Portfolio > Real Time Decision Making

Client - Airways New Zealand

This system is an example of complex decision support using data that changes frequently.

It was developed jointly with Airways New Zealand. The system won awards for 'Excellence in the Use of ICT in Customer Service' and 'Best Sustainable ICT Project' in the 2008 Computerworld Excellence Awards. More...

The System

The system is known as CAM - Collaborative Arrivals Manager. Its purpose is improve the management of aircraft flight arrival times and so reduce delays for passengers.

CAM exchanges data with the air traffic management system and displays flight data on up to 300 screens in many locations around the country. It automatically applies algorithms to reduce delays in flight arrival times, and allows manual intervention by operators as well.

Features include:

• secure web application that exchanges data with the air traffic management system
• auto-refresh of data displayed in the web browser
• very efficient user interface for displaying a lot of flight information with many variables
• automated algorithms for modifying flight arrival times
• manual operations via the display allow operators to make and apply decisions on flight arrivals
• extensive set of business rules that control what decisions are allowed to be made in a particular situation
• 'high availability' solution with redundancy, monitoring and automated failover
• extensive logging and auditing features
• parameterised online reporting facility for further analysis of flights

Benefits

The CAM system has the benefits of:

• better service to passengers
• airlines as well as air traffic controllers can now prioritise flight arrivals
• the most important flights get priority in delay situations such as bad weather
• airlines and airports have better access to real time flight information
• cost reductions through improved efficiency.