UK: Heathrow trials digital control tower for third runway

Technology being trialled by air traffic controllers at Heathrow could mean the third runway is built without a new control tower, the airport said. A GBP2.5m “digital tower laboratory”, which uses a suite of ultra high definition cameras and artificial intelligence to monitor aircraft, has been built in the base of Heathrow’s existing tower. Developers hope it will help human controllers to land more planes during times of poor visibility, the most common factor behind disruption at Heathrow. Heathrow said the laboratory, which displays a 180-degree live view of the airport from 20 zoomable cameras on a panorama of 9 screens, could also demonstrate that there would be no need for a second tower. An additional tower was part of the expansion plan, but the airport has been trying to reduce the budget. <br/>