London to become first city to restore the air traffic control with a digital system

If reports are to be believed, London is all set to replace its air traffic controllers with a remotely operated digital system, if successful, London will become the first UK city to implement such system.

As a substitute of sitting in a tower overlooking the runway, the controllers will be 80 miles (128 km) away, watching live footage from high-definition cameras, reported by BBC recently.

Expected to be completed by 2018, the new system will be experienced for a year before becoming completely ready in 2019. The system is already been tested in Australia, Sweden, Norway and Ireland.

Developed by Saab, a Swedish defence and security company, the  technology has been will be introduced as part of a 350 million pounds development programme to improve the London City Airport which will also embrace an extensive terminal building, easing it to serve two million more passengers a year by 2025.

It will also offer controllers with a 360-degree view of the whole airfield via 14 high-definition cameras and two cameras which are capable to pan, tilt and zoom, reports the BBC.

While the cameras will be sending a live feed via the fibre cables to a new operations room. The room is built at the Hampshire base of Nats, Britain’s air traffic control provider.

Well that’s not all; the London City Airport is also in plans to decommission its traditional tower in 2019 by replacing it with a new 164 ft digital tower.