Smart Transportation
Advanced Visual Docking Guidance System – RLG GIS 206-2
Highlights
- Compliance to ICAO Annex 14 recommendations.
- 3D laser scanning technology
- Remote support through internet available.
- Extremely detail log file to present all status during every cycle of docking through life time
- Dual surveillance camera system for both aircraft movement and LED display. Both are integrated with network video recording system and can be played back together for event analysis.
Intelligent Aircraft Management
Complete solutions provider
Created in 1969, RLG Docking Systems has dedicated its efforts toward bringing automated guide-in systems to its clients around the world. Since its transition into an upgraded system debuting in 2011, the company has brought the efficiency of service along with smart transportation to its service partners in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in the airports of India, Malaysia, and Taiwan.
Implementation of laser-based technology guides aircraft to their destinations
-The RLG GIS 206-2
Airports allow airliners to use their space and amenities, and this translates into money paid to the airport per aircraft parked. The planned third terminal at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, for example, will have 21 gates. At a price of NT$70-80 billion, the third terminal would have to have a very high rate of aircraft turnover to be profitable. For both the airport and airlines, time is literally money.
The RLG GIS206-2 Advanced Visual Docking Guidance System is the company’s answer to making the process of guiding airliners from the runway to the terminal more effective and time-saving.
Outfitted with a 2-axis scanning range-finding laser, the RLG GIS 206-2 simultaneously presents parking information to the pilot and the copilot. The electronically controlled display is mounted at a height easily seen and read by either the pilot or the copilot so that either can dock the aircraft, regardless of its size.
The system helps the airport screen incoming aircraft by comparing the features of the airplane approaching a gate with archived parameters of various aircraft types. The pilot, copilot, and the ground crew are alerted if the approaching airplane does not match the intended aircraft type that is scheduled to dock at the gate.
The main display console is precisely lined up with and perpendicular to the extension of the aircraft J-line, or centerline, allowing the system to tell the pilot or copilot if they are deviating from the preordained path with a blinking red arrow, indicating the direction in which the pilot would have to correct their course.
Advanced Technology Grants Competitive Edge
The introduction of computers to the system allows the company to keep meticulous records of all access to the system. As digital information can easily be stored for decades, this allows the company to identify where and what went wrong.
The benefits of digitizing the system are two-fold. Firstly, it facilitates the company’s maintenance routine, as it can easily send a single engineer to connect the system to the Internet via a Wi-Fi adapter and turn over the remote configuration of system settings to Taiwan-based engineers.
Secondly, it cuts down on client-side maintenance costs. RLG President Lin Cheng-hsiang said that RLG’s methodology, in contrast to others, will considerably cut down on client-side expenditures.
Regarding safety, Lin said RLG’s system is largely self-contained and isolated, with no access to the Internet during day-to-day operations. It is only connected to the Internet when an engineer is present, thus reducing the chances of the system being hacked.
Building on past success toward a bigger future
Initial System Installation at Taichung International Airport
RLG Docking Systems first introduced the RLG GIS 206-2 system in 2011, installing five units at Taiwan’s Ching Chuan Kang Airport, now known as Taichung International Airport, as a part of the overall terminal construction.
Installation of the System at other international airports – Taiwan’s Taoyuan Airport, Malaysia, Myanmar, India, and Thailand
The true highlight for the RLG GIS206-2 was when RLG obtained the contract to install its systems for the planned second terminal at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in 2012.
The company’s success in Kuala Lumpur emboldened the company and RLG in 2014 sought and obtained the bid to install its system at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
To date, the system has been introduced at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taichung International Airport in Taiwan; Terminal 2 of Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia; Yangon International Airport in Myanmar; Allahabad Airport in India; and Ubon Ratchathani Airport in Thailand.
Since its debut in 2011, the system has maintained a zero-accident record.
Expansion and Growth
The US, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific Region
While the company is eyeing potential expansion into the US and Europe, it has adopted a more conservative and cautious approach, preferring to further consolidate its position in the Asia-Pacific region.
By the end of this year and into next year respectively, the company will also be installing its system in Amritsar, Jaipur, Varanasi and Srinagar airports in India, and has secured projects to install the system in Krabi International Airport in Thailand and Calicut International Airport in India.
Expanding Opportunities by Befriending Locals
RLG plans to secure more local partners for its projects going forward and to adapt its Gate Operation System to further enhance airport efficiency.
RLG is looking towards securing more contracts over the coming years, especially as 70 percent of the 1,600 commercial airports worldwide are expanding their operations, Lin said.
The most direct way to attain this goal is to either establish branch offices to oversee day-to-day operations, or to expand RLG’s network of local contractors.
In addition, RLG cites linguistic and cultural difficulties as barriers hindering negotiation with local contractors. Inefficient communication poses a great risk for RLG in obtaining local contracts.
RLG has made the decision to continue being a supplier while fostering relations with local partners.
Improved relations with local partners will allow RLG the opportunity to obtain future contracts, as in the case of its first major contract in Kuala Lumpur.
Improved interaction with partners abroad will spell further efficacy in maintenance, both for RLG and its clients. Localized maintenance procedures, made possible by RLG training, would result in reduced client-side maintenance expenditures, for timely maintenance and repair services provided by RLG will, of necessity, exceed local rates.
Maintenance routines would also become more streamlined as RLG partners in local areas would be able to maintain most of the equipment. Potential equipment failure that would have previously taken days to fix could not be shortened to hours, as RLG could simply ship in a spare system – or use one in storage on-site – rather than having to bring in the system and crew.
Airport Efficiency Enhancement
RLG is also seeking to increase the functionality of its Gate Operation System, which is currently used to monitor gate status, as well as upcoming, arriving and parked aircraft. Access to this information is critical to running an airport, as the control tower would have to notify the ground crew to stand by and prepare service for incoming aircraft.
With outside information, such as altitude, speed, and location — obtained through third-party software, such as Flight Radar — the Gate Operation System could improve airport efficiency.
The adapted Gate Operation System would ensure that such information is delivered as needed so that the ground crew will not have to be on standby for hours on end. The system could also facilitate communication between the ground crews.
RLG Docking Systems Inc. (Asia Office)
Smart Transportation
Intelligent Aircraft Management – RLG GIS 206-2 system
Selling points:
- Built-in industrial-use Microsoft Windows touch-screen computers granting ease of use for any users of computers.
- Information and instruction between ground-crew operated computers and the mounted panels are synced to ensure flight safety operations.
- The maintenance of a zero-accident record since the system’s introduction in 2011
- Used by 70 percent of the 1,600 commercial airports world-wide
