ERA has completed the extension of its MLAT surface guidance system at Cairo International Airport, Egypt

The Egyptian National Air Navigation Service Company (NANSC), has placed its trust in the ERA multilateration systems again. ERA has recently completed the extension of its surface guidance system at the Cairo International Airport. Currently 37 ERA Multi-Sensor Surveillance (MSS) ground-based stations and 19 pieces of SQUID vehicle tracking units are in operation there to ensure the safety of the important hub in Middle East North Africa region.

Five years ago, Cairo airport awarded the programme for safety to Holland Institute of Traffic Technology, HITT (since 2012 HITT is owned by defence and security company Saab), as the prime contractor for the Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS) integrating with the ERA network of MSS sensors and SQUID by ERA vehicle tracking units after an international tender. Recently the system has undergone the extension by ERA, again together with Saab as a Prime contractor. The system is in successful operations from 2011.

The project was originally initiated as a result of Cairo international Airport’s rapid growth and the inability of controllers to maintain complete visual surveillance across the entire airport surface.

The airport’s mission has been aimed at becoming a passenger and cargo hub for the Middle East North Africa region (MENA). In order to enhance the safe and expeditious flow of traffic at the airport, NANSC ordered an A-SMGCS with a multilateration system which incorporates vehicle tracking. A-SMGCS solution implemented at Cairo airport was provided by HITT in co-operation with ERA and went operational in 2011.

In 2016 another extension of ERA´s Multi-sensor Surveillance System was implemented, currently with 37 ground stations covering the approximately 37 square kilometres of the airport. There are also 19 SQUID vehicle tracking units by ERA functioning to support the surface traffic surveillance. A unique feature of this implementation is its reliance on a network of Motorola Canopy wireless links to convey positional data from ground stations to central processing using an encryption algorithm.