Scanmast Building Air Traffic Towers of the Future

Tomorrow’s air traffic control towers have already been built by Scanmast at several locations in Sweden.  Conventional systems – where air traffic controllers work from the top of towers – have been replaced by the Alta tower from Scanmast, which is equipped with cameras and other telecommunications equipment.

After several years of testing, the time is fast approaching when new, sophisticated air traffic control towers will ensure safety at airports. In this case, it is Alta Tower, with a 360 degree camera at the top. It means that air traffic controllers work remotely and guide the aircraft through take-off and landing by means of large screens. This is just as safe as the previous systems.

Scanmast has erected Alta towers in, among other places, Sundsvall, Sälen and Kiruna. The average height of the towers is 24 metres.

Scanmast  lead the construction work on site and is responsible for the towers and their construction. The technology inside, the Digital Air Traffic solution, is a collaboration between The Swedish Civil Aviation Administration and Saab Air Traffic between.

The Swedish Civil Aviation Administration, on behalf of Saab Air Traffic Solutions, commissioned the towers to be built by Scanmast.

It is important that towers built by Scanmast are able to withstand the snow, rain, powerful winds and harsh climates prevailing at the airport sites.

The challenge was to build these towers at airports with high levels of security, and to ensure that normal operations were not disrupted.