Advancing remote air traffic control tower deployment in the United States

Introduction

Remote air traffic control towers, sometimes referred to as virtual towers or digital towers, are being deployed in increasing numbers around the world. Rather than building a tall concrete structure with a control cab on top to house the controllers for visual views of aircraft movements, a steel tower (or several towers) is mounted with an array of video cameras and communications equipment. Those cameras and sensors feed information securely to controllers in a ground-level building housing the control room, often in a location remote from the airfield. Instead of the traditional out-the-window view, controllers have panoramic video displays of the airfield and its environs, including identifying individual aircraft with tags displayed on-screen. This allows them to continuously monitor traffic without turning their head or standing, which is critical for safe and efficient air traffic management.

Remote towers provide the ability to serve low-activity airports from locations where controllers live or desire to live, rather than requiring staff relocations. Management of multiple remote towers can be conducted from a single facility known as a remote tower center.

Regardless of how these technologies are deployed, traffic procedures are unchanged from those used in traditional tower operations. While controllers working in a remote tower center can be certified to handle traffic at multiple airports, they only control traffic at one airport at a time. This allows for control of a particular airport to be easily transferred to a second controller as the need arises. As a result, remote tower technology has the potential to maximize utilization of the limited national pool of certified controllers.

The United States is not alone in facing difficulties in attracting and retaining staff to operate control towers, especially those located far from population centers. But many air navigation service providers have begun adopting remote towers, and they have found that the digital working environments supporting multiple airports are attractive to younger prospective recruits. And by increasing controller situational awareness, this technology also reduces workload and stress, helping to retain these highly trained and specialized employees.

Significant cost savings can also be realized. Construction costs for remote towers are a fraction of those for conventional brick-and-mortar towers. When several low-activity airports are controlled from a single remote tower center, air navigation service providers can realize significant staff and operating cost savings. Importantly, this does not reduce the demand for controllers nationwide, but it does mean that existing and new controllers can be employed more productively.

New airspace entrants, such as electric vertical takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) aircraft operating advanced air mobility (AAM) services, already plan to make use of remote/digital tower technology for vertiport infrastructure. The AAM service model is expected to leverage smaller airports, so implementing remote towers at those airports can support development of technology and procedures for more robust utilization of this proven technology.

The challenge in the United States is that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in recent years has been unenthusiastic and inconsistent about remote/digital tower technology. Congress has attempted to spur the agency to act, although progress to date has been minimal.

This brief makes the case for embracing remote/digital towers in the United States.

Part 2 discusses FAA’s original research into remote tower technology.

Part 3 surveys the global success of remote/digital towers.

Part 4 discusses remote tower development in the United States.

And Part 5, shown below, concludes with recommendations for policymakers.

Conclusion and recommendations

Remote tower technology has been proven and can provide air traffic control services to several small airports from a single facility. A controller would monitor and direct traffic at only one airport at a time, but would be certified for several aerodromes. This would make more productive use of available controllers, allow redundant staffing during low-traffic periods, and allow for consolidated facilities to be located in areas desirable to current controllers and new hires. Compared to new or replacement conventional air traffic control towers, there are significant capital and operating cost advantages.

A secondary but important benefit is that the successful implementation of remote tower centers would be an important step in providing additional digital technology and services for air traffic facilities throughout the National Airspace System, NAS. Digitalization is key to continuing improvements in system efficiency and communication with NAS users.

Internationally, air navigation service providers are developing additional uses for this technology, including at very large airports.

FAA is sensitive to ongoing criticism about the technological advances and deployments made by other air navigation service providers and often emphasizes the higher complexity of the U.S. NAS. While it is true that the United States has some of the most congested and complex activity near major metropolitan areas, dozens of small U.S. airports have relatively simple, low-volume operations that can benefit from this technology.

Many advancements that the FAA needs to make are complex and must be done carefully and step by step. Deploying remote/digital tower technology, initially at small U.S. airports, is a logical starting place. The technology is proven, and successful procedures have been published and deployed for nearly a decade.

As with the prior FAA tests using virtual tower equipment, once anyone (especially controllers, but even laypeople) sees an installation, they realize that this technology can provide significant support to air traffic controllers and to the National Airspace System writ large.

FAA senior management should have a technology plan for remote/digital towers and remote tower centers that envisions the logical next steps in a rollout in the NAS. To facilitate a holistic view of the possibilities, FAA staff should conduct site visits to remote tower centers in Norway and Sweden. FAA staff should also review the simulations of the planned digital tower deployments at Singapore and Al Maktoum airports.

To advance near-term deployment in the United States, the FAA should consider:

• Developing a new remote tower center to manage multiple small airports;
• Testing and certification of multiple technology vendors;
• Conducting field pilots, including system design approval, at sponsor airports as contemplated in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024; and
• Reviewing European Union standards for (partial) applicability in the United States.

FAA is on a path to support the development of remote towers, and these efforts should be finalized and standards issued as soon as practicable. Congress should continue its encouragement and oversight to ensure FAA remains on this path to success. Ongoing attention on air traffic control modernization from the Office of the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Transportation should be sustained, with a particular focus on the near-term benefits that could be realized from proven remote tower technology.

Full Policy Brief: Advancing Remote Tower Deployment in the United States

The post Advancing remote air traffic control tower deployment in the United States appeared first on Reason Foundation.

Source: https://reason.org/policy-brief/advancing-remote-air-traffic-control-tower-deployment-united-states/