MATC attended the annual Action on Disaster Relief conference in Panama City at the beginning of February to investigate if we can help communities recover from scenes like this by getting an airport ready for relief operations as soon as possible after the event. The damage to these facilities would have been huge but a Mobile Tower would allow at least daylight emergency operations to start as soon the runway was available and whilst the fixed facilities were brought back online. Our 4×4 off-road clinics would also be able to reach locations normal road vehicles would find impossible bringing first aid to outlying areas faster than may normally be possible. Regional pre-positioning will be a key factor for the speed of response, and I was excited to visit the Panama Government’s Regional Logistics Centre for Humanitarian Assistance (Hub) to see how this is being addressed.
After meeting a number of organisations, and at the suggestion of the UK Gov representative, a White Paper outlining the benefits of a small transportable ATC Tower was written for circulation amongst the local disaster relief organisations and the Caribbean Defence organisations who are regularly involved in supporting disaster recovery.
5th Wheel Elevating Trailer Project
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Mobile ATC has shipped the last of four mobile towers to a customer in the Middle East. The units pictured are 5th wheel based articulated trailers supporting an elevating ATC Visual Control Rooms (VCR).
Each tower has redundant VHF and UHF radios, RF filters, a 3 position VCS with dual GPS Clocks, redundant 48 channel recorders, a Met System, a Morse code ident beacon, and an HF radio.
Our trailers are built to be transported by Hercules and Chinook and are kept as short as possible for transporting in a Hercules transport aircraft but still long enough to fit on a standard tractor unit. Other versions can be towed by hook and eye. Our partner fabrication company builds the cabin and trailer and we integrate all the ATC related communications and VCR systems to customer requirements. This model has a 16 kVA 3 phase generator, two air conditioning units and a 3 phase hydraulic motor for the outrigger and elevation systems. Automatic Mains Failure systems start the generator if the connected mains electricity fails and a UPS provides support to all systems specified by the customer.
The Mobile Air Traffic Control unit can be deployed at three different heights and is fitted with automatic self-levelling enabling deployment to within half a degree of level.
Mobile ATC Systems Ltd (MATC) completed a contract to supply four (4) trailer mounted, elevating ATC Towers with prime movers, associated systems, spares, Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), and training to a military end user through Communications Experts. Work commenced in Nov 2018 after the final contract agreement between the Prime Contractor and the End User, and the receipt of the export licence End User Undertaking by MATC. The scope included 5 th Wheel Elevating Mobile VCRs equipped with a full suite of ATC communications systems including VHF and UHF radios with autotune filters, HF radio, 3 position Voice Communications System (VCS) with GPS timeserver and clock, voice recording system, meteorological sensor suite and display, crash phone communication bridge, and a UPS for the “main” equipment. Each trailer was equipped with automatic self-levelling and a 17kVA Generator with an automatic mains failure changeover unit. The first system was shipped on the 8 th June 2019 and the last system shipped from the UK at the end of Nov 2019.
Communications Experts Comment
“MATC are a responsive, flexible contractor. They enabled us to support the demands of our end user customer through program reviews, training, and product acceptance events. At all stages we were kept informed on progress with regular project updates provided for the duration of the contract. MATC displayed excellent programme and risk management procedures throughout which kept this complex project on track. Both we and the end user were truly impressed by the exceptional quality of the systems delivered. We would work with MATC on future projects without any hesitation.”
Mobile ATC Systems Ltd has delivered three 4×4 ORC to UNICEF to provide outreach primary healthcare in the remote areas of Eritrea where there are limited or no healthcare facilities.
Colin Chapman travelled to Asmara and delivered end-user training to the Health Ministry and UNICEF personnel in October 2019. Geoffrey Acaye, Chief of Child Survival and Development said “Thank you too for being so supportive in this phase of the project. We will certainly reach out to you for any further support whenever required. I am confident that this initial phase will stimulate the interest of the Government and donors to expand further”.
Mobile ATC Solution provides Business Continuation for Lithuanian Airports
ORO NAVIGACIJA (ON) are the first Airport Authority in the Baltic region to have a fully Mobile Air Traffic Control Tower as part of their Contingency Planning.
The Mobile Air Traffic Control Tower, manufactured by Mobile ATC Systems in the UK provides 100% ATC capability 24/7 at Vilnius airport and can be quickly moved and deployed to other airports in Lithuania. Forward-looking Tomas Tamašauskas – the Technology Development Manager at ON, has ensured all Lithuanian Airports have a common capability; a concrete base, control box connected to the mains and importantly fibre optics that provide the mobile ATC controllers with aircraft approach, runway and ground movement information, weather data and communications.
Michael Brunton, CEO of MATC said at a recent training visit; “ORO NAVIGACIJA management has shown the way forward in the region to cope with the eventuality of a catastrophic ATC failure, therefore minimising disruption to operations”.
Tomas Tamasauskas in Vilnius said; “The motive for purchasing the Mobile Air Traffic Control Tower was to provide all airports in Lithuania with a quick deployment back up ATC capability within SWIM enabled features by using common fibre links that have been installed at all Lithuanian international airports. Mobile ATC Systems were flexible so we (Oro Navigacija) were able to use in house facilities to integrate the MATC Cabin to meet our needs; this has worked very well for us.”
Tomas added: “The MATC Tower is fully operational within 15 minutes of our personnel arriving at the site so an excellent response with the visual capability for all operators. There is a wide range of services available through high-capacity communications. The MATC tower has brought additional benefits for future ATM provisions in ORO NAVIGACIJA as it can act as a remote tower but with 360-degree uninterrupted vision, additionally, some remote ATM services can be tested and validated from the MATC tower.”
