Highlights from World ATM & the Top 5 Observations in ATC Right Now

This year, the Evans team once again traveled to Madrid, Spain to attend the largest ATC show in the world. We were excited to participate as we knew there were going to be many people in attendance. It turned into the busiest live ATC event held since 2019!

Click to jump down in this post if you are interested in the Top 5 Observations in the ATC market.

World Air Traffic Management Congress

The 2022 World ATM floorspace was busy, and we were pleased to be able to meet many industry professionals in person! With so many people from different sections of the industry in attendance, we made sure to learn something from everyone we spoke to in order to gain a bigger idea of what the ATC industry is trending towards.

This year, World ATM focused on the unique challenges the industry is currently facing with a surge of travelers who are flying now that many countries' borders have opened. It is a unique challenge the industry has not faced before, and many speakers were ready to address it.

Virtual Reality for ATC Tower Design Visualization

Evans Consoles exhibited and demonstrated our Virtual Reality Design Tool. At Evans, we provide VR services to create our solutions in a digital space. We provide this service as we know it is important for clients to fully understand what the future of their ATC facility will look like fully finished.

Our Virtual Reality Design Tool allows our clients to visualize our solutions as if it is right in front of them. Our demonstrations at World ATM gave our booth visitors a better idea of what we are capable of for any ATC Control Tower, Area Control Center, or Remote Tower. Customers really connected to the capabilities we demonstrated using our VR Design Tool.

Customers can use this technology to validate sightlines within the ATC facility and even exterior to Control Towers. All aspects of the environment are evaluated, allowing end users to better understand proposed solutions, assess risks, and compare various solution options.

It was a busy Conference – The Evans Team met with a wide range of customers. We were happy to meet so many of you at the show. We cannot wait for next year, at a new venue by a new organizer! We hope to see you in Geneva, Switzerland, at Air Space World 2023 by CANSO.

Evans Consoles Top 5 Observations in Air Traffic Control

What do we see in the ATC Industry? Everyone is really wanting to return to face-to-face meetings, conferences and working sessions.  Thankfully, technology has enabled many aspects to keep working over the last few years, but nearly universally, everyone indicated that face-to-face meetings are still the best when exchanging ideas and discussing new and innovative ideas.  This was obvious when so many were pleased and excited to be attending World ATM in person.

What are the top 5 trends and observations in the ATC marketplace?

1. More visualization software including Virtual Reality (VR) - When building an ATC control room you want to be sure your sightlines are 100% correct. At Evans, we help by creating a VR experience of the proposed solution. End users can validate the solution and make sure it is "right" the first time. VR can be presented to users on-site (no special travel required) and encourages maximum participation by all end users (greater customer understanding at all levels)
2. Remote "towers" (or Digital Towers) are gaining popularity - Our solutions are custom-made to fit new technology entering the ATC space including both ATC Towers and Remote Air Traffic Control Rooms. These technical solutions offer tremendous flexibility to users allowing ATC operations to support traffic flows when maybe none previously existed. Remote Towers leverage technology advances and require solutions from the console provider to incorporate all of the technology seamlessly.
3. Increase in Air Traffic across the USA - Overall, Air Traffic is rebounding faster than anyone expected. While traffic levels vary somewhat by region, they are approaching pre-COVID 2019 levels! This has generated much discussion about preparation by ANSPs and how best to respond to increased demand efficiently.
4. What about funding? There is much debate within the industry about funding during challenging times such as COVID over the last 2 ½ years. Privatized Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) have really struggled, and many hard budget decisions have had to be made. Conversely, government-funded organizations may not have struggled as much with budgets, but are constantly under scrutiny to be efficient and effective. This appears to be a discussion that will continue for quite some time – there are no easy answers.
5. Displays continue to increase in size and performance - More and more we see display sizes growing larger. Additionally, more information is being placed on these displays. This creates challenges for controllers (what can be seen and when do we get to an “overload” of information). KVM solution providers are offering even more capabilities – which adds even more information to the display – generating more questions about what and how best to use this technical capability.

Thanks for reading and please contact Evans to speak with Dave Rivers about the ATC market. Whether you have questions about the contents of this post or about your own Air Traffic Control situation do not hesitate to reach out.