Remote Tower
Remote Tower (RTWR) is a technology enabling provision of air navigation service (aerodrome control service or aerodrome flight information service) from a remote centre where all the relevant visual information is presented, whereby radiocommunication and control over necessary airport systems is made available to air traffic controllers with the help of video- audio system. Meaning that the workplace of air traffic controllers shall no longer be located in the immediate vicinity of the aerodrome requiring the service.
Such Tower digitalisation approach allows to save operational costs for the service provision because controlling air traffic at multiple aerodromes in a centralized way ensures more efficiency and higher quality. The concentration of the services in Remote Tower Centre (RTC) in Tallinn ATCC creates prerequisites for making air traffic services more flexible for adaptation, in line with the changes in the aviation environment.
In 2016, EANS launched a Remote Tower project in cooperation with AS Cybernetica, which foresees the digitization of all four regional (Tartu, Kuressaare, Pärnu, Kärdla) Estonian airport services.
On February 24, 2022, Cybernetica sold its air traffic management remote tower technology to Adacel, a global leader in air traffic management and air traffic simulation and training solutions. With this move, Adacel has taken over the development of the virtual tower technology.
The Remote Tower center will be located in Tallinn, and the first airport that will provide air traffic services from Remote Tower centre in April 2023, is Tartu.