SANKALIT Consultant: Making a paradigm shift in Airport Operations

Uttarakhand is the abode of Gods, where skies bow down in front of the Himalayas. The capital of Uttarakhand, Dehradun nestled between the rivers in the Doon valley is a sprawling city with varied landscapes beholding the most picturesque places of India.

An airport is undoubtedly one of the key pillars for the economic growth of a region. It's evidence of the development and success of government foresight for the nation and its policies.

SANKALIT Consultant is entrusted for Dehradun Airport expansion project for Special Airport System, ICT, Security and Wireless system. New Dehradun Terminal is the finest blend of State-of-the-art green building technology with enhanced security. Terminal intricately infuses local Uttarakhand Culture and local heritage.

Unique Project Challenges & innovative Solutions

The shifting dynamics and the significance of ICT in industries have revolutionized the traditional approach taken by the industry into a much more modern and interconnected manner. The Dehradun airport project needed to overcome unique challenges as being one of the first airports to follow Airports Authority of India (AAI) requiring Integrated ICT Infrastructure creating a common infrastructure for Airport Employees, Airlines, Tenants, Security and Passenger Processing System provider agencies. As expected, challenges amplified due to stringent project timelines, pandemic situations, and difficult terrain. The project also demanded to do the entire operation transition from old terminal to new terminal overnight providing only six hours window to ensure all pieces of equipment are shifted and services are functional at the new terminal building within the available timeframe before the first early morning flight at 6 am.

The exceptional task demanded groundbreaking solutions provided by the Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) from SANKALIT Consultant. The team deep-dived into rigorous planning, process implementation, mock trials and micromanagement up to the last details leaving no gap for errors. SANKALIT team knew project implementation needed to synchronise multiple stakeholders including AAI's Project & Operation team, Airlines, CISF, end-users, together with main and various specialised contractor teams. Meticulous scrutiny of contractor documents and agile implementation method helped in achieving project completion in a defined timeline. A large project such as Dehradun airport reemphasized the crucial necessity of specialised master system integrators.

Importance of Master System Integrator (MSI)

Mission-critical project's majority systems are interdependent on various other systems and require close tandem integration, let's take an example of an airport project for a reference. The large airport project demands the integration of more than 40 systems across various key system groups in addition to integration within the group. Core Airport Systems are divided into nine logical groups with each including multiple systems: Airport Operation Interface, IT System, Digi Yatra, Vehicle & Visitor Management, Security, Baggage Management, Passenger Convenience, Building, and Air Side.

MSI is to ensure user-friendly and operational ready system to end-users before commercial commencement of the airport. System integration demands abundant types of interfaces such as Network Interface, Low-level Physical interface, Mid-level interface such as OPC, High-level interfaces through Information Broker (IB), and Voice Interface are needed.

MSI shall ensure successful integration through specialized contractors such as BMS, Fire Alarm (FAS), Flight Information (FIDS), Structured Cabling (SCS), Data Networking, Security System, Public Address (PA) and others which play a crucial part in the entire eco-system. A systematic design and documentation approach is imperative and is achieved through Context Diagram, Interface Control Matrix (ICD's) based on Interface Matrix, Message Definition identification and finally Communication Protocol for each interface.

The implementation process involves extensive usage of Lab Integration Plan, Master Integration Plan and Functional Integration Test plans, in addition to test support of integration adapters and API. Master integration testing also demands Master Integration testing (end-to-end testing), performance testing, security testing and user acceptance testing. The development of integration test facilities is
also crucial to verify all development, test, production and implementation activities. Hence diverse Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), Tools and a robust execution method with the established process is essential. This helps to manage/mitigate various risks in ensuring the quality and to evaluate the integrated system behaviour during standard and non-standard scenarios to see the impact of the system for supplying the required functionality/stability of the systems.

Design, Implementation Process and execution management as mentioned above are essential for successful user acceptance and Operation Readiness Activation and Transition (ORAT) of an airport project.

AAI team's support and guidance combined with the team's efforts helped in successful overnight operation transition of running airport including Cost & Time saving. The integrated networking infrastructure approach opened multiple revenue generation options for the client running into crores. SANKALIT Consultant team is delighted to function as an extended arm of the client to set up new processes and support the AAI team in embracing the advanced technology and systems.

Dr SD Sharma, Jt. General Manager (Electr), AAI, appreciated the efforts as he said, “Meticulously planned Dehradun Airport projects with Special Airport, ICT and security system project management services assisted AAI in on-time project delivery and transition from old terminal to new terminal overnight. Big applause to the whole ASIT team led by Jigar Mehta, who made it possible even though several new state-of-the-art systems were implemented first time in the AAI project, helping to shift the paradigm of the airport's future policies.”

- Jigar Mehta

Founder, Sankalit Consultant

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