KONGSBERG

REMOTE TOWERS

kongsberg.com
Worldwide Operations
For more than 200 years, KONGSBERG has been an
industry leader developing world class products,
always adapting in order to shape the future.
Based on our proud history and centuries of
innovation, KONGSBERG has delivered strategic
competence and products to our partners
Collaboration with our global customers, partners
and suppliers is essential in our success as is
developing a clear understanding of our end users
and the operational environment where they use
our technologies. These factors are driving forces
behind the corporation’s international success.

Support in the Extreme

KONGSBERG contributes to improved safety,
security and performance in demanding and
complex missions. We achieve this through an
in-depth knowledge of our customer’s objectives
and the needs of the operator, and by meeting their
challenges with the right systems, services and
technological solutions.

Design & Layout:2019/03 KONGSBERG - All rights reserved

2 KONGSBERG – “Insert Product Brochure title”

KONGSBERG REMOTE TOWERS 3
 KONGSBERG
R E M O T E T OWERS

KONGSBERG Remote Towers

- the unique solution

The KONGSBERG Remote Towers (RT) is the solution for all future remote tower
related operations; virtual, contingency and remotely controlled towers.

The KONGSBERG Remote Towers contributes to Avinor’s NINOX program - the world’s largest RTS program. More
than 36 sites in Norway is designated for Remote Tower Systems, starting implementing 15 airports in one control
center. NINOX is a partnership between Avinor, Indra Navia and Kongsberg Defence Systems.

4 KONGSBERG REMOTE TOWERS

T O T A L C OST OF OWNERSHIP

Total Cost of Ownership

- a system lifetime

Maintenance and technical footprint Team expertise – Implementing remote

The KONGSBERG Remote Towers has well-proven towers
technical equipment with a low technical footprint, By using the team expertise, the customer will save
included HW redundancy, which contributes to low time and cost running and implementing Remote
maintenance cost. Towers. Through our large-scale program delivered
in Norway, we have gained valuable experience in
Bandwidth and media hiring cost the design, construction and preparation of Remote
The cost of redundant networks with the required Tower control facilities.
quality of service and latency can be very high. The
KONGSBERG Remote Towers has low network band- As a customer, you will most likely have a wide range
width requirements, without compromising image of questions. With our documentation, experience
quality. Network bandwidth is a concern to many and expertise, we will provide the answers and come
users. forward with a design proposal for your Remote
Tower facility to identify a cost effective and functi-
Scalability onal solution, specifically tailored to your needs and
The KONGSBERG Remote Towers is scalable to requirements. We work closely with the ANSPs to
support at least, but not limited to, 15 airports in design the most optimal solution needed.
Avinor’s Program from one Remote Tower Centre.
The KONGSBERG Remote Towers is designed with
an infrastructure supporting both single- and multi-
mode capabilities. This gives the cost benefit of
running several airports from one controller position,
either sequential or simultaneously.

When operating low-traffic aerodromes, it may be a

considerable advantage to be able to operate multiple
aerodromes at the same time from the same RTM. The
system supports the allocation of one, two or three
aerodromes to the same RTM simultaneously.

The operator may add and remove aerodromes from

the RTM at his discretion without disturbing the
operation of the other aerodromes being operating, or
other RTMs in the RTC.

KONGSBERG REMOTE TOWERS 5

 S A F E T Y A ND SITUATIONAL
AWARENESS

Day cameras and infrared sensors

- extreme performance

The KONGSBERG Remote Towers camera sensors provide extreme high

resolution, capable of capturing details at the accuracy of the human eye, and
sometimes even better with use of its advanced features such as the optional
IR camera add-on. The Electro-Optical Sensor Suite (EOSS) consists of a 360°
Camera System and a Pan Tilt Platform.

360° Camera System Pan Tilt Platform (PTP)

The KONGSBERG 360° Camera System has a design The integrated display of the PTP gives controllers
that enables necessary decisions for separating an exceptionally clear picture of airport operations:
aircraft and objects, without any additional surveil- aircraft markings and landing gear are clearly visible
lance systems – as for an operator in a traditional ATC – even in low light and bad weather
Tower. conditions.

