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Surface Modeller

PDToolKit Surface Modeller is a commercial off-the-shelf product developed and owned by ASD. Surface Modeller consists of a number of components which provide a toolset to assist in the creation, analysis and review of complex surfaces for all types of flight procedures as detailed in ICAO document 8168.

To improve Airspace Management, the dynamic availability of quality IPD is of utmost importance. Air Navigation Service Providers are required to ensure the flow of aeronautical information necessary for the safety, regularity, and efficiency of international air navigation within their area of responsibility. The airspace users (and the organisations serving the airspace users) depend on the accuracy and timeliness of such data for safe flight operations.

The main goals driving the development of PDToolKit Surface Modeller are:

  • Safety Enhancement
  • Quality Improvement
  • Cost Reduction
  • Improved Efficiency of the design process

User interface

Surface Modeller’s user interface has been carefully designed to be simple and avoid multiple overlapping dialog boxes which obscure the design area. When using Surface Modeller, most interactions occur within 2 dockable windows. The Tools tree for PANS-OPS is shown below (there is a similar one for TERPS criteria). The available tools have a logical lay-out and their status is clearly indicated.

PANS-OPS Tools Tree
PANS-OPS Tools Tree

When tools are we retired (deprecated), usually due to updated criteria, they are kept available to maintain compatibility with old designs, but it is made  clear that the tool should not be used for new designs (hence the red circle).

When a tool has been selected, the Properties windows shown below will display the properties available to modify the behaviour of that tool. The following would be displayed if the Navigation Splay tool had been selected.

Tool Properties
Tool Properties

Surface Modeller does not hide the parameters used for a design or the results of intermediate calculations (as directed in ICAO Doc 8168) and these are always available for display and validation. Here, for example, we reveal the GNSS parameters used at various fixes in a BaroVNAV design.

Tool Parameters
Tool Parameters

With Surface Modeller the designer is always in control and may enter any values he wishes. In those cases where values are entered that are outside the ICAO recommendations, PDToolKit will warn the user, but will not prevent the user completing a non-standard design.

Features

A comprehensive tool set is available enabling any type of surface for any procedure to be constructed:

  • Segments (Arrival, initial, Intermediate, Missed Approach, etc.)
  • Visual Segments
  • Aircraft turns and templates (Wind Spiral, Base Turn, Racetrack, 45°-180° Reversal, 80°-260° Reversal, etc.)
  • Navigation Splay
  • Holding Buffer and Holding Area
  • Terminal Area Fixes
  • Precision Segments ( ILS, GBAS, SBAS)
  • Departures
  • DME/DME Coverage
  • En-route Navigation
  • Visual Circling
  • Sector Altitudes
  • Aerodrome/Heliport
  • PBN RNAV (Basic GNSS, DME/DME, VOR/DME, Protection Turns, etc.)
  • RNP Approaches (LNAV, BaroVNAV)
  • RNAV Protection Turns
  • Wind Spirals
  • Terminal Arrival Areas
  • Minimum Sector Altitudes