.

"When we pioneered the A-CDM concept the integrated, harmonized planning of the airside processes at an airport came to the fore, as an independent single planning neither leads to a comprehensive improvement nor to an optimum use of the available capacity.

The system components developed on the basis of this concept allow for an optimum use of the airport capacities, especially at critical peak times of operation.

At the same time, we help airlines to significantly reduce fuel burn on both arrivals and departures, create space and time for extra flights and increase predictability of On- and Off-block times with the use of A-CDM.

All of it happens while increasing stand and gate usage and minimizing environmental impact", says Ned Macesic, VP Corporate Development, Lochard.

focus and the entire A-CDM product suite will be exhibited at the delair - Lochard stand at the Dubai Airport Build and Supply Exhibition to be held from 5 - 7 June 2006.