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Newquay ATC system project

newquay airportDescription

The RAF have stated that RAF St Mawgan will become surplus to their requirements by late 2008. In order to provide continuity to operators, Cornwall County Council have expressed an interest in licensing the airport from the CAA as the local operator.

SelexWorking as a sub-contractor to Selex (prime), Copperchase will provide Newquay with an ATC system comprising the following products:

  • METSYS – Meteorological Data Gathering System
  • ATIS – Automated Terminal Information Service
  • FDMS – Flight Data Management System
  • ATCIDS – ATC Information Display System (including MET Displays)
  • IRVR – Instrumented Runway Visual Range.


The solution provides an ATC data system based upon dual server applications, with clients networked in the VCR and Radar suites. The IRVR is provided by Copperchase's technology partner AGI Ltd and is seamlessly integrated into the main Copperchase ATC system.

Company Background

Copperchase specialises in the supply of data-processing and engineering systems solutions for the ATC sector and, in the UK, is the market leader for the supply of ATC messaging equipment. Copperchase also has a worldwide presence in this market – a presence that it is seeking to expand.

Copperchase offer a full ATE service and supply to established and emerging airfields. Primary services include consultancy, supply and installation of ATC equipment , and support and maintenance. With more than 65 man-years of working experience in ATE, the staff in the Copperchase ATE systems division have extensive knowledge of systems such as: 

  • ILS systems CAT 1, 2 & 3
  • DME systems
  • RADAR systems (primary, secondary and surface movement)
  • Display systems (Raster scan and vector)
  • DRDF systems
  • Communications systems (voice switches and transmitters / receivers etc.)
  • Apron lighting
  • Airfield ground lighting (control systems and field equipment).

 

ATC projects successfully completed by the staff of the Copperchase ATE Systems Division include:

  • Newcastle Airport:
    • Back indication and mimic system (CAT 3)
    • Schmid ICS 200/60 (operational summer 2004).
  • Guernsey Airport: 
    • Full CAT 1 Control & Monitoring System
    • Airfield and Apron Lighting Control & Supply, for airport restructure
    • Evaluation of Serco AGL designed secondary switches.
    • Design & Supply of Guard light flasher PCBs.
  • Highlands & Islands:
    • Inverness Airport AGL & Control System Audit
    • Sumburgh Airport AGL & Control System Audit
    • Sumburgh Airport AGL & Control System
    • Installation of lightning protection system
    • Sumburgh Airport AGL & Control System – source and supply of obsolete CCR spare parts.
  • Plymouth Airport: Airport ATE and AGL System Audit.
  • Cranfield Airport: Supply and installation of PLC & Touch-screen AGL.
  • Knock Airport:
    • Thorn Lighting
    • Supply of AGL Logging / Monitoring system.
  • ADL Ltd for Freetown Airport (Sierra Leone): Supply of PLC-based CAT 1 control system.
  • Leeds and Bradford International Airport :
    • Tower refit
    • Schmid ISC 200/60
    • Alusett furniture
    • Copperchase / Keltel – Emergency Handset System.

 

Met systems: UK-based systems have been installed as follows:

  • METSYS:
    • Exeter
    • Coventry
    • Durham Tees Valley
    • London Ashford
  • ATIS:
    • Bournemouth
    • London Ashford
    • Durham Tees Valley
    • Coventry
    • Exeter
    • Luton
  •  FDMS -  NATS:
    • Belfast
    • Cardiff
    • Birmingham
    • Edinburgh
    • Glasgow
    • Farnborough
    • London City
    • Glasgow Prestwick
    • Bournemouth
    • Luton
    • Bristol
    • East Midlands
    • Exeter
    • Cambridge
    • Coventry
    • Durham Tees Valley
    • Newcastle

 

IRVR

The equipment proposed is used throughout the UK at the following airports:-

London Heathrow                   Cardiff International                East Midlands International

London Gatwick                      Leeds Bradford                       Knock

London Stansted                     Belfast International                RAF Brize Norton

Bristol International                 Manchester International        Birmingham International

London City                             Inverness                                States of Guernsey

Farnborough                           Jersey                                                 Kirkwall

Edinburgh International           Glasgow International             London Luton

Methodology

Projects are managed under the Copperchase structured approach to project management, with a Project Management Methodology mapped to the business process model, which operates within our ISO 9001:2000 accreditation.

The methodology is represented as follows:

Stage 1 Concept

This stage addresses the proposed solution to ensure that it is viable and best-fit for purpose. This approach takes the following factors into account: Economics, Risk, Project Management, Development, Deployment and Support.

Stage 2 Feasibility and Planning

This stage ensures that the necessary resources, plans and requirements have been captured and agreed pending the project launch.

Stage 3 Execute

At this stage the project is launched by the project manager to all key stakeholders and is considered live and committed. The project manager manages and controls the project as per the PMP document in agreement with the customer.

Stage 4 Closure

Once the project has been delivered to the customer's satisfaction, as per the requirements of the Scope of Works, a closure certificate is provided for the customer to sign, along with an invoice for payment in line with the contractual terms and conditions. A post-project review is also held and the lessons learned enable continuous process improvement. The project is then complete.

Issues

All project Issues were captured using an Excel spreadsheet, which was shared between all project participants and managed and prioritised by the Copperchase Project Manager. This ensured that all issues affecting the project were addressed in a coordinated / managed way. The spreadsheet formed part of the weekly project review and was also stored on a centralised project portal hosted by the prime contractor.

Analysis of the data showed that the most significant issues were communication and response times, especially where authorisation for spend or response to questions were required. This was where the progress-chasing skills of the project team, used in conjunction with the Issues spreadsheet, proved very effective.

Benefits

An important factor was the strategic decision, taken at the start, to make Copperchase plans as independent and self-contained as possible. This was successful in allowing the project to move forward and the plan to progress, despite significant delays at the airfield site.

Evidence of Success

Copperchase, in conjunction with AGI, were still able to build, test and obtain FAT for the system, which was signed off in August 2008 by Selex and Cornwall CC. 

Factors Contributing to Success

  1. Good communication
  2. Staying on top of issues
  3. Responding at the earliest opportunity
  4. Not assuming anything
  5. Getting written confirmation of anything that is promised and required
  6. A committed and skilled project team.

 

Conclusion

Using best-practice project management and applying strategic planning upfront has made this project manageable, given the magnitude of the project and the number of subcontractors involved. Certainly, having a plan which enables progress through independence is a great benefit because it enables the project tasks to progress without external dependencies interfering, Also the commitment and niche experience of complex ATC systems provided by the Copperchase Project Engineer ensured that the implementation and testing was a success.

Martin Skipper

Operations Manager  – Copperchase