Heathrow air traffic controllers have begun trialling AI and machine learning technology in a bid to speed up aircraft landings in low visibility.
Currently when visibility is poor, controllers have to rely on radar to know if an arriving aircraft has left the runway and this means allowing extra time between each landing to ensure its safety.
This leads to a 20% loss of landing capacity, which creates flight delays and knock-on disruption.
In the trials, running until March, NATS is deploying 20 ultra high-definition cameras at the airport’s airfield, from which views will be fed into an AI platform.
The platform can interpret the images, track the aircraft and then inform the controller when it has successfully cleared the runway. The controller then makes the decision to clear the next arrival.
NATS believes the system will help the airport reclaim all the lost capacity and could be used one day control the airport’s third runway.
Andy Taylor, NATS chief solution officer, said: "Right now we’re focusing on when the control tower is in low cloud, where I’m confident we can make a very positive difference, but I am convinced that this technology can totally revolutionise how air traffic is managed at airports around the world."
Kathryn Leahy, Director of Operations at Heathrow Airport added: "We’ll be keeping a close eye on this trial, as the technology could have a major role as we prepare for the expanded airport. We will watch how AI and digital towers could be used to monitor all three of the expanded airport’s runways in future."
