Environment
- Emissions Regulation. Air Transport IT specialist SITA announces development of a scaleable global solution to comply with Emissions Trading Schemes (ETS) for the airline industry. SITA’s Aircraft Emissions Manager, is the world’s first monitoring, reporting, and verification software tool to measure accurately carbon emissions from aircraft operators, according to a company press release. Four airlines from the Middle East, the U.S., and Europe are testing the Aircraft Emissions Manager; www.sita.aero.
Runway safety
- FOD Detection. Vancouver International Airport (YVR) is the first commercial airport in the world to install a day and night camera to its existing Tarsier Foreign Object Debris (FOD) radar detection system, says a company press release. The new camera will upgrade YVR’s 24-hour automated runway debris detection system in all weather conditions by providing visual confirmation of any potentially dangerous objects on the runway. Tarsier’s high-resolution radar and advanced day/night camera work in tandem to provide continuous runway monitoring and safety. The camera’s illuminator helps produce FOD images in all light levels; www.QinetiQ.com.
- Surface Detection. Sensis Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X (ASDE-X), a runway incursion detection and alerting system, is now operational at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Seventeen of the 35 airports to receive the technology through FAA’s ASDE-X program are now operational, providing air traffic controllers with increased situational awareness of traffic on the airport’s runways and taxiways and an advanced conflict detection and alerting capability to improve runway safety, says the company. ASDE-X combines surface movement radar, ultilateration and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) to provide controllers with accurate, real-time position and identification data of all aircraft and vehicles on the airport surface; www.sensis.com.
Security
- Blast Suppression. Kirintec Limited’s new REBUS Inhibition Blanket combines a V50 rated blast suppression blanket with a low powered RF inhibitor, or jammer, to prevent the remote intitiation of a Remote Controlled Improvised Explosive Device (RCIED). The new REBUS has a special layer of fabric that screens out radio signals, and a low-powered jammer which is powerful enough to prevent a radio-controlled bomb from being detonated remotely; www.kirintec.com.
- Millimeter Wave Technology. Millivision Technologies introduces Automatic Threat Detection (ATD) and video imaging software that shields personal privacy from airport screening officers, says the company. ATD turns millimeter wave imaging into a video image so a security screener sees the subject clothed while the presence and location of concealed threats are highlighted on the screen in red. Millivision uses passive millimeter wave technology that does not use any radiation; www.millivision.com.
Software
- PCI Compliance. Horizon Business Concepts, creator of the business management software TotalFBO, has become compliant under the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Council’s new industry security standards for processing credit cards. The announcement comes as major oil companies begin enforcing deadlines over the next several months on FBOs and other service providers to cease the use of non-PCI compliant software and hardware. According to a company press release, the TotalFBO product is the first industry business management software program to become compliant; www.totalfbo.com.
- Handheld Technology. The AOPA Airports application is now available for Blackberry and Windows Mobile. The application, which can be downloaded from the AOPA website, displays FBO and services information, as well as airport diagrams, in a convenient and comprehensive format, says AOPA. The technology is made possible by Hilton Software’s WingX which features a comprehensive Airport Directory, route planning, FARs, and more; www.aopa.org.
Terminal Technology
- CUPPS. Continental Airlines is now boarding passengers at Orlando International Airport using CUPPS (Common Use Passenger Processing System) technology. With this installment and the WestJet deployment in January, SITA has now fulfilled one of the main requirements for CUPPS to be approved as the new standard for passenger processing by airlines and airports — the successful deployment of the technology with two airlines out of the same airport. SITA’s CUPPS solution is inter-operable with other CUPPS platforms, meaning the application can run on multiple vendor platforms, therefore eliminating the cost to the airline of certifying the application on each platform. SITA’s AirportConnect Open platform is the only fully-integrated, field-tested, common-use check-in and boarding platform capable of supporting CUPPS, legace CUTE, and CUSS (Common Use Self Service) kiosk applications; www.sita.aero.
