Saab Sensis A-SMGCS Now Operational at Ben Gurion International Airport

The Israel Airports Authority is now using Saab Sensis’ Advanced-Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS) for the safe operation of aircraft maneuvering on the surface of Ben Gurion International Airport. The A-SMGCS fuses multiple surveillance technologies for a comprehensive view of Ben Gurion’s runways and taxiways and provides proactive safety alerts to the controllers for runway incursion prevention at Israel’s capital airport.

The Saab Sensis A-SMGCS fuses surveillance data from Saab Sensis multilateration sensors, Surface Movement Radar (SMR) and VeeLo NextGen™ vehicle locators as well as an existing ASR-10 radar for the location and identification of all aircraft and vehicles operating on the airport’s runways and taxiways. Further, the surveillance data is integrated with Saab Sensis’ Safety Logic conflict detection and alerting algorithms to provide controllers with advanced visual and audible warning of potential runway incursion situations.

“The Saab Sensis A-SMGCS gives our controllers the precise situational awareness needed to safely and efficiently manage operations at Ben Gurion,” said Yair Gannot, Director of Safety Aviation, the Israel Airports Authority. “The system also provides us with the industry’s most advanced conflict detection and alerting software for warnings of potential runway incursions.”

At Ben Gurion, the A-SMGCS interfaces with the airport’s Airfield Ground Lighting (AGL) system and integrates AGL safety alerts into Saab Sensis’ Safety Logic for additional runway incursion prevention. The A-SMGCS interfaces with several Flight Planning Databases to provide controllers with vital flight information for more informed decision making. All information is displayed on Saab Sensis’ Controller Working Positions and all events, including voice commands, are recorded for future playback.

“Ben Gurion’s A-SMGCS is a very comprehensive solution that integrates a number of technologies, systems and data into a single, powerful controller tool,” said Ken Kaminski, senior vice president and general manager of Saab Sensis. “The system is also ready to meet the future needs of Ben Gurion, such as airport expansion or a collaborative decision making solution, with extensible surveillance technologies and data distribution capabilities.”

Saab Sensis A-SMGCS is in operation or being deployed to more than 40 of the busiest airports around the world, including Australia, Hong Kong, India and Saudi Arabia and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X (ASDE-X) program.