Airservices Australia and Thales deliver air traffic management enhancements

ACACIA RIDGE, Australia, 31 Dec. 2009. Airservices Australia and Thales delivered major performance and safety enhancements to Australia's Air Traffic Management (ATM) system. The enhancements, known as TAAATS V12, are part of an ongoing evolution strategy designed to take advantage of new technologies and industry standards.

"This major software upgrade has taken a number of years of work by both organizations and adds numerous safety and efficiency benefits to Australia's ATM system," says Greg Russell, chief executive officer of Airservices Australia

TAAATS V12 encompasses enhancements to support the introduction of new radar surveillance tracking , QNH processing, safety-net monitoring, and radar bypass services in order to:

- support reception of data from barometric pressure (QNH) sensors received through Airservices Australia's new IP network;
- support reception of Aeronautical Information Package (AIP) data from the National Aeronautical Information Processing System (NAIPS) received through the IP network;.
- establish a platform for the introduction of future safety improvements achievable through the processing of down-linked data available through Mode S radar and Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) ground station systems;
- support safety improvements achievable through improvements in radar tracking accuracy;
- support safety improvements achievable through improvements in fail-safe operations and degraded operational modes; and
- achieve safety improvements through improvements in radar.

There were also several enhancements to existing components, to support ongoing operational improvements.

A large multinational team of Thales engineers developed and modified more than 1.3 million lines of code, implementing a total of 51 enhancements into an existing operational environment. The rollout was completed in early December 2009 following a staged commissioning process to multiple sites across Australia.

"We have worked very closely with Airservices Australia to successfully deliver this complex and challenging upgrade," says Chris Jenkins, managing director of Thales Australia. "Our extensive ATM expertise in Australia, combined with our international experience delivering air traffic management systems to over 50 countries, enables us to meet a wide variety of customer requirements, as well as the complex technological challenges involved in operational upgrades."

Airservices Australia and Thales have made several upgrades to Australia's ATM system since The Australian Advanced Air Traffic System (TAAATS) was commissioned in March 2000. Airservices annually manages 4 million domestic and international flights that carry 63 million passengers, and covers 11 percent of the world's surface.