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Langen, August 2001
The DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung
GmbH is the company controlling the use
of the civil airspace above Germany, which
is one of the most crowded in the world.
More than 2.4 million aircraft movements
were handled last year, a number that is
constantly growing. The control of this
traffic tolerates no mistake and places
the highest demands on people and technology.
Dozens of computer systems
are operational to support the controllers.
In 2000, Stromasys
of Switzerland, in collaboration with Compaq
Germany, completed a major project to move
one of the most important operational systems,
DERD-XL, to high performance Alpha systems.
This system collects radar data, processes
it and delivers it to the large graphical
display systems used by the air traffic
controllers.
Due to the demand of extremely
fast growing air traffic and the limitations
of the current graphical subsystems, these
systems must also be migrated to a faster
computer platform. Based on its track record
and experience, DFS decided to subcontract
the graphical system migration on a turnkey
basis to Stromasys
in view of their specialization in the migration
of large complex systems.
The complexity of the project
is highlighted by the fact that the display
resolution requirements are beyond most
commercially available hardware, and a special
graphic library will be developed to meet
the real time requirements. Furthermore,
the new graphic systems must be integrated
into a complex network of existing operational
and back-up systems. This switchover must
be implemented without operational disruption,
as the overall system cannot be switched
off during the transition.
The project started in August
2001 and will be completed in March 2002.
The on-site delivery includes a very extensive
test and acceptance period to satisfy the
extremely strict test procedures inherent
to these air traffic control systems.
Stromasys
specializes in migrating and extending legacy
software applications to new platforms.
Its expertise also covers process control
systems and tools to execute PDP-11 and
VAX binary code unmodified on modern hardware.
Stromasys is based
in Geneva Switzerland and maintains additional
offices in the Federal Republic of Germany,
Benelux, France, Sweden, and North America.
For further information,
contact: |
