By Syara Salado Massip and Victor Villalba on May 29, 2024
The way of flying and managing the skies of each nation is defined by large transnational companies that create automated systems for air traffic control at airports and heliports, as well as systems for air navigation services. There are several leading air traffic engineering technology companies that provide systems of this type for the aeronautical industry, which is modernizing its infrastructure every day.
Also known as ATC (Air Traffic Control), air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based controllers who guide aircraft in controlled airspace and provide information and support to pilots in uncontrolled airspace. Its objective is to provide safety, order and efficiency to air traffic.
Radcon-M is a Cuban air traffic control system that since November 2022 is being used in the air traffic control room of the Republic of Cuba and is currently used in six of the nation’s airports.
Due to its geographical location, the island has a constant flow of air traffic. Empresa Cubana de Navegación Aérea, S.A. (ECNA, S.A.), whose corporate purpose is to provide air traffic, meteorological, telecommunications, communications, aeronautical information, search and rescue, as well as air navigation and surveillance services.
In addition to providing automation services for Civil Aviation processes and consulting services and specialized technical assistance for air navigation. It was in its laboratories where a multidisciplinary team of computer science engineers, cyberneticians, automatic engineers and computer machine engineers set themselves the task of organizing themselves to develop this system, applying a software development methodology that would systematize them in the development process, allowing them to grow gradually in the ways of working.
They took advantage of previous experiences and the potential of each specialist, as well as the will to create and grow against all odds to contribute to the development of their country.
The system that the company had previously acquired and used incurred an expenditure of six hundred thousand dollars a year without the right to updates or modifications, which, if required, increased costs.
Radcon-M is the first system of its kind that is purely Cuban, thus ensuring maintenance, installation, support and personalized attention to the requirements of the controllers and the operational area. It integrates in the same suite an air traffic control system for the control room, the tower control system that not only includes air traffic, but also adds a communications control system, meteorological information, runway lighting, statistics, billing and integrates other systems.
With the feature of being able to offer remote control for the supervision of each of the scenarios, it also includes as a novelty the replacement of the small paper strips with electronic strips used to track a flight in air traffic control, known as flight progress strips.
Previously, around 17 tons of paper were used in these strips a year, causing an immense expense for the country, not to mention the environmental impact generated.
Certified by the Cuban aeronautical authority and presented at international fairs where they have received the recognition of established development companies positioned in the international market, Radcon-M is today an indisputable strength and ensures total technological sovereignty for the control of Cuban airspace.
Source: Cuba en Resumen