A few days ago, the building of China’s first pilot project on AeroMACS and BeiDou-based application for airport ground operation has basically completed and it is close to actual operation. This project is the first in China or even the world to make innovative application of AeroMACS together with BeiDou high-precision positioning technology on airport ground operation, which is helpful for refined management and efficient operation of aprons. Success of the project not only demonstrates the practice to insist on technical innovation and the endeavor to enhance technical driving force and benefits, but also shows the concrete efforts to strive for high-quality development of the civil aviation industry.

By far, the project has realized capture of vehicles’ current location and speed information with BeiDou high-precision positioning terminal, and enabled real-time display of aircraft and vehicle operating on the ground of airport on the monitoring terminal in ATC towers with AeroMACS network. Besides, two ground guiding vehicles could also monitor their own locations with BeiDou high-precision positioning, and monitor the dynamic location of target aircraft within the terminal coverage, thus forming a dynamic link between themselves and target aircraft. This will be of great importance to strengthen ground safety, improve operational efficiency and facilitate low-visibility ground operation.

Relevant person in charge from CAAC Office of Air Traffic Regulation introduced that the biggest highlight about this pilot project is the combination of AeroMACS and BeiDou technologies, which enabled high-precision position monitoring within the airport and real-time wireless data transmission. In this way, the project maybe the solution to the actual problem faced by civil airports in China, in particular those medium and small-size airports that are not capable of overall ground monitoring and guidance, could possibly provide an alternative choice to the costly airport ground monitoring system and automatic light guidance system, and could serve as an effective technical solution for low-visibility operation at airports.