NVIDIA powers air traffic control and safety solutions from Searidge Technologies

Searidge Technologies is working to make air traffic control more safe and efficient with artificial intelligence (AI)-powered software. The company is part of NVIDIA Metropolis, which aims to bring to market new vision AI applications that make the world’s most important spaces and operations safer and more efficient.

Pat Urbanek, Searidge VP of business development for Asia Pacific and the Middle East said of the company's beginnings in 2006: “Video processing software for air-traffic control didn’t exist before.

“It’s taken a decade to become mainstream — but now, intelligent video and machine learning have been brought into airport operations, enabling new levels of automation in air-traffic control and airside operations to enhance safety and efficiency.”

Searidge's Digital Tower and Apron solutions, powered by NVIDIA GPUs, use vision AI to manage traffic control for airports and alert users of safety concerns in real time. Searidge technology enables airports around the world to handle 15-30% more aircraft per hour, and reduce the number of tarmac incidents, including at Dubai International Airport and in Hong Kong.

In June, Searidge’s Digital Apron and Tower Management System (DATMS) went live at Hong Kong International Airport as part of the Hong Kong Airport Authority's expansion plans. The deployment has brought machine learning to a new, integrated airport operations centre.

In addition, Searidge provides the Civil Aviation Department of Hong Kong’s air-traffic control systems with next-generation safety enhancements using its vision AI software.

This deployment is the industry’s largest digital platform for tower and apron management — and the first collaboration between an airport and an air-navigation service provider for a single digital platform.

DATMS is programmed based on the complex roadway rules that determine how buses and other vehicles should operate on service roads across taxiways at airports. DATMS’ underlying machine learning platform, called Aimee, enables traffic-lighting automation based on data from radars and 4K-resolution video cameras.

Source: Searidge Technologies, via an NVIDIA blog post. NVIDIA GPUs power air traffic control and safety solutions from Searidge Technologies.

After analysing video data, the AI-enabled system activates or deactivates airports’ traffic lights in real time, based on when it’s appropriate for passenger buses and other vehicles to move. The status of each traffic light and additional details can also be visualised on end-user screens in airport traffic control rooms.

“What size is an aircraft? Does it have enough space to turn on the runway? Is it going too fast? All of this information and more is sent out over the Searidge Platform and displayed on screen based on user preference,” said Marco Rueckert, VP of technology at Searidge. 

The same underlying technology is applied to provide enhanced safety alerts for aircraft departure and arrival. In real time, DATMS alerts air traffic controllers of safety-standard breaches — taking into consideration clearances for aircraft to enter a runway, takeoff or land.

Searidge uses NVIDIA GPUs to optimise inference throughput. To train its AI models, Searidge uses an NVIDIA DGX A100 system.

“The NVIDIA platform allowed us to really bring down the hardware footprint and costs from the customer’s perspective,” Rueckert said.

“It provides the scalability factor, so we can easily add more cameras with increasing resolution, which ultimately helps us solve more problems and address more customer needs.”

The company is also exploring the integration of voice data — based on communication between pilots and air-traffic controllers — within its machine learning platform to further enhance airport operations.

“Of course, having aircraft land on time and letting passengers make their connections increases business and efficiency, but our technology has an environmental impact as well,” Urbanek said.

“It can prevent burning of huge amounts of fuel — in the air or at the gate — by providing enhanced efficiency and safety for taxiing, takeoff and landing.”