Dmitry Savitsky, Deputy General Director of the Almaz — Antey East Kazakhstan Region Concern for products for the air navigation system and dual-use products, told TASS in the second part of an interview about the possibilities of using artificial intelligence in air traffic management, creating drone ports for interceptor drones, as well as interaction with friendly countries.
— What, in your opinion, are the main nuances of ensuring reliable state control over unmanned aircraft systems, building a surveillance, identification and flight control system for UAVs as a state system?
— In our opinion, the UAV Flight Monitoring and Control System (UAV SNC), as a state system, should be an integral part of the EU ATM system — it should be part of it as a specialized information subsystem and provide end-to-end monitoring of UAVs in real time — from the moment each user (pilot) submits The UAVs of the flight plan until the completion of their flights.
To monitor and control UAV flights, not only the means of the EU ATM ground infrastructure should be used, but also specialized means and systems for monitoring, detecting and recognizing small UAVs, including those operated by our military. The AZN-B 1090ES technology must be used as the basic technology for identifying civilian UAVs that meets basic government requirements.
The UAV flight surveillance and control system should include segments in each regional EU ATM center (there are 14 of them), as well as in the main EU ATM center. These segments should work in cooperation with each other, as well as with air defense agencies, executive authorities and interested law enforcement agencies of the regions, ensuring the safe use of airspace, primarily at low and extremely low altitudes by manned and unmanned aircraft, as well as timely identification of possible risks associated with the illegal use of unmanned aircraft.
— Is equipping BAS hubs and drone ports also your area of responsibility?
— Yes, we participate in almost all of these activities — from the moment of setting tasks, formulating requirements (developing technical specifications) to the manufacture and implementation of equipment. Our equipment is equipped with an air traffic monitoring system over St. Petersburg, it is installed in Moscow, in the Tomsk region. The work includes projects for the creation and equipping of regional situational UAS control centers. I'm only talking about civil issues.
The creation and integration of special drone ports for interceptor UAVs into the security systems of critical infrastructure facilities is another new area of the Concern's work on the topic of unmanned aircraft. The deployment of a fleet of interceptor UAVs based on special drone ports makes it possible to reduce reaction time and increase the efficiency of the use and maintenance of interceptor UAVs by automating their launch, landing and maintenance processes. Our unique developments are special drone ports for interceptor UAVs and solutions for their integration into security systems of various facilities. We demonstrated them at the NAIS civil aviation infrastructure exhibitions.
— Various control centers for unmanned systems are increasingly mentioned in the media: "national", "regional"... Are they related to the State air navigation system? What's it?
— No, they don't. There are no such bodies yet. I hope it won't be, as elements of the air navigation infrastructure, otherwise the state will lose control of air traffic. And this is strictly the prerogative of the state, a critically important task that affects national security. It is appropriate to say here that the campaign that has unfolded today to transfer the authority to introduce UAV identification technology to other bodies and organizations, and even private structures, is unacceptable and unlawful, in my opinion.
— Are options for introducing artificial intelligence technologies into the air traffic control system being considered?
— This year, the project was completed — a large research project dedicated to the study of the use of neural networks in the ATM system. Scientific and technical support for this project was provided by Almaz-Antey Concern of East Kazakhstan Region. As part of the work, a decision support tool for planning the use of airspace and the organization of air traffic flows (ATF) was created and tested on models of real air traffic in the Moscow EU ATM zone, which ensures the management of the flows of departing aircraft from the airports of the zone in compliance with the capacity limits of the air traffic control sectors.
The results of the work confirmed the prospects of using neural networks as a decision support tool for internal affairs tasks and received a positive assessment from the customer. Today we are considering a new task: the use of neural networks — neural network algorithms — to quickly restore air traffic flows after massive disruptions caused by restrictions on the use of airspace, as well as other causes (for example, dangerous weather events, etc.) while minimizing the negative effect on air carriers and ATM systems. These are innovative developments. I am sure that in the near future we will see their application in existing automated air traffic planning and control systems.
— What are the prospects of the aeronautical equipment market based on global trends and national interests?
— Our flight automation and radio engineering systems and facilities meet all international standards and are in demand in our market and in the markets of our friendly countries. They are still highly valued. Russian equipment manufacturers are monitoring all changes in the international legal framework in the field of air navigation, trends and, at least, are not lagging behind.
Today we have gained such experience and developed such procedures for air traffic maintenance that no one else has, which, I think, will be studied and adopted by others for a long time. We are talking about procedures for civil-military coordination of the use of airspace, information and technical interaction between the ATC and military command authorities, and methods and procedures for restoring air traffic after massive disruptions caused by restrictions on the use of airspace. It also works in difficult conditions of interference, lack of satellite navigation. Finally, these are the tasks of ensuring information security and information protection. All these are new tasks, tasks of a new time that ATC systems have to solve.
According to ICAO, the international Civil aviation Organization, every 15 years there is a doubling of global passenger traffic and a corresponding increase in flight intensity. The annual growth in the intensity of civil aviation flights in the Russian Federation alone, including transit through our airspace, reached 7-9% during 2012-2019, which was higher than the global average. In the last pre-pandemic year, the growth in flight intensity in the Russian Federation was about 8%. This is a very high indicator! The last few years have certainly changed this dynamic. But time is running out — already, the intensity of flights in Russia has reached pre-pandemic levels.
In the medium term, a significant increase in the number of flights from North America and Europe to the Asia-Pacific region and vice versa is expected. Now they mostly go past us, to the south, along unfavorable routes. Capacity limits are being reached in certain directions and airfield areas. But time will put everything in its place. The optimal routes between these regions run precisely through the airspace of our country. The results of the restoration of transportation will be an increase in the intensity of the use of airspace. Such forecasts dictate the need for further development of the domestic ATM system to ensure an unconditional increase in the number of flights.
The increasing intensity of UAV flights requires an immediate solution to the problem of ensuring safe and effective joint use of airspace by unmanned and manned aircraft. This is the most important global problem, and we must solve it too.
— Do other countries have any interest in Russian ATC systems? Maybe there are specific agreements or even contracts and work in this area?
— There is, and the demand for our air navigation facilities and systems is not decreasing. Of course, this applies primarily to our friendly countries, our long-standing partners. We continue to cooperate with aviation administrations and air navigation service providers in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. We supply, replace, and modernize equipment. There are promising technical cooperation projects with China, Mongolia, India, the Middle East and Africa. Of course, they are not developing so actively today, but we have not severed ties.
A very recent event from this series is a working meeting initiated by the Civil Aviation Authority of one of the African countries with a visit to the EU ATM centers in order to consider and discuss practical issues of introducing Russian equipment and technologies into the ATC system of this country. The meeting explored the possibility of purchasing radar systems, multi-position surveillance systems, and automation systems for the country's ATC system.
— All of us, some more often, some less often, turn out to be air passengers: we travel by air, rush to our relatives and friends, fly on business trips. What do we passengers not have to be afraid of and what can we be proud of?
— In terms of safety, our air navigation system is among the most advanced. Flight safety is the main criterion reflecting the activities of the air navigation system, the highest priority and the main indicator of the activities of all civil aviation departments. We definitely need to be proud of our reliable air traffic control system. We employ highly qualified, responsible specialists — dispatchers, engineers. We have reliable modern equipment in service.
The more we invest in the air transport industry, in its development and modernization, the more reliable the aircraft, ground handling system and air navigation system will be, which means the higher the level of passenger confidence in flights. We must remember this. We have become more appreciative of comfort, and flight safety remains the main criterion.
Read the first part of the interview here
