The air traffic organization Austro Control (ACG) meets all the requirements of a modern air traffic management. In 1998 the ACG was awarded “Europe’s best air traffic control” by the European airlines alliance.
Salzburg’s air traffic control is also supplied with the latest equipment, since summer 2001 a new radar station at the Haunsberg is in operation.
In the course of their business plan MOVA, Austro Control launched an extensive transformation process enabling a major improvement of productivity and efficiency in air traffic control, which still provides the same safety standards and punctuality. The ACG is also a pioneer in Europe regarding satellite based navigation which is now becoming used for departure routes.
Support from Space
The air traffic control mainly operates with ground based systems. At this point of time they are by far more accurate than satellite based systems. The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), a system based on satellite navigation, is already applied nowadays during the takeoff and airborne phase, but it is not accurate enough for the approach.
GNNS has revolutionized the air traffic control. 24 satellites on six levels orbit around the earth forming a net around the globe. At any time and from any place – except from the two polar caps – it is possible to home on at least four satellites. Each satellite emits coded signals giving information about the position as well the time of the emission. Based on the signal propagation delay between transmitter and receiver it is possible via velocity of propagation to determine the distance to the satellite. If four satellites are homed on at the same time, it is possible to determine the position in real time with an accuracy of 50 to 100 meters – adequate enough for the take off and airborne phase.
The advantage of GNNS is obvious. The coordinates of navigation points are publicized. The aircraft flies from one point to another, whereby it is able to distinguish between fly-by and fly-over points. This way GNNS equipped aircrafts are able to fly over areas safely without any ground based navigation systems.
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