Zurich Airport and Skyguide Select Airbus ProSky to Optimise ILS Protection Areas

Airbus ProSky, the Airbus Air Traffic Management (ATM) subsidiary, was selected by Zurich Airport and Swiss Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP) Skyguide, to optimise the Instrument Landing System (ILS) protection areas of one of the airport's three runways.

Zurich Airport and Skyguide have selected ELISE services (Exact Landing Interference Simulation Environment) as the best solution to precisely simulate and optimize the critical and sensitive areas of the new localizer antenna for A380 and 747 operations for its ICAO CATIII runway.The analysis will also assess the possible gains in terms of size of protection areas by using different localizer antenna systems.

Mr Jann Döbelin, Head of Planning and Engineering at Zurich Airport states: "The smaller the protection areas are, the less limitations applies to runway capacity, which is key for any large airports." Mr. Hervé Demule, Head of ILS Product Center at Skyguide adds: "We expect that the results delivered by ELISE will bring Cat III Holding Points closer to the runway and reduce the Runway Occupancy Time in Low Visibility, thus adding additional capacity."

ELISE services were initially developed by the Airbus business nursery from the expertise of Airbus Engineering, EADS Innovation Works and ENAC (the French Aeronautic University). Airbus ProSky is now developing the services as part of their integrated ATM portfolio. ELISE services offer a change in accuracy and reliability on localizer and glide path signal predictions compared to existing tools, by modelling the airport environment in 3D.

"We are very proud that the value brought by our software is recognized by the expert community," says Charles Champion, Head of Engineering at Airbus. "The results from ELISE software are being used by ICAO in charge of updating the ICAO Annex 10 - Radio Navigation Aids. ELISE results are indeed promising when you acknowledge that it can be used to assess the impact on the ILS signal of any obstacle like an aircraft, a crane or a new terminal."

Expansion projects for new building become more and more critical, because of the lack of available space and the cost of acquiring new fields. ELISE service will allow the best use of the terrain close to the runway with a stealthy innovative facade developed by EADS (mother company of Airbus) Innovation Works' division. This customized stealthy facade removes the disturbances caused by the building on the localizer signal, which allows the delivery of construction permits for large and high buildings in close proximity to the runway. Airbus has already used this technology for the new A350 XWB final assembly line building in Toulouse constructed in 2012, adjacent to the main airport. Airbus ProSky will now propose this validated technology to worldwide land-constrained airports