How can Technology improve Safety? - ACI

ACI - Indra 

How can Technology 

improve Safety? 

« Overview of ATM/CNS & Airports 

technologies and their impact on safety » 

ACI Africa / ACI World Safety Seminar 

Emeric Osmont – Marrakech, Morocco – 01/04/2011

ACI Africa / ACI World Safety Seminar – 01/04/2011, Marrakech, Morocco 

INDEX 

Overview of ATM/CNS & Airports technologies 

and their impact on safety 

01 Indra general overview 

02 Safety on the Airport side 

03 Surveillance Sensor contribution 

04 Automation System contribution 

05 SESAR Activities in Safety 

06 Conclusion – Q&A 

2


INDEX 









3


Indra general overview 

WHO WE ARE 

• Indra is a European leading 

IT and Defense Systems 

Company 

• € 2,380 M in revenues 

• 30,000 professionals 

• 107 countries 

• € 500 M invested in R&D in 

three years 

4



Vertical Markets 

Distribution by Market 

Distribution by Countries 

Security & 

Defense 

27 % 

Energy & Industry 

15 % 

Financial Services 

13 % 

Europe 

16 % 

Other 

4 % 

USA 

3 % 

Latam 

9 % 

Transport & 

Traffic 

20 % 

Public Administration & 

Healthcare14 % 

Telecom & Media 

11 % 

Spain 

68 % 

5



Wide range of ATM / CNS & Airports Solutions 

SACTA 

VAFORIT Maastricht Eurocontrol iTEC-eFDP 

Automation / 

AIS,AMHS,AIM 

TWR Integrated Sys. 

ATC Simulation 

ADS / CPDLC 

PSR/MSSR/Mode S 

SMR / A-SMGCS 

VCCS 

Navaids 

6



More than 1000 installations in over 90 countries 

7



ATM / CNS & Airports references in Africa 

• Indra has references in: 

• Algeria 

• Angola 

• Cape Verde 

• Kenya 

• Libya 

• Morocco 

• Nigeria 

• Ruanda 

• Seychelles 

• Tunisia 

• Uganda 

8


FOREFRONT TECHNOLOGY SUPPLIER FOR 

ATM/CNS AND AIRPORTS 

• Supplying ATM systems for more than 30 years 

• Extensive suite of products and demonstrated integration 

capabilities 

More than 1000 installations in 90 countries 

World leader for FDP with the support of leading 

European ANSPs (MUAC & iTEC-Aena/DFS/NATS) 

More than 400 Mode S Transmitters 

Over 235 radar systems 

Over 190 automation systems 

Over 900 navaids 

• Global support to existing installations 

• R&D commitment 

Leading member of SESAR Joint Undertaking 

Product roadmap for growing through technical 

excellence 

9



Common Approach for all of our Systems: 

• To accompany our customer in: 

• Increasing Efficiency of their operations 

• Reducing the Cost of their activity 

• Cutting the Environment Impact 

• Improving the Safety of operations 

10


INDEX 









11


Safety on the Airport side 

MLAT System – The concept 

A number of antennas receive a signal from an aircraft or surface vehicle equipped 

with squitter device. 

Central processing unit calculates the vehicle position of the vehicle from the time 

difference of arrival (TDOA) of the signal at the different receivers. 

The TDOA between two antennas corresponds with an hyperboloid, a 3D surface. 

At least four antennas are required for a 3D position calculation. 

12



MLAT System – Arquitecture 

13



MLAT System – Barcelona case study / Challenges 

Coverage of the whole Airport area: 

Runway 

Taxi Way 

Apron 

Ramp 

Parking 

…extended to Approach 

Ensure a more accurate surveillance to cope with more 

important traffic 

Merge data with other current surveillance systems like 

Surface Movement Radar 

Use conflict detection tools 

14



MLAT System – Barcelona case study 

15



MLAT System – Barcelona case study / Receiving Stations 

33 Receiving Stations: 100% of the Area 

covered by at least 5 stations 

16



MLAT System – Barcelona case study / Interrogator Stations 

17



MLAT System – Barcelona case study / Reference Transponder 

18



MLAT System – Barcelona case study / Precision analysis 

Critical and Sensitive Area: σ ≤ 3,82 m. 

Other Area: σ ≤ 6,12 m. 

19




20




21



MLAT System – Barcelona case study / Enhancement 

• New technology with direct application in the A-SMGCS framework. 

• Provides independent cooperative surveillance on the airport surface. 

• Enables the Precision Runway Monitoring (PRM). 

• Useful for complex terminal areas. 

• Data integrity / Data correlation of the same response received by several 

stations 

• Improvements to Safety Nets / High update rate / High redundancy / No 

rotating parts. Continuous 360º coverage 

• Improved Ground and Approximation Picture and Tracking 

• ATCOs has position and identification information about all vehicles 

equipped with squitter device. 

22




• Surface Movement Radar (SMR) is a primary 

radar and the most widely used system for airport 

surveillance at the present 

• The SMR radar provides surveillance cover for the 

maneuvering area 

• The SMR radar detects targets in adverse weather 

environments. 

• The SMR radar is a key element of A-SMGCS 

23




F 1 

• The Radar transmits a constant signal of low 

power modulated in FM 

Rx 

• The echo received from a target is a copy of 

the transmitted signal delayed in the time. 

Tx 

F 2 

• The distance from the radar to the target is 

calculate by the difference of frequencies 

between the received echo and the signal that 

is transmitted in every instant. 

D 

ΔF = F 2 - F 1 

Distance 

D 

ΔF6000m 

7,50MHz 

24




• Full solid-state technology. 

• High density traffic supported, 

process more than 300 targets 

per 360 degrees scan. 

• Low peak power Band (X) 

continuous wave signals. 

• High resolution radar designed 

for detecting small radar cross 

section targets. 

• Operation as Stand-alone or as 

a part of A-SMGCS. 

25




SMR Vilnius 

SMR Alger 

SMR Barcelona 

SMR Palma 

26



Surface Movement Radar / Main Enhancements 

• Solid State - Continuous Wave Band technology with precision of 3m 

and 5m resolution, highest on the market 

• Coverage until 6 km 

• Power 5 W (17 000 W for classical SMR) => Huge impact on Life Cycle, 

Cost of Operation, Safety and Environment 

• Provides a real-time picture of all aircraft and vehicles on the airport 

surface 

• Reduces the controller's workload even in low visibility operations, 

ensuring an increase in capacity with no impact on safety 

• Non-cooperative surveillance 

27



A-SMGCS 

Advanced Surface Monitoring Guidance And Control System (A-SMGCS) 

The A-SMGCS concept has been developed to help improving the current 

systems, procedures and use against: traffic increase, airport complexity, 

and the need of a continuous maintenance of a high level service. 

*Alignment with: EMMA 2, SESAR and ESIP 

• A-SMGCS consists on 4 main functions and 4 levels per function. 

• The main A-SMGCS functions, as defined by ICAO, are: 

• Surveillance: Provides situation awareness in the movement area. 

• Control: Detects conflicts and runway alerts. 

• Runway Incursion Alert for departures and arrivals (Level II), conflict 

detection in all the movement area and presentation to ATCOs (Level III) 

and conflict resolution (Level IV) 

• Routing: Provides the most efficient route for each aircraft or vehicle. 

• Presentation of the calculation results to ATCOs (Level III) and then pilots 

and vehicle drivers (Level IV) 

• Guidance: Shows indications to pilots and controllers to permit following an 

assigned route.



A-SMGCS 

• A-SMGCS consists on 4 main functions and 4 levels per function. 

• The main A-SMGCS levels, as defined by EUROCONTROL, are: 

• Level I 

• Surveillance: Provides situation awareness in the movement and the maneuvering area to the 

controllers 

• No Control, Routing or Guidance deployed 

• Level II: 


controllers 

• Control: Detects Runway Incursion to the controller 

• Routing: No Routing 

• Guidance: Airport Static Map & Mobile on a screen as an option 

• Level III: 


controllers & the mobiles 

• Control: conflict detection in all the movement and maneuvering area and presentation to ATCOs 

• Routing: Provides the most efficient route for each aircraft or vehicle and present it to the controller 

• Guidance: Airport Static Map & Mobile on a screen, and Automatic Lighting 

• Level IV: 


controllers & the mobiles 

• Control: conflict detection & resolution in all the movement and maneuvering area and presentation 

to ATCOs & equipped mobiles 

• Routing: Provides the most efficient route for each aircraft or vehicle and present it to the controller 

• Guidance: Airport Static Map & Mobile and Route on a screen, and Automatic Lighting



How can Technology improve Safety? 

