Aireon and Searidge Technologies announced a partnership on Mar. 10 to integrate satellite-routed position data from aircraft into Searidge’s “digital tower” platform for large airports.
Aireon’s space-based automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) data will become one of the multiple data sources that feed into Searidge’s artificial intelligence-enabled digital tower system that presents information to controllers and airport operators.
The companies signed a memorandum of understanding in June 2019 to begin collaborating.
Ottawa, Canada-based Searidge supplies both digital and remote tower systems. Remote towers are typically associated with low-volume, small airports that can be controlled from a distance at another airport or remote tower center.
A digital tower serves larger airports, creating a situational display from data sources including air traffic management, surveillance and weather systems. A digital tower is a cost-effective alternative to building a new air traffic control tower, according to Searidge, which has provided systems used in trials at Hong Kong International Airport and Singapore’s Changi Airport, as well as for a research laboratory at London Heathrow.
The Aireon system, which entered commercial operation in early 2019, uses receivers carried on Iridium Next satellites to capture positional signals from ADS-B transponder-equipped aircraft flying below.
“We have partnered with Aireon to make space-based ADS-B data seamlessly available to our customers,” Searidge chief architect Jean-Sebastien Meloche said. “We look forward to working with Aireon to be the first to offer space-based air traffic surveillance as part of a digital tower solution.”
