GSM based ATC automation

Abstract

Air travel is the fastest means of transport. It helps us to reach various places in the world as quickly as possible. This facility is to be controlled properly and also every passenger who travels by air should reach the destination safely. The runway clearance given to the pilots is presently done manually and this human interference is one of the reasons for accidents in the runway. Technological advancements help us achieve highly reliable and relevant systems. To reduce the runway accidents caused by human errors that occur during landing, a GSM-based ATC (Air traffic control) system is proposed. The proposed system automates few processes at the airport by which runway crashes can be avoided, human errors can be reduced and the lives of the people can be saved. The land-request messages and the sensor data from all the points are sent to one common place and decisions are taken from the single base point i.e., the main microcontroller. The microcontroller thus acts as the Air Traffic Control (ATC). It sends the details of the runway clearance automatically to the pilot on receiving a landing request (SMS), only after verifying it to be authorized. If there is an airplane on the runway or in any of the gates, clearance will not be sent. Also, if the request is unauthorized, clearance will not be sent. A centralized GSM authentication is used for sending the clearance message (SMS), to the pilot, which consists of the gate number to land in. Gate numbers will be selected automatically with the help of the information provided by sensors installed at the gates. Sensors that are placed near the runways check whether the runway is busy or not. The flight arriving at each gate is displayed on the LCD.