Comsoft

Actian Ingres Database - the Basis for Europe’s Leading Tracking System

In 2009, German Air Traffic Control (DFS) counted more than 2.9 million flights according to Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) in the airspace of the Federal Republic of Germany alone. Air traffic management deploys cutting edge technology to control and regulate whether planes are maintaining the necessary safe distance from one another in controlled airspace, that they are on the right course and flying at the correct altitude and speed. It uses special air traffic management systems, instrument landing systems, and radar and navigation systems to enable fast and accurate processing of huge data volumes, thus ensuring the smooth flow of traffic. The wealth of different data processing systems in Europe, has led EUROCONTROL, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, to take steps towards harmonizing European Air Traffic Management.

An initiative to improve European Air Traffic Management

In order to create a standardized data processing system for air traffic management in Europe, EUROCONTROL commissioned the development of the ARTAS system (ATM suRveillance Tracker And Server). COMSOFT, a leading provider of Air Traffic Management solutions based in Karlsruhe, Germany, is EUROCONTROL’s industry partner for the ARTAS tracker. ARTAS is a system that creates a recognized air picture from the position data of a broad range of different sources of measured data (such as radars, multilateration systems or ADS-B data sources). The multi-sensor tracking system uses the data from the sensors and provides pilots with the most accurate and up-to-the-minute picture of the current air situation. This enables air traffic controllers to monitor the exact position of aircraft, ensuring optimum control and safety of airspace. COMSOFT was tasked with the continuous development and improvement of the ARTAS system.

ARTAS - ATM Surveillance Tracker & Server

ARTAS is now the most commonly used tracking system in Europe. 30 European air traffic control organizations have deployed the solution for civilian and military air traffic control, such as Austrocontrol in Austria, DFS in Germany, DSNA in France, NAVIAIR in Denmark and ATSA in Bulgaria.

ARTAS follows a modular architecture with a subdivision in software and hardware components and a clear allocation of functions to components. Sensor data arrives at the I/O manager (RBR), is decoded, pre-processed and forwarded sector-wise to the tracker (TRK) component. The tracker updates a memory-resident track database and simultaneously performs a Multi-Sensor Environment Assessment (MSEA), calculating, for example, biases for each of the online sensors. The server (SRV) reads from the track database, implementing specified services for each of the users. A system manager presides over the other components for initiation, monitoring and online control of the process. Initial configurations are loaded from a configuration database and the system manager provides access to dynamically computed values.

Ingres - safety you can rely on!

Ingres is the database for the configuration data and is a central component of ARTAS. This database stores all of the sensitive data required for the initial configuration of the system. The Ingres database holds a total of more than 2,000 configuration parameters, which are continuously accessed by operating, monitoring and analyzing components. It is crucial that access to this data is consistently stable and highly available as failures in these critical applications can spell disaster.

The decision to base ARTAS on the Ingres Database Management System has proven successful due to its transaction reliability, high storage capacity, fast data processing, simple administration and professional support.

ARTAS is continuously enhanced and improved with new features at the application and system level. On the system side, COMSOFT has developed a LINUX version of ARTAS that runs on the leading open source application platform from Red Hat. A highly qualified Ingres support team was on hand to provide technical expertise and guide COMSOFT through the conversion to LINUX. The close partnership between the two open source providers, Ingres and Red Hat, ensured complete compatibility of all components. The decision to opt for open source software for the development of ARTAS has enabled COMSOFT to create a particularlycosteffective solution.

Now deployed in more than 30 countries, ARTAS has established itself as a de factostandard in the air traffic control sector.