The Swedish Transport Agency has certified Saab Digital Air Traffic Solutions (SDATS) as an air traffic services provider, enabling the company to conduct digital air traffic control (ATC) within the European Union, SDATS announced yesterday. It “means that we can enable more airports in Sweden and the EU to move up to the next generation of air traffic control,” SDATS chief executive Per Ahl said. “We’re supporting our customers with technical product deliveries, operational expertise, and services.”
Since January 1 SDATS has remotely operated the RTC Sundsvall control center, which operates digital ATC towers at Örnsköldsvik Airport—Sweden’s and the world’s first remotely controlled airport beginning in 2015—and Sundsvall Timrå Airport, which followed about two years later. This year, digital ATC towers at Linköping/Saab Airport and Scandinavian Mountains Airport in Sälen will be controlled remotely from Sundsvall.
Digital ATC airport towers use a camera pylon to reproduce their view and transmit those images to a remote, manned digital ATC center. It’s more economical than building a new or upgrading an existing ATC tower, according to SDATS.