Era - Beyond Radar - Surface Management

Surface Management - Copenhagen

Copenhagen Airport is one of Europe’s largest airports and a major center of airport traffic in Scandinavia and northern Europe. Copenhagen serves as the Scandinavian hub for DHL, Scandinavian Airlines and in a key hub for the Star Alliance network of 16 international airlines that fly to a total of 795 airports in 139 countries. With a European and global network of direct flight connections, Copenhagen’s operations and expansion are critical to supporting the growth of not only Denmark but European and global industry.

The Challenge

The growth and success of Copenhagen Airport places a premium on surface management and the safety of increasing operations. Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR) solutions for surface management lacked the comprehensive coverage and ability to track all aircraft and vehicles in Copenhagen’s airport surface zones. Copenhagen needed to achieve a single-view of aircraft and vehicle movements that simply could not be supplied effectively or economically by traditional radar solutions. Copenhagen began researching the proven benefits of a multi-sensor approach to surveillance with an Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS) that integrated multilateration and ADS-B surveillance with existing radar data sources.

The Solution

In 2003, after an international competition, Copenhagen awarded the program to HITT as the prime contractor for the A-SMGCS integrating MSS by Era network of sensors and Squid by Era vehicle tracking units.

In January 2005, the system supplied by HITT and Era successfully completed full system acceptance testing. HITT’s A-SMGCS solution fused the highly accurate positional data from Era’s ground-based stations and vehicle tracking units with radar data into one consistent traffic presentation.

Today, the HITT and Era solution is a fully operational A-SMGCS solution that has received CAA certification.