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Issue link: https://groundsupportworldwide.epubxp.com/i/763587
22 GROUND SUPPORT WORLDWIDE DECEMBER 2016/JANUARY 2017 SAFETY personnel and flight crews to dock aircraft at gates, move baggage and aircraft, refuel planes and provide on-ground maintenance and inspection. In order to maximize efficiency and mini- mize aircraft turnaround times, the two sys- tems in this example need to be connected to each other, along with the emergency response system, so that any threat to oper- ations is communicated as accurately and quickly as possible. Ground personnel should be notified immediately if severe weather is in the area, or if they need to be aware of an inflight emergency on final approach. Inside the terminal, airline staff must be advised that ground crews may not be available until a situation has been resolved, and that flight delays are imminent. With the next step in the evolution of EMNS, innovative airports were able to move to a facility-wide, enterprise approach for governing emergency management. Increas- ing numbers of network-capable devices meant more data could be brought into the command center to provide improved situ- ational awareness. Airport operations could be monitored from multiple remote locations, and could connect large numbers of mobile personnel via smartphones or tablets. Using alert templates, pre-defined response scenarios and employee profiles, airports could centrally manage mass noti- fication and control "sub-systems," which eliminated redundancies and errors in data management across the enterprise. Future technology advances are now expanding communications beyond airport management to vendors, communities and other entities directly affected by airport operations. These connections need to bridge a much wider range of communications technologies, while providing the real-time response and secured flow of information that, up until now, had only been possible inside the physical and networked perimeter of the airport property. Interoperable Communica- tion: Next Frontier of Crisis Communication Aging communications infrastructure, legacy technologies and incompatible systems are challenges for many airports. Additionally, a large number of these legacy systems are pro- prietary, with minimal levels of technological support threatened by attrition of employees and technology products experiencing end- of-life issues. The difficulty lies in economically tran- sitioning these stand-alone systems into a single unified experience, which allows operators to control all inputs and outputs, and extend rapid response capability beyond the airport property. History has shown that airport operators need to inform their ten- ants, surrounding infrastructure and even the broader community, to coordinate an effective response. Communication Needs to Extend Beyond Four Walls Most major airports with domestic and international traffic have to accommodate passenger, freight and other ancillary oper- ations that maintain these services. Beyond the airport itself, each airline, cargo com- pany, maintenance business and vendor has its own organizational processes, procedures and cultures. These challenges can be overwhelming. Each entity maintains a workforce of great diversity with regard to language, size, role, disability, security level and access level. The entire aviation system must be considered, because it is an interconnected network where an individual airport does not oper- ate in isolation. Airport managers typically know how to handle internal communications within their physical grounds. True interoperability, however, has to include collaboration with a broader range of public and private stake- holders, including: • Federal and state government author- ities: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Transportation Security Admin- NARROW BODY TO WIDE BODY STAIRS LAVATORY AND WATER SERVICE CARTS & TRUCKS MAINTENANCE LIFTS BELT LOADERS MORE THAN 20 YEARS OF QUALITY GSE PRODUCTS! 300 INDUSTRIAL AVENUE 3 FT. PIERCE, FL 34946 PHONE: (772) 595-6386 / FAX: (772) 595-6389 EMAIL: phoenixgse@earthlink.net WEBSITE: www.phoenixgse.com AviationPros.com/10017661