• Multilateration System 

• Surface Movement Radar 

• Advanced – Surface Movement Guidance Control System 

Allow increase in traffic in complex and adverse environment, 

providing ATCOs with accurate situational awareness and 

efficient safety nets and conflict detection tools to increase safety 

30


INDEX 









31


Surveillance Sensors contribution 

Indra Surveillance Systems Mission 

To enhance air traffic safety and efficiency by providing 

advanced and reliable surveillance systems composed by 

modern and proven sensors with consistent integration platforms 

driven by customers operational needs 

Indra’s surveillance 

systems have been 

deployed and operative 

systems from single 

aerodromes to whole 

countries. 

ATM solutions are 

provided for more than 

30 years 

32



Long Term strategy 

INDRA HAS A COMPLETE STATE-OF-THE-ART SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS PORTFOLIO 

FIRST WORLD PROTOTYPE 

OF SOLID STATE MODE S 

TRANSMITTER 

Peak Power 2510 W. 

64,5% Duty Cycle during 2,4 ms. 

Long term Duty Cycle of 6,6%. 

MTBF > 20.000 hr 

MSSR MODE S 

ELEMENTARY 

SURVEILLANCE 

Mode S Transmitter 

Selective Addressing 

Aircraft Identity function 

Experience since 1990 

MSSR MODE S 

ENHANCED 

SURVEILLANCE 

Magnetic Heading 

Selected Altitude 

Track Angle Rate 

Ground Speed 

Air Speed 

Vertical Rate 

Roll Angle 

True Track Angle 

PSR12+ 

Up-graded ARS12 

SSR IRS-10 

Long life (1978-2004) 

SSR IRS-20 

Three IRS-10 still 

running 

LVA 20 dB 

Phase Monopulse 

Spanish TMA 

UTC Time Stamping 

SSR IRS-20MP/L 

LVA 24 dB 

2 Racks 

Open Architecture 

COTS Products 

Half Angle Monopulse 

Comms Equipment 

MODE S 

TRANSMITTERS 

FOR POEMS 

(EUROCONTROL) 

Indra wins the tender for 

providing) 

MSSR IRS-20MP/L 

Enhanced 

LVA 27 dB (3rd Generation) 

3 Racks 

Remote Control & 

Monitoring System (RCMS) 

New Comms Equipment 

91 

TRANSMITTERS 

“Full Mode S capability 

installed 

SMR 

Continuous Wave 

Output Power: 5 W 

Resolution: 6 m 

High MTBF 

MSSR IRS-20MP/L 

Modular Design 

Supervision and Control System 

(UCS) 

Supervision and Test Unit (UTS) 

X.25 Network LAN 

ADS-B + TIS-B 

Coverage 250 NM 

High Target Capacity 

High MTBF 

Low MTTR 

WAM 

Vigilany(Roke 

) 

Active WAM 

(Interrog 

M-LAT 

Barcelona 

1980 1990 2000 2010 

Always one year ahead of EUROCONTROL’s road map 

33



Complete Range of Surveillance Systems 

Surveillance 

2D PSR 

3D PSR 

SMR 

MSSR mode S 

ADS-B 

WAM 

MLAT 

A-SMGCS 

34



Primary Surveillance Radar - Concept 

35



Primary Surveillance Radar – Architecture 

APG 

Antenna & Pedestal Group (APG) 

RF Rx Signals (4) 

RF TX Signal 

Energy 

Turning signals 

MWG B 

SDG 

MWG A 

RF Rx 

Signals (4) 

Microwave Group 

(MWG) 

Signal Distribution 

Group 

(SDG) 

Transmitter Group 

(TXG) 

Control/ 

BITE 

Control/ 

BITE 

RF Test 

Pedestal Top 

Control Panel 

(PTCP) 

MWG 

control 

signals 

Turning signals 

Microwave Control 

Group 

(MWCG) 

Dual Rotary 

Control Group 

(DRCG) 

RXG B 

EPG B 

CPC B 

RXG A 

EPG A 

CPC A 

IF Rx 

Signal 

Receiver 

Group 

(RXG) 

CHANNEL A 

Central Processor 

Computer (CPC) 

Oscill 

RF Rx 

Signal 

Osc 

IF Rx 

signal 

Exciter & 

Processor 

Group (EPG) 

RF Tx 

signal 

Control/ 

BITE 

IF Rx 

signal 

RF Tx 

signal 

Oscill 

RF Rx 

Signals 

Exciter & 

Processor 

Group (EPG) 

Oscill 

Receiver 

Group 

(RXG) 

CHANNEL CHANNEL B 

Central Processor 

Computer (CPC) 

Router/ 

Switch 

LAN 2 

LAN 1 

Router/ 

Switch 

TXG PRPA B 

TXG PRPA A 

VR 3000 

PSR/SSR 

Combiner 

SCR 

Control & 

Monitoring System (SLG) 

TXG PA 

36



Primary Surveillance Radar – Indra PSR Advanced Features 

• REDUNDANCY: Most redundant system on the market. 

