Chennai airport gets IP-based navigation services system

The new system helps in seamless sharing of data about flights

The IP-based automatic message switching system (AMSS) has been commissioned at Chennai airport. Nearly 120 hours before the departure of an international flight, a flight plan is prepared, sent to the origin, destination and airports enroute. From aeronautical to meteorological information, several crucial operational messages are shared among several departments to transport a passenger safely. This new software does all of this seamlessly.

V. Muruganandham, General Manager, Communication and Navigation Systems, Airports Authority of India (AAI), said they had upgraded the system from the old technology to IP-based AMSS because the old system had some inherent limitations and was becoming obsolete.

“A team of experts from Chennai and Kolkata developed this system at a cost of ₹12 lakh. It has been designed with global standards, keeping in mind the specifications required for India. This AMSS is available at other major airports in the country, including Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru,” he said.

AAI officials said before a flight’s departure, the airline had to file a flight plan fed into this system from the departure destination and through a routine directory. It reaches all the airports enroute in a standard format designed by International Civil Aviation Organisation. “Once this plan is done, AMSS sends out this information to the air traffic management automation system, departure clearance system, Airport Command and Control (AOCC) which in turn goes into the display boards for passengers in the terminals,” an official said.

This was like a base system for all major airports in the world which helped them stay interconnected. “If I’m filing a flight plan from Chennai to New York, I can just send it via my system and based on routing directories, it will reach New York within seconds,” the official said.

Not just flight plans, the system will have information about navigational facilities such as Instrument Landing System and other systems that guide the aircraft to move in the air. “Such installations are present across the world and in case some of these facilities are not working, then it will affect the flight and the pilot won’t get navigational information to fly. But this system will provide the pilot with such details on which systems are not working in an airport,” the official said.