UFIS Airports Solutions (UFIS-AS) and its partner Dubai Technology Partners LLC (DTP) have successfully completed the expansion of the FIDS in Terminal 2 at Dubai International which went into operation on 30 April 2013.
With the installation of UFIS-AS’s Universal Flight Information Display System (UFIDS), Dubai Airports can now choose from any display supplier that has a PC-based controller running Windows or Linux and easily integrate additional displays into the system itself. Multi-source means that the FIDS can easily incorporate information from other sources such as newsfeeds or the Internet into the display layouts of the FIDS information.
The new FIDS has been installed as part of a necessary expansion and refurbishment of the existing Terminal 2 due to the continued growth of passenger traffic at Dubai International. The existing displays which were part of the UFIS FIDS provided for Terminals 1 and 2 and Concourse C were replaced by 40in and 55in displays with Windows-based controllers which are managed by the UFIDS application.
Through 160 screens, UFIDS provides information to the dedicated and common check-in areas, the gates and the baggage reclaim belts in addition to arrival and departure summary displays. This information is shown in both Arabic and English. The UFIDS Manager client application was included in the delivery which enables the authorized users to modify and design new screen layouts without any knowledge of graphic design.
Screens can be designed to include areas of web content together with the flight information. Thus, videos and flight information can be displayed on the same screen or when flight information is not being displayed the full screen can be used for advertising commercials or infomercials. Other sources of information such as metar data can be obtained and displayed in real-time on the screen.
The basis for the UFIDS is provided by the UFIS AODB which has been operating at Dubai International for over a decade. In addition to the AODB and FIDS, UFIS at Dubai International also includes the Resource Management System used for auto allocation of parking stands and check-in counters.
It also has interfaces with ACL Slot coordinator, SafeGate VDGS, AFTN, IATA Type B messages, NavCanada EFPS, Honeywell AGLCMS, ParkAir Radar and the Baggage Handling System. This means that the UFIS AODB provides the complete flight schedule for the airport and handles updates from the various sources automatically.