The KONGSBERG 360° Camera system: The KONGSBERG Pan Tilt Platform:
• VIS 360 - 60° vertical FoV (- 10° to +50°) • Pan Tilt Zoom camera (PTZ)
• IR 360 - 18° vertical FoV, steerable in elevation • Pan Tilt Infrared camera (PTIR)
• Laser Range Finder (LRF)
The performance and visual • Signal Light Gun (SLG)
acuity of the VIS 360° camera
are equivalent to 20/20 vision.
Camera’s resolution is 0.28
mrad meaning that an object
of 28 cm in size is visible for the
oper¬ator when it is at a range
of 1 km from the camera sensor.
The PTP enables:
• Video tracking
VIS and IR camera fusion has
• Automatically follow an ARTAS/radar track
a perfect alignment of both IR
• Automatically follow a selected MTI
and VIS image and gives the
• Manually follow any object by using a joystick
controller a higher possibility
to detect unwanted objects
during day-time.

5 Hz rotation attracts the ATCOs attention easier,

the ability detect if an object is moving or is stopped,
e.g. at stopbars and holding positions. It prevents any
snow, rain or other debris sticking to the glass.

No studies have discovered any negative results for

5Hz rotation, neither on visual detection performance
or physiological stress

6 KONGSBERG REMOTE TOWERS

Full Eye Resolution
- what do you need to see?

Situational awareness of moving targets is a function of target detection

capability and framerate, i.e. understanding where the target is and what it is
going to do with a certain degree of confidence.

In the development of the visual sensor, KONGSBERG has taken a strategic choice regarding the resolution; ICAO
DOC 8984 states requirement for eyesight of an Air Traffic Control Officer (ATCO):

“Visual acuity shall be 6/6 or better” – which is the same as “20/20 vision”.

The camera sensor, as well as the presentation monitors have the same resolution as the human eye - to maintain
the out-of-the-window view.

Choosing a lower resolution value could result in the need for surveillance and/or other mitigating means for the
operator. Will additional mitigating means be as good as the human eye to discover hazards, e.g. non-cooperative
traffic/objects?

Color depth is essential for general situational awareness and specific understanding of navigation light position/
aircraft orientation, and color information would need to be above a certain threshold. The KONGSBERG Remote
Towers has color depth of 12 bit/pixel. The compression and decompression process shall not reduce visual acuity
below 1.0.

How early do you detect an How well do you discover a

approaching aircraft or how flock of birds or drones over the
to see an aircraft leaving the runway?
aerodrome longer?

KONGSBERG REMOTE TOWERS 7

 Visual overlays and augmentation

To ensure that the ATC operator has complete overview of the remotely
operated airspace, the KONGSBERG Remote Towers provides several means of
situational awareness aids.
With the need to present out the window view electronically, there is also a great
opportunity to embed augmented information that even further enhances the
flight controller’s situation awareness. This addition enhances the Operator’s
ability to identify these objects in harsh weather condition and poor light
scenarios.

Meteorological Data
Weather elements such as wind directions, cloud information or other customizations requested by the customer.
This information can be presented at any place on the HUD screens.

Masking of areas
It is possible to mask out areas that either act as a disturbance to the operator or for other reasons not interested
for the controller.

Alerts
To enable the operator even greater control of the aerodrome, the system can be enhanced to visually or audibly
alert the controller of any changes regarding movements at the aerodrome.

PTZ View
A small picture-in-picture window is displayed
when using the Pan- Tilt-Zoom and Laser Range
Finder functionalities. This window can be
displayed on a fixed place on HUD, or moving
automatically when tracking an object.

Track Labels
Relevant surveillance and flight information
data from the HDD/ATM system are integrated,
if available. These track data can be displayed at
the corresponding visual objects, even when the
object may not be visible due to natural conditi-
ons (out of range, behind objects etc.)

Moving Target Indicators (MTI)

To assist the operator in the tasks of identify-
ing relevant movements, MTIs may be added to
objects that the system detects as moving. These
MTIs reduce the operator’s mental strain in dete-
cting and following which object are moving/and/
or when they start to move.