• Transmitter and receiver groups (including microwave group) 

are complete redundant. 

• Every unit is duplicated, and it is also possible to combine 

elements from channel A and channel B. 

• MTBCF: Redundancy allows it to achieve MTBCF values over 

45,000 hours, as well as 99.999% of availability 

• MINIMUM RANGE: Minimum range detected is 0.25 nm 

• RESOLUTION: a range resolution of 170 m. 

• ACCURACY: 50 m 

37



Primary Surveillance Radar – Enhancements 

• Combined to SSR information allows air traffic increasing 

thanks to PSR resolution. 

• Aircraft can fly over the limit of minima separation between 

aircraft, 3 and 5 NM in accordance to EUROCONTROL 

• Reliability 

• Data Integrity 

• Weather channel provides weather maps for controller 

• Accurate aircraft position in spite of extreme weather or ground 

clutter conditions, natural and man-made interference, and 

ground vehicular traffic. 

• High availability and maintainability 

38


INDEX 









39


Automation System contribution 

Indra Automation Systems Mission 

To enhance the safety of the flights by providing the 

controllers with information of air movements from 

Surveillance Sensors such as Radars, ADS-B, ADS-C, MLAT 

Systems and Weather Data; Planning information such as 

Flight Plans, Route Availability and Flow Management; and 

communications control via Voice and Data Link 

The Indra ATM system is one of the most advanced, safe and 

reliable ATM data processing and display systems available 

today. It will boost the capability to safely and efficiently manage 

the airspace in the future.



Main System features 

Surveillance 

Sensors & 

Ground Stations 

A-SMGCS 

Monoradar Target and 

Weather, 

ADS-B & MLAT & SMR 

ACC/APP/TWR 

Controllers 

Commands 

Data Display 

OLDI/AIDC 

System Tracks 

Sectorisation 

Adjacent ATS 

Centres 

VCCS 

Voice Comms 

AFTN/AMHS 

ATS flight plan 

messages 

Flight Data 

System Tracks 

Air Defence Units 

AIS 

Aeronautical 

Information Service 

AIS messages 

& files 

ATM System 

CM, ADS-C, 

CPDLC messages 

FANS/ATN 

Aircraft 

MET 

National Met Office 

Airport 

FIDS 

Met GRIB 

messages 

ATS flight plan 

messages 

AFL panel 

Navaids & ILS Monitor 

MET sensors info 

Commands 

Data Display 

Assistants & 

Supervisors 

Time Sync 

Terminated FPs 

Playback Sync 

GPS-TRF 

Time Reference 

Billing System 

Airport 

Tower Panels 

VRP 

Voice Recording



FDP - Medium Term Conflict Detection (I) 

SAFETY VOLUME 

The function considers each eligible 

flight plan surrounded by a safety 

volume (3D corridor) 

L 

V 

T 

V: Vertical separation (hundreds of feet) 

L: Lateral separation (NM) 

T: Longitudinal separation (minutes)



FDP - Medium Term Conflict Detection (II) 

4D 

Trajectory 

Principle of Conflict Search 

DLH007 

Actual Time 

11:39 UTC 

T 1 

Sector 

A 

DLH008 

4D 

Trajectory 

Conflict Risc Display 

DLH007 

DLH008 11:58 

T 0 T 1 

Time 

20 Min



SDP/SNET: Alerts Management (I) 

• Short Term Conflict Alert (STCA) 

• Minimum Safe Altitude Warning (MSAW). 

