The TopSky (formerly EUROCAT) system is a computerised air traffic control and management solution developed by Thales Air Systems (formerly Thomson CSF). It utilises a distributed computing architecture and is capable of integrating geographically dispersed air traffic control units within a Flight Information Region (e.g. control towers at different airports and en route control centres) into a single coherent system.
During 2012, the Thales marketing name has been changed from Eurocat to TopSky.
Features
TopSky handles a large variety of different functions required for the smooth operation of air traffic control and management. A non-exhaustive list includes:
Surveillance data processing and track correlation (radar, ADS-B, ADS-C etc.) Flight plan processing Communication (CPDLC etc.) Aeronautical information data processing (NOTAMs, QNH, wind aloft etc.) Flow control and sequencing Human-machine interfacing (e.g. correlating data to generate controller's display) Data recording Controller situational awareness and alerts generation Squawk Emergency (EMG), Radio Failure (RAD), Hijack (HIJ) Short Term Conflict Alert (STCA), Minimum Safe Altitude Warning (MSAW), Danger Area Infringement Warning (DAIW) etc. Non-Transgression Zone (NTZ) alert, DUPE Alerts, FPCF Alerts.
Countries The software is used in many countries, including:
Algeria Australia Austria Belgium Brunei China Croatia Czech Republic Denmark Dominican Republic Egypt Finland France Greece Hungary Indonesia Ireland Jamaica Kenya Portugal Philippines Saudi Arabia Singapore South Africa Sweden United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Thailand Tanzania
References