Un software created by Leonardo it will help pilots who lose their way in British airspace get home safely. Reading this news, many will think of the case of the Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala, who died last January while crossing the English Channel aboard a piper, in an attempt to reach Great Britain and to be precise Cardiff, his new team.
From today, to avoid future tragedies in similar cases there is Leonardo's Italian technology: the self-triangulation software put in place by the group led by Alessandro Profumo it is now operational at the NATS Emergency and Rescue Unit (“Distress and Diversion cell”), the British air navigation service provider.
The operational unit is manned by RAF personnel 24 hours a day every day and is the only control center dedicated to aeronautical emergencies in the world. Operators continuously monitor the international aeronautical frequencies dedicated to distress calls and are ready to react instantly. All emergencies occurring in British airspace are therefore controlled and supervised by this center which deals with civil, military and private aviation throughout the United Kingdom.
The mapping made with self-triangulation is used to locate aircraft whose pilots have lost their way. Controllers can then provide useful information to pilots allowing aircraft to re-enter airways and safely reach their destinations. Leonardo has also planned a support service for 15 years, to periodically update the maps, assess safety and manage product obsolescence. The software works by receiving broadcasts on military or civilian emergency frequencies and geo-locating the signal and its direction on a map of UK Airspace.
The operators they can thus contact the pilots and use the map, detailed down to street level, to provide directions using a common reference. To ensure maps are always up-to-date, the software can import data from a variety of sources using standard, widely used, networked cartography to ensure that operators can view the aircraft in relation to any new urban and road developments or details such as power lines, antennas and other recognizable elements such as solar parks.
Leonardo, however, boasts beyond 60 years of experience in the air traffic management sector and fully aware of the evolution of urban mobility. To maintain this superiority, the Company is already developing the latest technologies including drone flight management and remote control towers. Leonardo is a leading provider for air navigation service operators and offers a product portfolio that includes standard and tailor-made solutions, as well as systems and services in hand.
Internationally Leonardo has designed, built and installed more than 300 air traffic management and control centres, 80 simulators for advanced controller training and more than 700 primary and secondary ATC surveillance radars.
