Surface Manager, the airport event detection and monitoring solution

Designed to meet the European requirements for the modernization of European air traffic management systems (SESAR project, technological pillar of the SES program), Surface Manager ("SMAN") is a real-time airport surface surveillance and event detection system.

Interfaced with the airport's ASMGCS system, our software SMAN allows you to locate, visualize and identify aircrafts, helicopters and vehicles moving on the tarmac in real time in a fluid and efficient manner, thanks to its continuous communication with the supervision systems and to its fine configuration.

The ADS-B system allows aircrafts to transmit their position, speed and altitude. This data is processed by SMAN and allows you to track in real time the position and movements of all equipped objects (helicopters, vehicles, St. Andrew's Cross, etc.) within your mapping system.

You visually supervise the operational management of your resources and remain informed in real time of the status of your equipment (such as gateways, guide poles, lighting, logical areas, etc.) in order to evaluate the impacts of events concerning them.

As a supervisory data aggregator, the power of SMAN allows the visualization of different graphical layers based on data from internal and external systems, such as markup, weather, logical zones, RCR, construction sites, obstacles or other GIS. The system also helps you identify FODs, interfaced to your Risk Management Department, and perform cause analysis assistance.

SMAN is a the surface management component within the airport information system, interfacing with ASMGCS, AODB, RMS, A-CDM, EUROCONTROL. Valuable for resource management as well as for the safety of ramp operations, SMAN undoubtedly contributes to the performance of operations.

Thanks to the properties of your preferred mapping zones that we configure with you, proactively trigger alerts or procedures based on events detected by SMAN, through a highly customizable multidimensional automation module:

• Geographic (geofencing)
• Endogenous (e.g. equipment status)
• Exogenous (e.g. weather conditions)

Automate alerts or procedures, especially when :

• an aircraft "blocks" on arrival or departure
• an aircraft had to go around on approach
• a vehicle has been detected near an aircraft ready to take off or in a "closed" area
• the occupancy rate of a particular area reaches a certain threshold
• automatic detection of helicopter rotation

With SMAN's archived event log, you can track segmented or global activity of your resources via real-time KPIs, and leverage the statistical data and post-operational reporting offered by the solution to guide your operational decision making and improve processes at APOC such as, for example, viewing aircraft position occupancy, associated CDM information, and determining an instantaneous occupancy rate.

The granularity of SMAN allows the use of statistics (e.g. taxi time, taxi distance, etc.) and innovative functionalities of the solution, by different user types.

Each airport department involved (APOC, OCS, ACU, etc.) can access, in a permissioned way, its scope of intervention and exploit the relevant KPIs and functionalities in real time.

For example:

• Via a picture wall or a PC, the OCS visualizes all events taking place within the platform
• ACU manage logical zones (opening and closing), and can carry out surveys of the FOD identified on the platform through the mobile application by leveraging the mobile device's camera and geolocation features
• The Risk Management Department can replay the history of an incident (as described further below)
• The ARFF has a global view of the platform and the precise location of its vehicles
• The technical infrastructure services locate their vehicle fleets
• Royalty departments use the replay functionalities and have billing assistance
• Management has access to all real-time events 24/7 through the mobile application

Visually replay past scenarios with the "Replay" feature using the same event log to:

• Understand recorded events, for example, in the case of a claim or of an incident analysis after the fact (e.g.: aircraft or ground vehicle incident, FOD);
• Provide detailed invoices, following measured and time-stamped interventions, inherent to particular events, or to the use of some of your resources (ex: helicopter rotation).

An emergency situation has been reported by SMAN, and requires you to go to the incident scene? Leave your control post and keep control of the operation by following the situation in real time on your smartphone or tablet while communicating any instructions you may have.

You are interested in surface management, you have questions about your field of application?
Contact us now for a demonstration of our innovative solution Surface Manager.