ACAMS
Products |
| ACAMS core product The ACAMS product is a computer system providing an integrated and homogenous solution to the basic monitoring and control requirements of an airport tower. The ACAMS product is designed around a fault tolerant and modular architecture which can be scaled to suit the functional and capacity requirements of any civil or military tower. The main functions supported are: Airfield Lighting Control / MET Info Display / AWOS / NavAids Status Monitoring & Control / D-ATIS / VOLMET / Datalink Departure Clearance / Flight Data / Publications / Maps / CAT III Status Panel / AFTN Display / Direction Finder / GPS Time / Tower Cabin Task Lighting / Sun Shade Control / Video Surveillance / Entrance Control / Data logging of all system I/O / Electronic Flight Strips / Alarm Monitoring & Control / System Integration / Consoles / Radio Control Panels / Tower Cabin Interior ACAMS takes signals from the related subsystem and provides the associated information (e.g. wind direction/speed etc.) in a user-friendly way on a touch-input monitor. Control of the related sub-system (e.g. RWY lights on/off) can be carried out by means of touch input directly on the monitor screen or by mouse/keyboard. ACAMS is developed in Norway and have been in flawless operation at several airports since 1999.  The
picture shows a typical working environment with an ACAMS solution.
Two large centrally located 18" LCD touch input displays provide
access to all the facilities required by the air traffic controller
(except for voice communication, the panel at the right).The left monitor shows the MET window, and the right Monitor shows the RWY light control window and pop-up menus for TWR cabin-light control and Window-curtain control NAV-aids status control panel shows only one green indication whenever everything is OK (i.e. ILS, DVOR, NDB's OK) but will automatically expand to indicate errors when applicable. The ACAMS system is made up of COTS components with the main processing being performed by PCs in a client/server configuration. Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) are used to interface to the various external systems. The components are interconnected using a dualised Ethernet network providing a fault tolerant architecture. The system includes a relational database for efficient management of the information stored in the system. The dualised servers are installed in the technical room with the associated Technical Control and Monitoring terminal is also located. Client PC's may be installed either in the tower cabin or in the technical room depending on the space available and the distance between technical room and tower cabin. The PLCs are installed close to the sub-systems being monitored/controlled. ACAMS client monitors are based on COTS equipment allowing the use of the latest state of the art monitors thereby providing the best Human Machine Interface. For real time dynamic information display and real time monitoring functions a distributed client processing architecture is utilised providing high reliability and rapid response time. For static information display a Web architecture is utilised providing for flexible and user friendly search and retrieval of the information in the database. The application software resides on the servers and the clients consist of a standard Web Browser with downloadable plugins The ACAMS software is implemented using a modular and flexible architecture which allows the HMI to be tailored to an individual customers requirements. Each function is typically implemented with a separate window which can be arranged on the user's screen according to his/her preference. These windows may also be placed in containers; making it possible to have a number of functions available in one window. In order to manage windows which need not be always open, a control panel is provided which is normally placed at one side of the screen. This panel is used to open windows, receive alerts, activate operational roles, and may be used to initiate information searches etc. |
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