Month: November 2017

SINGAPORE – Air traffic controllers at Changi Airport will soon be guiding planes to land and take off, without having to physically see the aircraft from a control tower. In theory, they can do so from Seletar or even Jurong.

This is part of a $7-million trial by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), to develop and test a smart digital tower prototype.

Awarding the contract to UK-based Air Traffic Management service provider NATS – which manages London’s Heathrow airport – CAAS said on Tuesday (Nov21) that the trial will take about 22 months to complete. It is expected to start early next year.

The authority will then evaluate the operational feasibility before determining if the technology is suited for a busy airport like Changi.

So far, only small airports have adopted the technology.

Ornskoldsvik, a small airport in Sweden, is the first airport in the world where all flights are controlled remotely. Planes taking off or landing there are guided by air traffic controllers who are located nearly 170 km away in the town of Sundsvall. Other countries looking at remote towers include Hungary, Britain, the US and Germany.

A smart digital tower, equipped with a range of assistive functionalities and features, should help enhance air traffic management and safety of runway and ground operations, and increase operational efficiencies at Changi Airport, the CAAS said.

The awarded contract includes the set-up of multiple fixed-position cameras to feed live video images onto a large video wall. This will provide a similar view to what air traffic controllers currently see from a physical control tower.

The trial will also employ advanced camera and video stitching technologies that will enable better display of information. For instance, the video cameras can automatically pan, tilt, and zoom, to enable a closer look at objects and/or areas of interest.

CAAS director-general Kevin Shum, said: “In concert with Singapore’s Smart Nation drive, we are leveraging digital technology to transform the aviation industry in Singapore in many different ways.”

He said: “We are excited by the possibilities and remain committed to working with our industry partners to provide quality air traffic management services without compromising on safety and service levels.”

The tender for the smart digital tower prototype was launched on Feb 28. It attracted three bids, which were evaluated based on a set of criteria, including technical expertise, company track record, and price competitiveness.

Russia has ranked the 35th in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings for 2018 having improved its standing by 5 points year-on-year. The ‘distance to best practices’ indicator shows a significant increase after scaling back last year.

“Russia has got its record highest spot in the World Bank’s rankings, whose experts noted a significant acceleration of reforms in our country. We have jumped 20 to 40 positions in some indicators,” said Maxim Oreshkin, Russian Minister of Economic Development. – It is important to understand that there is now a serious competitive struggle for each position and it was relatively easier to climb from the 100th spot to some 50th.”

For the third consecutive year, Russia is ahead of the BRICS countries and the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in the rankings, with France, Holland, Switzerland and Japan being Russia’s closest competitors.

“We have demonstrated the best dynamics among all the countries covered by the rankings over the last six years,” Maxim Oreshkin emphasized reminding that Russia ranked 120th in 2011.

Russia is now among the top ten countries by electrical grid connection and in the top thirty in terms of property registration, contract execution, business registration and lending.

At the same time, there are still areas where Russia is placed unacceptably low, including in “obtaining a building permit” and “international trade”. However, it is worth noting that Russia has jumped 40 positions in the “international trade” indicator.

Maxim Oreshkin noted that improving the investment climate in Russia remains one of the key tasks for the Russian Government. “Simplicity and low costs of doing business are a prerequisite for the active growth of private investment. The placement in the rankings is not an end in itself. The main thing is rather to achieve active growth of SMB investment activities country-wide,” the head of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development added.

While talking about plans for the next year, the Minister has highlighted four key goals: (1) introduction of best practices at the regional level to improve the investment climate; (2) forging breakthrough procedures based on new generation digital technologies, primarily, in the realms where we are lagging behind (e.g., in construction); (3) implementation of the control and supervision reform; and (4) shifting the emphasis to creating conditions for human development as a key factor of competitiveness in the 21st century.

For reference:

Business conditions are evaluated by 10 indicators. Russia ranked among top 55 countries in 8 out of 10 indicators, with its results improved year-to-year in four of them such as the “international trade”, “electricity connection”, “lending” and “protection of minority shareholders” indicators.

In terms of “electricity connection”, Russia has climbed from the 30th to the 10th spot leading both in connection reliability, timing, and in the number of procedures. Compared with last year, it now takes 80 days vs. 150 in Moscow and 90 days vs. 185 in St. Petersburg to connect a facility model to the electrical grid.

Results have significantly improved in the “international trade” area, where Russia has risen 40 positions. This became possible due to the measures taken to optimize customs procedures such as reducing timing and costs of passing goods during export and import.

The positive dynamics also continues in the “lending”. Russia has improved its performance by 15 positions upwards the 29th spot. Thanks to enhanced single notary information system, it is now possible to send electronic notices on pledges over movable property, bypassing the Federal Notary Chamber as an authorized operator.

Source: http://www.ved.gov.ru/eng/general/news/19/23358.html

In November, 2017 the authorities of Moscow and Beijing have signed a cooperation program for 2018-2022, the head of the Moscow department for foreign economic and international ties, Sergei Cheremin, told reporters on Friday during his visit to Beijing.

“A program of cooperation between Beijing and Moscow for 2018-202 has been signed. This document is very important for us, because it envisages ties not only in economy, but also in city development, as well as sharing experience in creating a comfortable urban environment, developing transport and the introduction of most innovative technologies in the area of city services,” he said.

According to the Russian official, the two countries also express their intention to develop cultural and sports exchanges.

“We think that cooperation in education is very important. The Russian language is gaining popularity in China. More and more universities open Russian language departments,” he said.

Source: http://www.ved.gov.ru/eng/general/news/19/23359.html