Cranfield Airport: UK's first digital air traffic control centre opens

Prof Graham Braithwaite said the centre would help make air travel "safer and more convenient"

The first fully operational digital air traffic control centre in the UK has opened in Bedfordshire.

Technology at Cranfield Airport digitally replicates on screens what can be seen through the windows of a traditional air traffic control tower.

HD cameras and sensors create a live feed of views across the airfield.

This provides a 360-degree view of the airport and the ability to zoom-in on aircraft, improving visibility, a spokesman said.

A Cranfield spokesman said it would also "improve a controller's situational awareness, enabling quick and informed decisions".

The digital air traffic control tower provides a 360-degree view of the airport and the ability to zoom-in on aircraft

Prof Graham Braithwaite, head of transport systems at Cranfield University, said: "It's the first of its kind [in the UK] it's working and it's part of a transformation that will make air travel safer, more convenient and open up some of those air routes, particularly to the remoter regions of the UK."

The airport, owned by the university, is 48 miles from central London, and caters to private jets, training and aviation research.

In 2015, the airports in Örnsköldsvik and Sundsvall in Sweden became the first in the world to be controlled via a digital control tower in Sundsvall.

London's City Airport is also due to move its air traffic control to a digital tower in Hampshire by January 2020.