You’ll never see views of the CAMERA TOWER at WSI Airport like this again

The new digital control tower is ready and testing will begin next month in September 2025. The tower is fitted with 25 high-resolution cameras, 16 of which are in a circular array to see 360 degrees around the aerodrome while the other cameras on top pan, tilt and zoom as needed. “Western Sydney will be Australia’s first airport without a traditional air traffic control tower,” AirServices Australia, 5 March 2024 The new Western Sydney International Airport will be the “nation’s first purpose-built digital air traffic control service…” Though Canberra Airport has recently launched a digital tower and Ballina Byron Gateway Airport (apparently) is planning to use a digital tower from late 2025, WSI Airport will operate as a digitised aerodrome unlike any other airport in the country. In this video, we’ll take an aerial look at the main facilities and structures to show what this is and how the system will work. Some have observed a key feature of airports conspicuously missing from the new WSI airport. Namely, there’s no traditional air traffic control tower in sight. Rather, in its place is a 45-metre (148 feet) mast tower - located just over 900 metres west of the airport terminal. This mast tower will soon be fitted with 25 high-resolution cameras monitoring the airport and surrounding airspace. 16 cameras will be in an array to see 360 degrees around the aerodrome. The other cameras on top pan, tilt and zoom as needed. The cameras will beam real-time live data to a centralised control room allowing air traffic controllers (ATC) to monitor the aerodrome remotely. Camera detections will be projected onto screens as a Digital Aerodrome Service (DAS). The DAS enables new air traffic management tools and features such as object tracking, night vision and image enhancement. And it enables controllers to see beyond the limitations of the human eye, and more at night and during periods of low visibility. What all this means is WSI will operate as a fully digitised airport. Reportedly, digital towers are already in operation in the UK, Sweden, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Hungary and Norway. Apparently the technology was developed 15 years ago and has been operational for 10 years. In March 2024, WSI Airport selected CDC (Canberra Data Centres) Data Centres for its digital tower deployment. There are two CDC Data Centres in Sydney, one in Marsden Park and the other in Eastern Creek. For WSI Airport, the Data Centre providing DAS to the airport will be located in Eastern Creek. The Data Centre at Eastern Creek is one of the largest in the southern hemisphere with a current capacity (operating) of 123 Megawatts. Eastern Creek has four operational Data Centres with another two under construction. The data centre is outfitted with advanced cooling systems and extensive fibre optic networks to guarantee optimal performance and reliability for data-intensive operations. Data centres consume a significant amount of electricity due to energy required to power servers, cooling systems and other infrastructure. It’s likely the Eastern Creek Data Centre uses Transgrid’s Sydney West 330 kV Substation next door on Old Wallgrove Rd for its high energy needs. LINKS TO INFORMATION SOURCES USED IN THIS PRESENTATION: Airservices Australia launches nation’s first purpose-built digital air traffic control service at Western Sydney International Airport - Airservices Western Sydney International Airport pioneers Australia's first digital air traffic control system off tarmac - ABC News Western Sydney to get Digital Tower - Australian Flying Airservices installs camera mast for digital tower at Canberra – Australian Aviation Airservices unveils Western Sydney Airport’s new ‘digital tower’ – Australian Aviation Western Sydney Airport selects CDC Data Centres for digital air traffic control tower - DCD Sydney international airport: Badgery's Creek airport will operate without traditional air traffic control tower MUSIC –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Music: Eclipse by Onycs / onycsmusic License: Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://www.audiolibrary.com.co/onycs... Music promoted by Audio Library: • Emotional, Electronic, Uplifting No Copyri... –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Music: Hypnosis by meloddict / meloddict License: Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://audiolibrary.com.co/meloddict... Music promoted by Audio Library: • Melodic, Progressive, Trance No Copyright ... ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––