IDS and ATNS Partner for PBN Implementation in South Africa

IDS Ingegneria Dei Sistemi S.p.A. announces that its subsidiary IDS Tech Inc. has signed a contract with Air Traffic and Navigation Services Company Ltd. (ATNS) of South Africa for the provision of its Performance Based Navigation (PBN) software for Flight Procedure and Airspace Design and for Ground Validation. ATNS becomes the latest member to join IDS's PBN community which boasts the largest user-base of any aeronautical design and ground validation tool sets.

The contract was signed during a dedicated ceremony at the 38th Session of the ICAO Assembly in Montreal, Canada. "It is fitting that we begin this project while attending the Assembly where national aviation authorities are discussing how to cooperatively manage the doubling of air traffic by 2030," explained Dario Rossilli, COO of IDS Tech Inc.

ATNS selected IDS following an international tender and exhaustive technical evaluation of the competitive tools on the market. IDS's offer included its FPDAM software for PBN and conventional flight procedure design, Airspace Designer for the design and management of airspaces and routes, and FPSAT for ground validation of flight procedure flyability and GNSS and DME-DME coverage. Uniquely, IDS was able to offer a close integration with the aeronautical information management database currently being used by ATNS as well as the ability to export its aeronautical design scenarios to ATNS’s fast-time simulator. IDS's products clearly demonstrated that when compared to the competition in a serious bench-marking exercise, they are by far the superior products on the market. Providing further credibility, IDS is one of only a handful of companies that has been endorsed by ICAO as a qualified PBN flight procedure design organization.

"This project will provide ATNS with the capability to optimize their routes and airspaces to conform to the standards for Performance Based Navigation, which will improve safety, increase capacity and efficiency, and reduce the environmental impact of air traffic in South Africa." said ATNS CEO, Thabani Mthiyane.