Stuttgart Airport deploys 135 ERA SQUID vehicle tracking units for surface management

Stuttgart Airport recently announced the selection of ERA company, the leading supplier of surveillance and ATM equipment worldwide, to deliver 135 vehicle-mounted SQUID transmitters as its surface vehicle tracking system. The contract was awarded to ERA thanks to good experience with the project of the ERA surface surveillance system NEO for Stuttgart airport, which has been currently installed.

The airport authority evaluated all the market vehicle tracking products, focusing mainly on reliability and automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) transmitting capabilities and a selected ERA squitter beacon SQUID system as the best performing vehicle location technology. ERA already has its technologies installed at several other airports in Germany; in Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Nuremberg, Braunschweig, Köln, Bonn, Düsseldorf and Berlin.

The ERA-designed SQUID self-contained vehicle tracking unit improves airport safety by continuously broadcasting the exact position of all ground vehicles, including tugs, de-icing equipment, and fire and rescue vehicles. By using permanently mounted or portable ADS-B squitter beacon transmitters, SQUID minimizes the risk of safety vehicle collisions, especially during low visibility conditions.

There are now ca 8,000 SQUIDs in use at several dozen airports on all continents. The success of this system is shown by its history of flawless operations at some of the world’s busiest airports, including London Heathrow, Amsterdam Schiphol, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur or Singapore.

The design of this small and lightweight equipment ensures easy integration and interoperability with any multilateration or ADS-B system based on the Mode S Extended Squitter datalink. As an important part of every advanced surface movement guidance and control system (A-SMGCS), SQUID improves overall situational awareness and safety and fully supports the concept of "Area Management", i.e. it allows operators to define discrete boundaries outside of which the SQUID unit stops transmission. These features give controllers a reliable tool for superior coverage and more precise vehicle identification.