RAiCe - Remote Airport Traffic Control Center - Projektplan - (2008)

Executive Summary (Zusammenfassung)
The DLR project RAiCe (Remote Airport traffic Control center) continues the project RapTOr (Remote airport Operation research, 2005-2007). RapTOr had been launched after an initial Virtual Tower concept study (2002-2004), a winner of the first Visionary Projects competition of DLR. Within RapTOr an experimental real time and high resolution Augmented Vision Videopanorama Sys-tem was realized and its performance verified as main human machine interface for remote airport tower operation (RTO). The requirement for video based reconstruction of the far view from the tower cab windows was derived from tower work and task analysis. It was emphasized in statements of the international controllers association IFATCA [1]. The follow-up project RAiCe aims at extending the Remote Operation (RTO) system into an experimental Remote Center (RTC) for investi-gating the technological and organizational problems of remote surveillance of several small airports, verifying its basic specifications and functions and validating the performance by shadow mode test-ing.

The main experimental result of the RapTOr project as starting point for RAiCe is the verification of the predicted technical system specifications (e.g. 2 arcmin videopanorama resolution, with the given number of 4 high resolution cameras), which can be achieved with state of the art camera, visualiza-tion and communication technologies. Within RAiCe a second small airport with a realistic distance of some hundred km will be connected to the RTC-HMI which will be based on the RapTOr RTO-Controllers workplace design. This provides the experimental conditions for verifying the possibility of long-distance real time control with visual surveillance. As additional aspect towards the validation of the RTC concept shadow mode testing is planned. It requires connection of the RAiCe operators con-sole to the basic tower data like weather, approach radar and controller–pilot communication.

Another goal of RAiCe is the simulation based design of the work environment, i.e. the RTC-HMI which is closely related to the development of an RTC specific work organisation. In order to realize a framework for developing and optimizing the RTC work structure and processes an RTC simulator environment will be set up as extension of the DLR Tower-/ Control center facilities as well as the so called FairControl computer simulation of tower controllers decision making. The latter was developed within the RapTOr project and served for supporting the extraction of domain expert knowledge during interviews with tower controllers by using a simplified airport microworld. Within RAiCe the validation of the Petrinet based controller agent will be continued and FairControl will be extended into a 2-airport system. Both types of simulations require the definition of traffic and surveillance scenarios which provide the boundary conditions for the HMI design as well as details of simulation hard and software requirements.

Surveillance scenarios take into account new and potentially low cost sensing equipment which will be installed at Braunschweig research airport as ASMGCS extension (infrared and mm-wave sensors) as well as increasing GPS/ADSB equipment of aircraft. Sensors and datafusion provide the input into the Augmented Vision System of the Videopanorama. Another surveillance scenario aspect is increased automation which will include visual information assistance based on active vision using the remotely controlled RTO-PTZ camera based on automatic movement detection and data fusion.