Air safety from the ground up
More people are opting to fly to their destination than ever before. The increased traffic at Europe's major airports can not only be a cause of frustrating delays but can also pose a higher risk of potentially dangerous situations. A major safety concern for airport operators and passengers is the increasing number of accidents occurring during the aircraft movements on the ground. The Airnet project was dedicated to finding solutions that will allow to control aircraft ground movements while ensuring passengers' safety. The services proposed by the Airnet project team cover runway safety, traffic congestion control and situational awareness on the airport surface. A demonstrator of the operational system developed to assist with communication services between aircrafts and the airports' control tower is available for testing under real-life conditions. The concept behind the new systems was supported by air traffic control officers and air operations officers who considered it to be a good match with Advanced surface movement guidance control system (A-SMGCS) requirements. End user involvement proved invaluable in terms of understanding the methodsand procedures currently used in Europe's major airports as well as of the European legislation on air transport. The Airnet patners hope that the demonstrator will also be useful to researchers, who endorsed by national and European programmes develop solutions for the aviation industry.
