A-SMGCS Services (EUROCONTROL)

In its recent guidance material for A-SMGCS implementation, EUROCONTROL has removed references to 'Levels' and has opted for a functional definition. Functions/services are referred to by name, in order to avoid confusion with the ICAO Manual and to dispel the assumption that the functions need to be implemented in numerical order. There is no contradiction between the two definitions by ICAO and EUROCONTROL as they provide the same functionalities from a different perspective.

The four A-SMGCS services as defined by EUROCONTROL are:

• Surveillance Service - providing airport traffic situational awareness through the identification, position, and tracking of aircraft and vehicles within a predefined coverage volume via a Human Machine Interface (HMI).
• Airport Safety Support Service - contributing to airside operations as a safety improvement, preventing hazards/incidents resulting from controller, flight crew or vehicle driver operational errors or deviations. This Service depends on the Surveillance Service being operational and is based on the following three functions:
  • Runway Monitoring and Conflict Alerting (RMCA), which is a short term conflict alerting tool for controllers that monitors movements on or near the runway and detects conflicts between an aircraft and another mobile. It uses Surveillance data and predefined rules and parameters.
  • Conflicting ATC Clearances (CATC), which provides an alert when the controller inputs an electronic clearance via the HMI, that according to a set of locally agreed rules is not permitted from an operational and safety point of view when compared to any other previously input electronic clearance.
  • Conformance Monitoring Alerts for Controllers (CMAC), which provides controllers with appropriate alerts when the A-SMGCS detects the non-conformance to procedures or clearances for traffic on runways, taxiways and on the apron area.
• Routing Service helps flight crew and vehicle drivers follow their assigned routes in an unambiguous and reliable way e.g. by automatically switching on and off the TCL and stop bars at a specified distance ahead of individual mobiles whilst taking into account other traffic. It is a key enabler for the Guidance Service and some elements of the Airport Safety Support Service (especially the Route Deviation Alert), and generating individual routes for mobiles based on known aerodrome parameters and constraints or following an interaction by the controller. Subsequently accurate taxi times are generated based on the route and these times can be used by the A-CDM platform.
• Guidance Service – In conjunction with controller inputs and the Surveillance and Routing Services, it provides the following functions:
  • The automated switching of the Taxiway Centreline Lights (TCL).
  • The automated switching of Stop Bars.
  • The automated activation of Advanced-Visual Docking Guidance Systems (A-VDGS).