8 KONGSBERG REMOTE TOWERS

 IR Hot Spot Detection
It is possible to detect thermal hot-spots using
the IR-360 camera. Objects with a higher
intensity than a defined threshold will be repor-
ted as hot-spots. The level of the threshold will
be adjustable by the user. The hot-spots will only
be reported for a region of interest at ground
level. The region of interest must be defined for
each airport as part of the setup procedure

3D Overlays
To increase visual orientation in certain situa-
tions like low visibility, odd light conditions
or simply user preferences. 3D overlays like
compass rose, terrain contours, approach funnel,
runway and specific points of interest e.g. alti-
tude and distance.

Electronic Curtain
A built-in electronic curtain, i.e. an area surrounding the sun - adjustable in
size, position and transparency. The adjustable area can automatically follow
the position of the sun.

The system has an inherent mitigation to deal with counter light. In cases
of direct sunlight into the camera, the sensors are only affected in the small
azimuth sector covered by the sun. This is opposed to conventional standard
HD camera systems, where the complete image from the camera covering the
sun is usually saturated or blurred.

Airport Sound
In order to increase situational awareness the environmental sound from the airport is provided to the air traffic
controller via a loudspeaker. The user will have the ability to turn the sound off or adjust the volume.

KONGSBERG REMOTE TOWERS 9

 F L E X I B I LITY

Flexibility
– a key capability
The KONGSBERG Remote Towers offers a unique flexibility through scalability and
Service oriented Architecture (SoA) and DDS.

Scalability Service Oriented Architecture (SoA) and DDS

– from small to large airports – prepared for SWIM
The KONGSBERG Remote Towers has a design being able The KONGSBERG Remote Towers has an open archite-
to tailor the user interfaces and work with local suppliers cture that is flexible and adaptable to future needs and
to ensure full compatibility with systems already in place. enhancements.

The KONGSBERG Remote Towers has a Heads-Down To ensure a well-structured and loosely coupled archi-
Display (HDD), may include the integration and control tecture allowing for future develop­ment, the RTS soft-
of airport lighting, airport environmental conditions, ware has a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) with the
electronic flight strips system, airport and terminal open international Data Distribution Service (DDS) stan-
sensors and radars and other components very easy. dard from the Object Management Group (OMG). DDS is
specifically designed for use in mission critical real-time
The customer may keep existing systems in our solution, systems such as the RTS. This includes the integration of
e.g. such as existing flight strip system or radar display new systems within RTS and for an integration of systems
systems. This integration may be a full integration into external to RTS.
one heads down display, or as separate displays.
SOA and DDS are keywords in the future Eurocontrol
ATM Interoperability Infrastructure SWIM (System Wide
Information Management).

KONGSBERG Remote Towers facilitates addition of new systems, airports and data exchange through SoA and DDS.

10 KONGSBERG REMOTE TOWERS

K O N G S B E RG REMOTE TOWERS
- T H E U NIQUE SOLUTION

KONGSBERG Remote Towers

- values

Total Cost of Ownership through:

• Low bandwidth requirements and media hiring cost
• Low technical footprint and maintenance cost
• Scalability (#RTMs and Multimode capability)
• Team Expertise (ATM, System Integration, Project planning, Implementation and Safety)

Increased safety and situational awareness through:

• Full Eye Resolution (Visual Acuity 1.0) and 5 fps
• Day cameras and Infrared Sensors
• IR fusion with day camera image
• Seamless panoramic image (Field of View: 360° horizontal and 60° vertical)
• Augmented Reality

Flexibility through:
• Scalability (from small to large airports)
• Service Oriented Architecture (SoA) and DDS. The system architecture is modular and scalable, thereby permit-
ting additional functionality to be provided by adding hardware and/or software modules to a basic system, at
the same time as providing excellent availability .

KONGSBERG REMOTE TOWERS 11

KONGSBERG DEFENCE & AEROSPACE AS
Kirkegaardsveien 45
PO Box 1003
N-3601 Kongsberg
Norway

+47 32 28 82 00
[email protected]

kongsberg.com