Reliable CitectSCADA supports air traffic control safety and reduces operation costs at Air Navigation Services in the Czech Republic.
Situation
The key objective of the State Company Air Navigation Services (ANS), of the Czech Republic is to maintain a safe air traffic flow in the dynamically changing industry of civil aviation and international air transport. ANS provides air traffic services in the airspace of Czech Republic including Prague-Ruzyne, Ostrava-Mosnov, Brno-Turany and Karlovy Vary airports, on a commercial basis. These locations, along with civil transport airports are components of the Flight Area Praha. ANS must adhere to strict legal regulations and international civil aviation standards. More than 2,000 flights every 24 hours transit the Prague Flight Information Region (FIR). The number of flights in peak hours can reach 45 in any one sector of the Area Control Center (ACC). These figures call for reliable and redundant systems.
Challenge
An essential component of operating an Air Traffic Management (ATM) system successfully is monitoring each function and sharing information throughout the site. This connection is known as a Control and Monitoring System (CMOS). The CMOS utilized in the Czech Republic is a state-of-the-art monitoring system. In the past, individual ATM systems required their own CMOS, which meant a higher number of operators were needed. It also meant there were a large number of data sources that needed to be integrated. To increase efficiencies and reduce operation costs whilst maintaining the highest safety, the ANS decided to implement a single operating interface. The interface would tightly integrate all ATM systems with the customer information system whilst supporting and connecting maintenance staff and operators to relevant information throughout the organization. With its proven SCADA technology, Citect and ELVAC IPC were chosen to implement this project.
Solution
The CMOS project aimed to provide operators with an integrated display, enabling an overview of all ATM systems with access to individual systems’ functions. ELVAC SOLUTIONS, Citect Integration Partner in the Czech Republic integrated the CMOS System in a way which ensured communication with a number of ATM tools through a variety of communication protocols. The main objectives for the integrated CMOS were decided by ANS managers and end-users prior to and during system preparation:
- Easily expandable distributed system with graphical user interface that serves as a replacement to the HP OpenView
- Unified user interface for the monitoring and control of all ATM systems
- Global access to all Czech international airport’s information
- Transfer of information to a plant site network
- Tight integration with Technical Information System (TIS), which is the system that provides engineers and operators with information needed for maintenance schedules, rules, principles and permissions to disable the ATM systems
- Reduced costs and standardization of air safety
CMOS is based on the CitectSCADA platform utilizing the Microsoft Windows 2003 operating system. A Microsoft SQL server acts as a data store. The system architecture consists of a pair of redundant CitectSCADA Servers used for alarms, trends and reports, and 8 redundant communication servers located at regional Czech Republic airports. The communication between the nodes is provided by the ANS data network. The majority of devices communicate with CMOS by means of SNMP protocol.
To distinguish between different systems, modules and functioning status, colors were use
- green - representing full availability
- yellow - for non-availability
- red - for malfunctions, which can be traced to the application level and quickly isolated to address
The client stations located in individual regions have access to all information in the system. Level of access is determined by predetermined access rights. Users log in using ID badge and location, (e.g. Technical room). The system is automatically configured and data belonging to respective logins are displayed.
CitectReports, which is an easy-to-use reporting tool, seamlessly connects, transfers and publishes data from multiple disparate systems. This allows process and maintenance engineers to improve production reporting and simultaneously enables users to access the data through a web interface to process the data. This capability is used to gather statistical information about individual system operation and allows evaluation of ATM systems to ensure operational competence, efficiency and safety.
Terminal Services provided through Microsoft Terminal Server and Citrix Metaframe enable remote access to the system through the attachment of Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) devices.
Technical Information System (TIS) was integrated as an essential component of CMOS in 2006.
Terminal Services provided through Microsoft Terminal Server and Citrix Metaframe enable remote access to the system through the attachment of Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) devices.
Technical Information System (TIS) was integrated as an essential component of CMOS in 2006.
Benefits
CitectSCADA was chosen due to its ability to meet the project objectives set by the ANS. In addition, Citect CADA was able to provide the following benefits which ANS sought from an integrated system for the control and monitoring of ATM systems:
- Continuous monitoring
- Distribution of relevant data throughout the organization
- General ATM Systems overview
- Reduced number of operations staff required to monitor ATM systems
- Improved decision-making ability
Products and technologies
- MS .Net 2.0
- MS SQL Server 2005
- CitectSCADA, CitectSCADA Reports