New Ops room/system for Maastricht?

[Sobelena]

Is it correct that Maastricht has or is about to migrate to a new ops room and system? Will this result in restrictions? What do Maastricht ATCOs think of their new toy?

[flowman]

Sobelena

Maastricht move to their new ops room during the night between 2nd and 3rd November.
There will be a transitional period of two weeks to enable EDYY operational staff to familiarise themselves with the new system and procedures.
For the first week capacities will be reduced by between 20 and 30%. The second week capacities will be reduced by 10%. If all goes well capacities will be restored to normal after two weeks.
During the periods of reduced capacity there will inevitably be restrictions. There will, however, be rerouteing and level capping measures in place to try to alleviate the delays. These measures will be decided during a teleconference held daily at 1400 local (Brussels time) involving the ACCs concerned and Aircraft Operators.

flowman

[zed3]

Well.....what happened ? I worked the last night duty in the old Ops Room on Friday night , So , did it go well ? No restrictions .....so to speak ? Or was it a case of nobody noticed anything and life just went on , as at Swanwick ? .....Ooops !

[Lon More]

Zed,
Not a lot happening, plenty of drones buzzinng around and too many people on Nights.
Went into my office for a couple of hours rest and found a t@sser from BR sector squatting :(

A few problems with VERA but most of the others seem to be caused by to systems in paralllel.

A list of changes requested about as long as your arm - half for implementation of something and the other half for reversion to the original.

Roll on next Friday

[achtung]

Actually, as per usual Lon More is being fussy and negative. The system is excellent, and as with all new systems there are a few minor items to alter. Otherwise, we moved and the only thing we didn't get right were the cup holders for the coffee! It really is a big improvement and an enjoyment to work in there. And let's not get on to the subject of t***ers from your sector Lon thank you.

[OscarTango]

After working two days in de N-Opsroom : I like it a lot. To me the HMI feels realy instinctive... maybe because I grew up in a "windows"-environment ?

The first steps with live traffic were a bit rough, because I couldn't find the tools by routine, but now everything is falling is it's place and I'm sure most of us will be familiar with all the tools provided in a short while. Heck, people are even developing ambidexteric skills ( using the transmit button with one hand, while performing another action with the mouse ). :D

The displays are so much better than the old ones, especially the barco's...a pleasure to look at...

To everyone from MUAC : try to enjoy it...there's no way back anyway ;)

Greetings,
OT

[Hotel Tango]

You paint a rosy picture achtung ; you must be management or looking for a career move in that direction! Sure we have to evolve with the times but lets be honest in the end the migration was rushed (there was a very long list of outstanding problems identified during the training phases) to satisfy the usual political agendas!

[Asda]

Tell us more about the displays. As someone at a new multi million pound centre with displays that may be the subject of enforcement orders by health and safety authorities it would be interesting to hear how it CAN be done.

Colours used, size of fonts, refresh rates, manufacturer, size. Give us everything you've got.

[zed3]

BUT.....Has anybody 'up there' noticed ? There have been no announcements - the official press notification date being mid January , very clever on behalf of management .....for once! Agree with HT but WE made it work , again .

[Lon More]

Achtung , sorry, it must have been you I woke up:D

I am not being fussy or negative, The system is far from excellent, the list of "fings to fix" is a long one and a lot of the problems could have been overcome by a longer and more intensive shadowing period.

Asda the screens are a mixture of Sony 2k by 2k screens which are being replaced as fast as possible by Barco flat screens as the definition is fuzzy, not something you would expect in an "excellent" system. Will try to dig out the specs later.

Zed3
.. but you can collect your present from the secretary's office!

[Scott Voigt]

Lon;

Good to hear that you have made the transition. I hope that our team ( Enroute Automation Moderization [ERAM]) will be able to make a trip to Europe next spring. If so, Maastricht is one of the places that I want to stop off at.

We are installing the new LCD BARCO ISIS displays in the US too at the enroute centers. Seattle and Salt Lake are the first two sites. The LCD displays are nice, but they have limitations on display due to the the older display drivers and computers that we are using to drive them right now. We are hoping for a tech refresh for the suites in the next couple of years.

Missed you at ATCA this week... Lots of pretty new toys <G>.

regards

[flowman]

Scott

Now there's a refreshing thing, somebody interested in learning from the experiences of others.
It's amazing how many times the wheel is re-invented in the world of ATC...

flowman

[achtung]

Lon More...... I understand it was you that was woken up?.... or is that just a rumour?...:D
Hotel Tango... why is it, as soon as someone says anything positive about work, you HAVE to be management or looking for a step up? .....pathetic. You people are never satisfied and are continuously negative about everything. It is a new system and as with all systems there are a few teething problems; but get it in perspective, there was nothing major to prevent the migration on the day. Oh, and yes let's give ourselves a pat on the back for all that work...... that we were paid to do.......

[kilojuliet]

Calm Down everyone,

The system IS good in general but I agree with Lon in that there are a lot of minor problems that could have been addressed before we moved. This is probably partly due to lack of feedback from the controllers during earlier phases. Just look at all those bits of paper we have all filled out in the last few weeks requesting changes be made. Bet they didn't have anywhere near that number during the development phase.

One major problem I think we all agree on is the location of the supports screens, above your head! Just wait for the RSI claims to start rolling in. I think any decent HMI manual will agree that screens should be placed at eye level.:rolleyes:

As far as personal gripes go I would like to have seen a more standard "Windows Style" functionality. ie which button does what. But seeing as we started designing this system before Bill Gates was out of short trousers it's not suprising.

I've also heard people complaining that the system is TOO flexible. Your settings can be so personalised that it can take quite a while to have "Everything just right". You get the ability to create user profiles in windows as standard but it seems in our system this is going to be an optional extra!!!

All in all, good, but a little rushed in the later stages of development. Let's just get on with it, it's workable. Wait and see what the future brings.

[Scott Voigt]

KJ

Interesting to note that you don't have preference sets for your equipment. We started out with some for the colors and intensities, so that helped a bit. We are now adding more controlability to the scope as well as getting ready to add the ability to set where all the boxes go since everyone seems to have a different idea as to where they are best suited...

Good luck with the system.

regards

[achtung]

The pieces of paper were minor "problems" and to a certain extent they were personal preferences...hence there were many of them. The New ODS is excellent and will certainly allow us to increase our threshold values...yet again.:D

[Lon More]

ASDA & Scott

I'vebeen looking around for the specs on the screens but apart from the manufacture's specs. very little is available for the Barcos. I have the character sizes ( in pixels ) and the colour values etc. from the Sony screens and lists of what colours are used for what info. As usual the paperwork is way behind the present situation
Now that the Display system has been renewed, and the old one, though past its "sell by date" was still pretty advanced, attention is to be focussed on new main frames and drivers, also on the free flight concept.

Kilojuliet

Remember the first part of the CBT about setting up the position with regards to eye level. I haven't seen one person do that to date. The idea was to try to get the positions closer together, therefore, not so essential, information can be displayed above - think of it as an updated CCTV system. The whole idea is negated as many OTJ trainers are complaining about the distance from the screen and VCS when forced to sit behind the trainee and wish only to train if the neighbouring position is not used.


achtung
Elsewhere accused of being a management wannabee

I think your last post says enough. Are the first two letters of your nom de plume a clue to your identity?

[achtung]

tut tut Lon More (?)...... showing your true colours heh?