ENAIRE awards the new iFOCUCS control position for its centres in Madrid, Seville, Palma, Málaga and Zaragoza for more than 32 million euros

At its meeting yesterday, ENAIRE's Board of Directors awarded the turnkey contract to supply 91 new control positions with cutting-edge technology, called iFOCUCS, for its control centres in Madrid, Seville and Palma for 32,149,194 euros.

The award consists of three lots. The first includes the supply of equipment for the positions, for 12,779,085 euros; the second includes the supply of the new iFOCUCS positions, as well as their complementary equipment, and the installation, testing and commissioning of the hardware for 18,602,109 euros; and the third, valued at 768,000 euros, includes the contracting of a supervision, monitoring and testing service to guarantee that the services provided meet all the requirements.

The company awarded the first two lots is Indra, with a four-year implementation period.

This project is part of ENAIRE's Strategic Plan, the 2025 Flight Plan, and includes another phase that will provide an additional 132 positions, and an estimated 43 million euros, for the control centres in Barcelona, Valencia, the Canary Islands and Madrid. With both phases, every ENAIRE control centre will have the new control positions, which will replace the current ones, from which ENAIRE air traffic controllers manage flights in Spanish airspace.

What does the new iFOCUCS position offer?

ENAIRE has, in collaboration with Indra, developed the new iFOCUCS position because future versions of the Automated Air Traffic Control System (SACTA), which its controllers use to manage flights, require a larger display area, and iFOCUCS incorporates information on new functionalities for control personnel, as well as complementary information to assist the controllers in their work.

This involves the turnkey supply of 91 control positions with cutting-edge technology, developed by ENAIRE in collaboration with Indr

The new iFOCUCS position will increase the viewing area while maintaining the resolution, allowing controllers to work without paper flight progress strips, all as part of a design concept that is ergonomic and efficient.

Personnel from ENAIRE's technical control and operation/engineering staff were actively involved in its design, development and implementation in order to ensure it is suited to the real needs of the service.

The new iFOCUCS position is a key element in enabling the technological evolution of SACTA, as part of its technological alliance within the European iTEC consortium.

The iTEC (interoperability Trough European Collaboration) alliance was founded in 2007 by Europe's leading air navigation service providers: ENAIRE, together with its technology partner INDRA, in Spain, NATS in the United Kingdom, and DFA in Germany. They were later joined by the air navigation managers of Poland (PANSA), Lithuania (ORO NAVIGACIJA), the Netherlands (LVNL) and Norway (AVINOR). The objective of this alliance is to further structure an automated air traffic management system for all Europe that meets the needs for building the Single European Sky by improving the efficiency, safety and quality of air navigation services.

Investments in the REDAN data network

ENAIRE's Board of Directors also allocated 7.1 million euros to technical support for the operation of its air navigation data network, called REDAN, with an implementation period of 3 years.

The REDAN System is an air navigation data network that carries voice and data between the different users of these services in Spain. It consists of an infrastructure based on the Internet protocol (IP) that, in addition to allowing the incorporation of future developments and needs related to data exchange, also integrates voice over IP (VoIP) to carry voice for air traffic control. It is also interconnected with the communications networks of other European air navigation service providers.

Equipment for managing flight paths

ENAIRE's Board of Directors awarded the turnkey supply of equipment for managing tactical flight paths in SACTA for 6.8 million euros (6,809,551 euros), to be implemented in 36 months.

The award has two lots: the turnkey supply, installation and commissioning of equipment is awarded to Indra for 6,420,751 euros. The management, monitoring, supervision, control and testing service is awarded to MR Informática for 388,800 euros.

Specifically, SACTA data processing centres in Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands will be provided the equipment needed to execute the function of managing tactical flight paths, which will increase automation and improve the assistance provided to controllers, thus enhancing their capacity and aiding the deployment of free-route airspace.

Communication systems for managing the network

ENAIRE's Board of Directors also allocated 4.5 million euros to the communications systems for the new integrated supervision to manage the ENAIRE network (SYSRED).

Of this amount, 4,020,000 euros is for the supply, upgrade and support of the communications systems for the new integrated supervision to manage the ENAIRE network, and 480,000 to support the implementation of the above.

The growth of Centralised Air Navigation Systems (SCNA) and the expected increase in these systems have led ENAIRE to integrate its network coordination into a single physical and management space at ENAIRE's Control Centre in Madrid.