ACAMS - Airport Tower Systems, ATC Tower Systems, Equipment and Sub-Systems

ACAMS' airport tower systems range from turnkey supply of ATC tower systems and equipment to cost effective individual sub-systems which can be scaled to suit the application. The company can supply the functional and capacity requirements of any civil or military ATC tower or airport tower.

Airport tower and ATC tower monitoring and control system

ACAMS' core product is a computer system providing an integrated and homogenous solution to the basic monitoring and control requirements of an airport tower or ATC tower. The ACAMS product is designed around a fault-tolerant and modular architecture which can be scaled to suit the functional and capacity requirements of any civil or military tower. The main functions supported are:

• Airfield lighting control
• MET info display
• AWOS
• Navigation aids' status monitoring and control
• D-ATIS
• VOLMET
• Datalink departure clearance
• Flight data
• Publications
• Maps
• CAT III status panel
• AFTN display
• Direction finder
• GPS time
• Tower cabin task lighting
• Sunshade control
• Video surveillance
• Entrance control
• Data logging of all system I/O
• Electronic flight strips
• Alarm monitoring and control
• System integration
• Consoles
• Radio control panels
• Tower cabin interior

LCD touch-input displays for air traffic controllers

Two large, centrally located 18in LCD touch-input displays provide access to all the facilities required by the air traffic controller.

ACAMS takes signals from the related subsystem and provides the associated information (e.g. wind direction / speed, etc.) in a user-friendly way on a touch-input monitor. Control of the related sub-system (e.g. RWY lights on / off) can be carried out by means of touch input directly on the monitor screen or by mouse / keyboard.

The left-hand monitor shows the MET window, and the right-hand monitor shows the RWY light-control window and pop-up menus for TWR cabin-light control and Window-curtain control. The navigation aids' status control panel shows one green indication whenever everything is normal (i.e. ILS, DVOR and NDBs) but automatically indicates errors.

Programmable logic controllers and dualised Ethernet network

The ACAMS system is made up of COTS components with the main processing being performed by PCs in a client/server configuration. Programmable logic controllers (PLC) are used to interface to the various external systems. The components are interconnected using a dualised Ethernet network providing a fault-tolerant architecture. The system includes a relational database for efficient management of the information stored in the system.

Technical control and monitoring terminal

The dualised servers are installed in the technical room with the associated technical control and monitoring terminal is also located. Client PCs may be installed either in the tower cabin or in the technical room, depending on the space available and the distance between technical room and tower cabin. The PLCs are installed close to the sub-systems that are being monitored or controlled.

ACAMS' client monitors are based on COTS equipment, allowing the use of the latest state-of-the-art monitors and thus providing the best human-machine interface (HMI).

Dynamic information display and monitoring functions

For real-time dynamic information display and monitoring functions a distributed client processing architecture is utilised, providing high reliability and rapid response time.

For static information display internet architecture is utilised, providing flexible and user-friendly search and retrieval of the information in the database. The application software resides on the servers and the clients consist of a standard internet browser with downloadable plug-ins.

Customisable ATC monitoring and control system

The ACAMS software is implemented using a modular and flexible architecture which allows the HMI to be tailored to an individual customer's requirements.

Each function is typically implemented with a separate window which can be arranged on the user's screen according to his/her preference. These windows may also be placed in containers, making it possible to have a number of functions available in one window.

In order to manage windows which need not be always open, a control panel is provided which is normally placed at one side of the screen. This panel is used to open windows, receive alerts and activate operational roles, and may be used to initiate information searches, etc.

ACAMS systems are developed in Norway, and have been in flawless operation at several airports since 1999.