16. 11월 2021

NTi Audio and Casper to Equip Swiss Army Airfields with Noise Measurement Stations and Flight Tracking Management System

NTi Audio and Casper to Equip Swiss Army Airfields with Noise Measurement Stations and Flight Tracking Management System

NTi Audio AG (NTi) and Casper BV (Casper) jointly tendered to provide a complete airport noise and flight tracking monitoring solution for Swiss army airfields and were awarded the project despite several experienced competitors.

The project was tendered by armasuisse, the Swiss Competence Center for Procurement, Technology and Real Estate within the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS).

Existing airport noise monitoring stations will be replaced and integrated into a modern, local cloud-based solution allowing noise and radar data to be visualized and correlated in real-time. Each nominated airfield will be equipped with approximately 10 monitoring stations, placed at strategic positions around the base. The connected noise and weather monitoring stations will continuously deploy measurement values which will then be analyzed in the Casper Noise software. After the installation phase, a 15-year license, support and maintenance contract will be in place.

The Project

The tender for the Airport Noise Management System (ANMS) was floated in early March 21 with a due date of early May. It required that all legacy systems be seamlessly replaced by a modern system, which should correlate noise data with radar data, and produce reports, in compliance with the Swiss Noise Abatement Ordinance (NOA) of 15 December 1986.  

The ANMS project equips all 5 nominated military airfields in Switzerland with ten noise measurement terminals (NMT’s – Noise Monitoring Terminals), placed at strategic positions around the airfield. Each NMT is equipped with a METAS type approved XL2 Sound Level Meter and outdoor microphone with self-verification capabilities, a micro controller managing all devices in the NMT, power supplies and a 4G/LTE modem for secure data transmission.

The collected data, enriched with weather and other relevant information, is then securely transferred to the ANMS servers. The radar data is also integrated, allowing the Casper Noise software to correlate noise events with flight tracks and aggregate the data to offer easy-to-operate visualization, analysis and reporting.

The Casper Software

Casper is a privately held innovative IT company specializing in the development of real-time location-based aviation monitoring and analysis tools. Casper delivers airport noise and flight tracking systems to airports spanning the globe. Their products are designed to be extremely user-friendly and intuitive, to allow customers to perform advanced and complex analysis and communicate findings in an uncomplicated and effortless way.

Flexibility in configuration to the customer-specific situation, and an intuitive interface, guarantee that the Casper solutions fit the needs of every airport and supports the users in an optimal way.

Combining different data sources (radar/FAA SWIM/ADS-B, flight plan, noise, etc.) and turning these into useful and easy-to-understand information, is one of the strong points of the Casper Noise software. 

The Noise Monitoring Terminals (NMTs)

The mobile or permanent monitoring stations will use the XL2 Sound Level Meter and the M2340 measurement microphone with dedicated outdoor weather protection at their measurement core. The M2340 also features self-verification circuitry, allowing the verification of the uncompromised measurement accuracy since the last calibration.

A micro-controller in each NMT manages all components, collects the State-Of-Health (SOH) information and intelligently organizes the measurement data flow. A 4G/LTE gateway transfers all required data into the cloud.

The data is then immediately forwarded over a secure data channel to the proprietary armasuisse servers for further processing and reporting. The described system features several layers of redundancy, making sure that no data is lost in case of power failure or disrupted wireless connections.

Training and Support for armasuisse Employees

The tender requires that armasuisse conducts all first and second level support to the NMTs and also takes over the responsibility for maintaining the stations. We will therefore train the armasuisse staff and furnish them with the necessary documentation and maintenance tools.

The Casper maintenance app will be of great support in this project as it enables the maintenance staff to test remotely every single component of the NMT directly from a mobile phone.

Excellent Co-operation Within the Project

This is the first joint project between Casper and NTi. The fact that we have won our first joint project is a clear signal that it should be extended. Casper contributed with their excellence in data analysis, their vast experience in delivering similar systems to airport authorities and their knowledge about the needs of army organizations.

"We have been impressed by the professionalism and the project experience Casper brought into the team“, says Philipp Schwizer, CEO of NTi Audio AG. “Casper provides an impressive and easy-to-operate set of tools, allowing the user to get the needed data and reports with a minimum of effort.”

NTi provides noise measurement equipment which is used within the NMTs. “The NTi XL2 Analyzer features a very smartly designed remote control interface that made integration into our systems really easy. We are impressed with the quality and ease-of-use of their sound level meters”, says Raymond Michiels, CTO of Casper.

Categories: 소음 측정 솔루션

Tags: