Eurocontrol has handed over to the Netherlands civil aviation authority, the LVB, a new air-traffic-management (ATM) system which will eventually integrate all the surveillance equipment throughout the area covered by European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) nations.
Eurocontrol describes the ATM Surveillance Tracker and Server (ARTAS) system as "one of the greatest advances in air-traffic management since the introduction of radar", because it will provide users across Europe with seamless surveillance data for existing and planned European ATM systems. The ARTAS uses a regional wide-area radar network and a series of identical co-operating ATM surveillance units to integrate the data from some 30 different types of radar-processing systems in more than 50 air-traffic-control centres.
Almost all have different hardware and software and therefore different performance, says Eurocontrol, so they have been "developed in isolation-no single system makes use of all available radar coverage". The ARTAS provides uniform aircraft separation minima throughout the ECAC area "irrespective of the number of individual units".
It also "provides for improved civil/military co-operation and paves the way for the introduction of the free-route concept", says the company.
Eurocontrol adds that a "considerable number" of member states are either planning or considering introducing the system, which will begin operational trials with the LVB from mid-1998.
The ARTAS, which was developed by Thomson-CSF's ATM subsidiary Airsys-ATM, will be further improved to accommodate Mode-S radars and aircraft-derived surveillance data.
Source: Flight International