UK-based Lee-Dickens supplies Centralised Remote Control and Monitoring Systems and crash alarm systems to the ANSPs and airports. The monitoring systems detect faults in equipment such as radar and navaids, usually at airports and military bases, while the crash alarm systems allow ATC to instantly relay emergencies to their fire stations.
The company, which was founded in the 1960s is launching a certified reseller network with the aim of spreading the benefits of their modern Centralised Remote Control and Monitoring Systems (CRCMS) around the world.
However, the installation and running of a CRCMS for ANSPs and at airports is a complex systems integration challenge. In this Q&A Andy Needham, Lee-Dickens’ Director of Engineering, describes how the company meets this challenge using its years of experience in the sector and the latest advances in monitoring techniques and outlines the safety and efficiency benefits of installing a CRCMS.
Q: How does a CRCMS work?
A: Our monitoring system Sitewatch interfaces with every piece of equipment and puts it into a single system, so you only need one user interface and one logon. Instead of dozens of screens in a roomful of computers, the user has just one screen, one keyboard and mouse and can quickly navigate and see problems as soon as they happen. That speed and ease of use is vital in times of stress. It’s a safer solution.
A CRCMS declutters an equipment room with just a Sitewatch workstation on the main operator’s desk, allowing existing OEM computers to be relocated to the side of the room. We are pulling in data from all over the airport, so we can provide a homogenized view of what is happening. This includes monitoring all the airfield instruments which then gives us enough information to calculate the CAT status of the runways. ATCOs can have a simple, intuitive and consistent view of everything, rather than having to refer to numerous different systems.
Q: What are the first steps for installing a CRCMS?
A: There are two main types of projects. We work at new airports where everyone delivering systems and equipment is contracted to engage with us. That’s relatively simple. It’s not quite so simple when we are contracted to retrofit control and monitoring into an existing airport because we may need to interface with legacy equipment and engage with suppliers of equipment who are not obligated to help. Often the equipment has already been tested and commissioned, so they don’t necessarily want another system plugging into it. Fortunately, we have been doing this a long time so our library of interfaces is quite comprehensive and well established.
Q: Could you describe how you work with clients?
A: We work very closely with our customers over long periods. An example of this with ANSPs is our partnership with Airways Corporation New Zealand.
The system we installed is a country wide solution used for monitoring the airports, remote beacons and radio equipment around the country, including stations at the tops of mountains. It includes redundant Sitewatch servers, numerous Sitewatch workstations and more than 150 of our remote terminal units, which are installed alongside the equipment to be monitored and act as a gateway for that equipment.
Every year Airways adds more equipment to the system with support from us and they periodically upgrade it. They use the development tools embedded in Sitewatch for this, which allows them to add more equipment. They are very adept at doing it, but they sometimes still come to us for specialist support.
Q: What recent project are you most proud of?
A: Dubai is a flagship project for us. The two international airports have got the best and the biggest of everything that we can provide. That’s a system we commissioned in November 2019.
It is a centralized remote control and monitoring system that feeds information about faults into a maintenance management system which automatically creates job cards. The automated system ensures that all the maintenance requirements are known the instant something goes wrong and as a result their KPIs are accurate. So Management would know, for example, exactly what the downtime of any given fault was and can continuously improve performance.
I don’t know of anyone else who has a similar system.
Dubai Airport ATC Tower
Q: What are the common challenges with CRCMS projects?
A: One is that as much as we are moving our solution forward, so is everybody else. That means as customers update and add equipment, we have to update the interfaces within our deployed monitoring systems. It’s a frequently recurring issue.
A key challenge during commissioning is refining what the customer wants to have monitored. There can be a bewildering amount of data available. For example, one typical radar has 70,000 things that we could monitor, so it is important to identify just the key items.
Another is how to interface with the system to be monitored. It could be physical wires and a box next to a legacy system. Or the OEM may provide their own proprietary serial communication protocol. More OEMs are starting to use standardized protocols, like simple network management protocol (SNMP) which makes things a lot easier.
Q: How do you organize the monitoring display and alarms?
A: The core of what we do is systems integration. We tunnel into equipment to find the database. We then make a parallel copy of that database structure in our system, so that anything in the equipment’s database is in our database. Then we create a hierarchy of tags. That might be an intruder switch on the door, it might be a radar or transmitter fault.
We then decide what becomes an alarm and assign a priority level and tag colours, depending on how important the alarm is. If the system is healthy, it’s colour is probably green. If it’s a warning its amber, if it’s an alarm, it’s red.
It is vital to understand the criticality of the monitored item and to ensure that it’s the most important things that shout the loudest. We provide advice, but ultimately it’s up to the clients to decide on their priorities and their criticality.
Q: You work for the UK’s MOD, do they use the same technology?
A: The company has its roots in the military sector, Lee-Dickens founder was in the Royal Navy before he started the company. The military use similar technologies to the civil aviation sector for monitoring. Each has their own idiosyncrasies, but they tend to run in parallel. However, some military projects can be very bespoke.
We also work very closely with the MOD on the UK’s submarine program – we have submarine work guaranteed beyond 2050!
Q: How do you ensure your CRCMS are reliable?
A: These are critical systems, so the safety case is core. For example, we can and do install operational controls with our remote monitoring systems. But sometimes customers decide not to use the control part of the system because of the safety case. The safety case is easier to approve if it’s a read-only monitoring system.
While one server can run a CRCMS we always include at least two to provide redundancy; the system has the capability to immediately and automatically switch between them if necessary. Dubai’s CRCMS, for example, has two airports with four synchronized servers.
Q: How do you handle remote access?
A: Nothing goes off site for cybersecurity reasons and internet access is strictly controlled, if implemented at all. Everything is held on a private network and usually remote access is only allowed for maintenance over very secure links.
Q: Can you tell me about crash alarms?
A: Crash alarm systems allow an emergency to be relayed from the ATC tower, typically to the fire station at the push of the button on the touch screen. That could be an emergency landing notification or foreign object debris or an incursion onto the runway. The systems normally include a ‘red telephone’ providing a dedicated voice link between the tower and the fire station. Crash alarms fulfil a statutory requirement. We are well-known for them and supply them globally. They also integrate into our Sitewatch CRCMS.
Q: Can you tell me about your expansion plans?
A: We are extending our reach by building a network of certified resellers of Sitewatch around the world. But Lee-Dickens is about high-quality engineering and excellent customer support. We know the industry and are engaged in it as a trusted partner. So we plan to expand in a careful way to ensure our certified resellers share those same values and have the same aims.
Q: Do all airports and ANSPs have a CRCMS?
A: It’s not statutory, but we are doing retrofits regularly, so more people are recognizing the benefits. Often airports and ANSP programs have several equipment suppliers, so they are not dependant on one company. Being able to integrate those different systems into one easy to use and view system is indispensable.
People come to us because it helps them be agnostic regarding equipment suppliers. Furthermore, ANSPs have told us that with their existing complex systems they sometimes miss alarms, but they don’t with Sitewatch because it is so simple, intuitive and consistent. v