• Restricted Areas & Hazardous Weather Intrusion Detection (APW) 

• Duplicated Mode 3/A Code Warning 

• Duplicated ADS-B/Mode S Callsign Warning 

• ADS-C Integrity Alerts / AGDLP Notification Alerts 

• Route Conformance and Adherence Monitoring (RAM) 

• Cleared Level Adherence Monitoring (CLAM)



Tower Simulators 

Conceived for basic and advanced training as well as development 

of new Airport and Airspace methods and procedures 

Main features 

• System aims at enhancing 

training of TWR/APP/ACC 

Controllers 

• Provides with 2D information 

of air/ground movements 

from : 

• Radars 

• ADS 

• Flight plans 

• External centres 

• CPDLC messages 

• Meteorological and aeronautical 

info 

• 3D images of aerodrome 

• Simultaneous 

TWR/APP/ACC on 2D/3D 

Aerodrome and Air Space 

• Simulator integrates 

• Data processing and Display 

System (DPS): replicates and 

simulates operational 

environment 

• 3D-Aerodrome Visual Image 

System (VIS): image generation 

• Digital Voice and Communication 

Control System (Indra VCS): 

Voice communications



How can Technology improve Safety? 

• Advanced tools for ATCOs 

• Safety nets 

• Simulators for Training 

Allow increase in traffic in complex and adverse environment, 

providing ATCOs with accurate situational awareness and 

efficient safety nets and conflict detection tools to increase safety 

47


INDEX 









48


SESAR Activities in Safety 

Why SESAR? 

Traffic growth cannot be sustained through the current fragmented air navigation services 

organisation and ageing ATM technologies 

49



Why SESAR? 

The Governments of the 27 European States all signed up for the 

Single European Sky policy 

The Single European Sky ATM Research programme is the 

technological pillar of the Single European Sky 

Managed by a Public Private Partnership (SESAR Joint Undertaking), 

the programme is aiming at developing and validating in 8 years the 

technologies and procedures of the future ATM System 

50



Why SESAR? 

Founding Members: 2 

Members : 15 

Associated: 14 

51



Indra, Key Member of SESAR 

• Present since the very first steps of SESAR 

• Takes part in 124 out of 302 projects 

• Co-leads WP 10: 

En Route & Approach ATC Systems 

• Advanced systems in line with WP 10: iTEC 

• Awarded 97% of the projects presented 

• Co-leads WP 12 - Airport Systems 

• Major role in System Wide Information Management (SWIM) - WPs 8 & 14 

• Key contributor to System Development Work Packages 

• Active member of Operational and Transversal Work Packages 

2014-2020 

2005-2008 

2008-2013 

52



SESAR Goals 

• In response to the said increasing demand and the addition of new 

types of air vehicles (i.e. UAVs), the SESAR Programme proposes 

the following objectives: 

Capacity 

Enable up to 3-fold increase in air traffic 

movements whilst reducing delays 

Safety 

Environment 

Cost-Effectiveness 

Improve Safety levels by a 10 factor 

Enable a 10% reduction in the effects flights 

have on the environment 

Halve the total direct European gate-to-gate 

ATM cost per flight 

• It implies the synchronisation of the plans and actions of the different 

stakeholders and the federation of resources in a performance 

partnership for the development and implementation of the required 

improvements throughout Europe 

53



Safety 

SWP 16.1 

P16.1.1 Develop a top-down Accident- 

Incident Model (AIM) and a Safety 

Target Achievement Roadmap (STAR) 

16.1.2 Ensuring ATM with SESAR is 

kept resilient 

Security 

SWP 16.2 

16.2.1 ATM Security management - ATM 

Security Framework 

16.2.2 ATM Security management - 

Security management tools 

WP 16 

TA’s 

Environmental Sustainability 

SWP 16.3 

Human Performance Management System 

SWP 16.4 

16.2.4 ATM Security Risk assessment - 

Security validation process 

16.2.5 Harmonised ATM Security best 

practices 

Human Performance in Automation Support 

SWP 16.5 

TA Support and Coordination Function 

SWP 16.6 

16.6.1 Safety Support & Coordination 

Function 

16.6.2 Security Support & 

Coordination Function 

54


INDEX 









55


Conclusion – Q&A 

How can Technology improve Safety ? 

• Developing Advanced Surface Control Systems in 

Airport Environment 

• Ensuring accurate separations and aircraft 

detection by state of the art Surveillance sensors 

• Providing ATCOs with advanced tools and Safety 

Nets 

• Training Human Resources with real environment 

Simulators 

• Working today on tomorrow new operations 

challenges 

56


Emeric Osmont 

Business Development Manager 

eosmont@indra.es 

Avda. de Bruselas, 35 

28108 Alcobendas 

Madrid - Spain 

T +34 91 480 60 35 

F +34 91 480 60 41 

www.indracompany.com 

57

How can Technology improve Safety? - ACI

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