Weekly Review #226 - Digital towers, AI and ATM and our latest podcast

Picture of Vincent Lambercy
Posted by Vincent Lambercy

NATS's article - Airport digitisation is the true ‘digital tower’ revolution - explores how digitisation control towers, converting visual data from analogue to digital, offers potential for significant improvements in airport operations and performance. It highlights the benefits of digital towers, including the use of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning.Pablo Hernández’s article - Information overload: why sometimes less is more and How Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help - discusses the impact of information overload and how AI solutions can mitigate this issue. It highlights the use of data analytics, visualization, predictive and prescriptive models to enhance safety and efficiency, while reducing errors in air traffic management.

New technology requires new skills and the British Aviation Group has prepared a report on skills and training standards in the aviation sector, to see how they can adapt to new technologies. To do this, the researchers engaged with the aviation industry to assess the sector’s future skills needs. 

Lastly, in our latest podcast David Perez, the CEO of DataBeacon and MD of Innaxis, talks about Data Beacon and AI applications in ATM. He shares his views about the data analytics industry in the US and in Europe, certification of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) tools for ATC and his ideas about how ATM will evolve in future. 

ANSP news

Airports news

  • An International Procurement for the Construction of the New Riga Airport Terminal has been Announced - Riga Airport has announced the first stage of construction procurement – the qualification of applicants for the construction of the Airport’s new terminal. The purpose of the procurement is to choose a builder who will construct the new building of the passenger terminal of Riga Airport, the baggage handling and sorting complex, new access roads, a multi-storey car park and the connection of the Airport with the Rail Baltica station.

Market news

Context information

  • Future aviation skills strategy research - British Aviation Group - The report considers current skills and training standards in the aviation sector, to see how they can adapt to new technologies. To do this, the researchers engaged with the aviation industry to establish the current roles, skills, and entry-routes in or into the aviation sector and to assess the sector’s future skills needs.
  • CANSO meets with China's Aviation Authorities - Simon Hocquard, Director General of CANSO travelled to Beijing this week for a far-reaching conversation with Ma Bing, Deputy Administrator of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, and separately with Wen Xuezheng, Acting Director General of the Air Traffic Management Bureau, where they discussed the challenges being faced by air traffic management in the Asia Pacific region.
  • Singapore supports global progress on air navigation priorities - ICAO’s Air Navigation World – ATM Procedures for Today event, which was hosted by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, has facilitated global implementation of mature air traffic management procedures through focused knowledge sharing.

Reports and data

Research and innovation

  • Information overload: why sometimes less is more and How Artificial Intelligence can help - Digitalisation in aviation is transforming the way the industry operates, and one area where it has made a particularly significant impact is in air traffic management. With the proliferation of data and technology, it’s crucial for ATM systems to be able to process and utilise this information effectively in order to improve efficiency and safety.
  • What does your future flight roadmap look like? - NATS Blog - The last four years have been a fast, furious R&D journey which started when a project called Future Flight Challenge dropped onto my desk, a £125m UK Research and Innovation government initiative to stimulate the development and application of new aviation technologies... Blog post by NATS

UAV and UTM