The ATRiCS automatic routing and guidance system SMAN (surface manager) has now been operating successfully at Incheon International Airport, Korea for more than two years.
As an integrated component of the Honeywell A-SMGS level four solution, SMAN is used by the controllers at Incheon to guide pilots unambiguously to their final positions. The system automatically assigns a taxi route to each aircraft and dynamically switches the airfield lighting segments and stop bars along that route. During low visibility operations, the use of the system is mandatory.
ATRiCS CEO, Wolfgang Hatzack explains: “SMAN provides the core functions for lifting an A-SMGCS to levels three and four and given that it changes the way controllers work, we are delighted to see how smoothly the system has made its way into the operating procedures in the Incheon Tower.”
The ATRiCS surface manager integrates the traditionally separate worlds of surveillance systems on the one hand and guidance systems on the other. It monitors and analyses the traffic situation and generates proposals for traffic coordination. At Incheon ATC clearances are executed by the Honeywell lighting system only, but SMAN has successfully demonstrated additional capabilities during field trials at Frankfurt Airport to communicate guidance information via data link to an onboard system.