2009 ATC Global Awards

Service Provision Award (for the contribution to safe and efficient airspace management) Winner - ASPIRE partnership The Asia and South Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions (ASPIRE) partnership includes the FAA, Airservices Australia and Airways New Zealand. The partners have pledged to promote procedures and technologies to develop shared performance measurements on emissions. Between September 2008 and November 2008, three ASPIRE test flights demonstrated reductions in fuel and carbon emissions as a result of green procedures.

Industry Award (to reflect a significant contribution by equipment suppliers) Winner Boeing Boeings work on Tailored Arrivals (TA) enables aircraft to carry out continuous descents under constrained airspace conditions by integrating advanced air and ground automation through digital datalink. Most recently, Boeing led design activity to extend TA to airports in Miami and Los Angeles, and in-service trials with innovative ground automation to support TA will take place in May 2009 at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

Contribution to European ATM Award Winner - ATM FAB CE FAB-CE is a Functional Airspace Block initiative involving the ANSPs of Austria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia. A declaration of intent was signed in June 2008, and on 18 November a framework agreement was signed to establish working arrangements and prepare a formal memorandum of understanding.

Enabling Technology Award (for contribution to enhanced capacity and safety) Winner - Kazaeronavigatsia and Lockheed Martin Kazaeronavigatsia has since the mid-1990s sought to upgrade the ATM infrastructure in Kazakhstan. The Kazakh national ATM system will ultimately comprise four area control centres in addition to multiple terminal and remote tower systems. Initiatives to date with Lockheed Martin include the modernization of the Aktobe Area Control Centre and the introduction there of an Omnyx air-defence system.

Thales Emerging Technology Award Winner - Xsight Systems FODetect from Xsight Systems is an automated FOD detection and airside surface monitoring system that combines electrooptical and radar technology to perform continuous automatic FOD detection on airport runways and taxiways. Launched in September 2008, FODetect has undergone extensive testing by the FAA at Boston Logan International Airport in Boston.

All the nominations were of an extremely high standard, highlighting the advances across the air traffic control sector and demonstrating the latest technological solutions available today. The winners represent the best achievements by industry players over the past year. The judges made their selections from nominations including flight efficiency programmes, safety initiatives and technical developments aimed at making flying safer and greener in the future.

Innovation Award (for enterprises that have raised ATM performance) Winner - QinetiQ Airport Technologies The Tarsier automated foreign object debris (FOD) detection system from QinetiQ Airport Technologies went live at Vancouver International Airport in early 2007; in June 2008, BAA selected Tarsier for London Heathrow. Other airports using or evaluating Tarsier include Dubai International, Doha International, and Providence Rhode Island. Latest statistics from Vancouver show that Tarsier is detecting 87 per cent of total FOD finds on the north runway and 81 per cent on the south.

Future Systems Award (for developing next-generation technology) Winner - MUAC and Indra Sistemas MUAC on 12 December 2008 began using a new flight data processing system (FDPS) developed by Indra Sistemas. The FDPS is the first to comply with European specifications set in 2000. Featuring next-generation technologies such as increased automation, controller-pilot datalink and medium-term conflict detection, it can handle triple the traffic of its predecessor while supporting data exchange across all sectors and with adjacent ATC centres.