World-class ATM know-how, skills, products and services based on unique experience.

Si ATM, located in Sundbyberg, Sweden was established in 1981. It was founded by personnel from the Swedish ATM industry with extensive previous experience in the area of Air Traffic Control. This experience came from the participation in the development of the highly sophisticated systems ATCAS and TERCAS, which were produced in Sweden at the end of the 1970's, and were installed in Sweden and Russia.

Si ATM has throughout its existence consequently and systematically focused on activities in the ATM area. Initially, we focused primarily on ATM consultant projects, including upgrades and modernizations. We worked mainly for the Swedish CAA on our home market, but also for other CAA's around the world.

Having worked for decades with everything from ATM hardware to operator applications, we were ready to launch our own ATM system concept in 1993. It is essentially a set of building blocks, which facilitates step-by-step substitution of obsolete technology, thus allowing systems to be upgraded to state-of-the-art performance without dramatic changes at any stage. Customer-specific applications are combined with ready-made software modules for radar presentation, flight data processing and other necessary ATM functions.

ATC building blocks.
Today ATC systems around the world are tending to become more and more alike. The overall objective is that pilots and airlines should be unaware of the characteristics of the underlying systems being used. In order to streamline the controllers' way of working, the functionality and the mdmachne interfaces of ATC systems should be similar.

International organisations such as Eurocontrol and ICAO are responsible for the development and standardisation of methods and procedures which are then adopted by the CAAs. This movement towards standardisation presented opportunities for a more cost-effective way of developing ATC systems.

The basis of our concept is reusable system building blocks for radar presentation, flight data processing and other necessary ATC functions. To these we can add customer-specific applications, as required. Over the years, we have acquired a deep knowledge of how work is performed in towers, terminal centres and area control centres. Knowledge of conventions and traditions of Air Traffic Control is crucial when developing modem automated systems. 

Our strategy of reusing software results in a fast development phase, which is carried out with the needs of the working controller firmly in focus. We use rapid prototyping methods in order to create a manlmachine interface that closely corresponds to the final version. Our success can be attributed to our commitment to involve our customers' specialists and working controllers in all phases of the project.

Platform independence.
Reuse of software is a critical factor in achieving cost-effective solutions. Another factor is to avoid the development of dedicated hardware. Consequently our systems are based on standard Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) products. We have chosen to develop our software modules using industry standards for operating system, communications and data-bases. This allows each customer to make his own choice of computer platform. Of greater significance is the fact that it must be possible to switch hardware in the future, as technology advances. An investment in an ATC application from Systemintegrering is 'future-proof'. Our familiarity with the whole chain of information processing from the smallest component to the controller's decision, enables us to implement our system step-by-step without affecting ongoing operations.

Phased implementation –  the key to success
Si ATM offers and has experience from what is known as Phased Implementation. This approach means that a number of concrete project phases are defined, and the functionality of each phase carefully is specified in order to avoid temporary solutions and dead ends. Traditional implementation of ATM systems has a sad history of delays, rising costs, inability to reach initial objectives and even total project collapses. The risk of ending up with these problems is decreased or eliminated by using Phased Implementation methods.

Phase specification
Each new phase in a project is specified only when the work with the preceding phase draws to an end, and each new phase can, consequently, profit by increased system know-how from the preceding phases. As a result, specifications become constantly clearer, the system itself constantly better, project fulfilment and customer satisfaction constantly higher and - last but far from least - the mutual understanding and confidence between buyer and seller constantly greater.
Each implementation phase constitutes a clearly defined, completed milestone, put into operational use and thereby possible to build on in the next phase.

Advantages of Phased Implementation
• It is easier to control and follow up a project divided into well-defined phases.
• Buyer and user get tangible results (usually high-priority ones) early in the project.
• It is easier to get controller acceptance.
• Acceptance testing becomes less dramatic for both parties.
• The transition to the new system is easier to perform.
• There are a number of clearly defined  milestones to which payment schedules  and other contractual issues can be connected.
• The project risk decreases.
• The customer gets in-depth knowledge of system hardware, software and unctionality.
• The product usability increases.
• The calendar time for operational evaluation can be limited.