【经济学人解释】虚拟空管塔

"The Economist explains"是《经济学人》网站上的一个blog专栏，它的目的是为很多“你不知道你不知道”的问题（比如之前的“比特币”，比如本文讨论的“虚拟空管塔”）提供聪明、有见识的答案。希望我们通过持续阅读这些答案能够变得更聪明、更有见识。今天的文章介绍未来的机场空管塔。我的堂弟就是一名空管员，家里人会担心他常年在塔台工作辐射比较大，希望中国也早日引入这种先进的模式。

The Economist explains

What are “virtual” air-traffic control towers?

Some airports are closing their most iconic structures and relocating them far away

虚拟空管塔

1. ONE of the most symbolic images at any airport is the control tower where, from their lofty vantage point, air-traffic controllers monitor flights taking off, coming in to land and taxiing to and from terminals. Increasingly, though, control towers will be shuttered as airports switch to using remote centres to look after flights. These centres will be housed in ordinary low-rise buildings, some of which may be hundreds of kilometres away. The centres will receive a live video feed from cameras positioned around the airfield to create a “virtual” image of the airport to be displayed on large screens positioned around the controllers’ desks. Why are airports doing this and is it safe?

vantage point: a good position from which you can see something
e.g. From my vantage point on the hill, I could see the whole procession.
shutter： AmE to close a business, office etc for a short time or permanently

1）在任何一个机场，最具象征意义的图像之一是控制塔，从高空有利的位置，空中交通管制员监控进出航站楼的航班起飞、着陆和滑行。不过，越来越多的控制塔将被关闭，因为机场转向使用远程中心来管理航班。这些中心将安置在普通的低层建筑中，其中一些可能距离（机场）数百公里。这些中心将收到来自位于机场周围的相机的实况视频反馈，以创建机场的“虚拟”图像，在控制台的大屏幕上显示。为什么机场这样做？它安全吗？

2. The first airport to use a virtual control tower was at Ornskoldsvik, in northern Sweden. The airfield’s tower was closed in April 2015 and a remote tower installed at Sundsvall, 130km to the south. Since last year the remote tower also looks after flights at the nearby Sundsvall-Timra Airport and from next year will do the same for a third airport, Linkoping City Airport in southern Sweden. Norway is going further and consolidating control of 15 small northern airports into one virtual tower. Another 17 airports may be added to that centre later. Airports in other parts of Europe, and in America and Australia, are testing remote towers with a view to installing them. Among them is London City Airport, which plans to close its control tower in 2019 and transfer air-traffic control to a centre 145km away.

with a view to sth/to doing sth: (formal) with the intention or hope of doing sth

2）使用虚拟控制塔的第一个机场是在瑞典北部的Ornskoldsvik。该机场塔楼于2015年4月关闭，而一座远程塔设在南部130公里处的Sundsvall。自去年以来，远程塔楼也监管附近的Sundsvall-Timra机场的航班，明年将在第三个机场——瑞典南部的Linkoping City机场做同样的事情。挪威更进一步，正在将15个小型北方机场的控制统一为一个虚拟塔。此后可能再增加17个机场。欧洲其他地区以及美国和澳大利亚的机场正在测试远程塔楼，带着设立它们的目的。其中包括伦敦市机场，计划在2019年关闭其控制塔，并将空中交通管制转移到145公里外的中心。

3. These measures, say air-traffic-control providers, are to improve safety and reduce costs. By using multiple cameras, including infrared ones and other specialist sensors, a virtual tower should provide controllers with a greatly enhanced view, especially at night and in poor visibility. As they do at present, the controllers would continue to use radar and communicate with pilots by radio. The screens can also be used to zoom into different parts of the airfield and can be superimposed with flight information. Apart from the savings in not having to build and maintain a tall structure, the remote centres would also cut operating costs, especially when looking after more than one airport. For the Norwegian airports, this could bring the cost of air-traffic services down by as much as 40%. The savings could be used to help to maintain services at small airports which might not have control towers of their own, or are not busy enough to maintain a full-time tower service.

superimpose：to put one picture, image, or photograph on top of another so that both can be partly seen

3）这些措施，空中交通管制提供者说，目的是提高安全性和降低成本。通过使用多个相机，包括红外线和其他专业传感器，虚拟塔应该会为空管员提供大大增强的视野，特别是在夜间和能见度不佳的情况下。正如他们目前所做的这样，控制人员将继续使用雷达，并通过无线电与飞行员进行通信。屏幕也可以用于放大机场的不同部分，并且可以叠加飞行信息。除了可以节省建造和维护高层建筑的费用外，偏远中心也将降低运营成本，特别是在照看多个机场时。对于挪威机场，这可能会使空中交通服务的成本下降多达40％。这些节省可用于帮助可能没有自己的控制塔或者不足以维持全天候的塔台服务的小型机场维持服务。

4. As in most things to do with aviation, remote towers would have multiple backup systems, including dual power supplies and additional routes for data networks. Even from afar, the controllers would be able to operate by remote-control the signal lamps which are used at airports to communicate with pilots in the event of a radio failure. Some air-traffic controllers are concerned that it may be difficult to concentrate on what is happening at more than one airport. Operating experience from the first remote towers will show if such concerns are justified.

** from afar**: from a long distance away
justified: existing or done for a good reason

4）与大多数与航空有关的事情一样，远程塔将具有多种备份系统，包括双电源和数据网络的额外路由。即使从遥远的地方，空管员也能够通过遥控操作在机场使用的信号灯，以便在无线电故障的情况下与飞行员进行通信。一些空管员担心可能很难专注于多个机场发生的情况。第一个远程塔的操作经验将表明这种担心是否合理。

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原文出处：经济学人

翻译：七呵夫

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