b'50 BOW OPERATIONShistoric 1952 fighter pilot training facility used by Aldrin, Ed White,unit to help control temperatures in the data room that houses the Karol Bobko and many other pilots from around the world. Wecomputers that convert camera data into the visuals displayed on took the building, which was a brilliant Air Force-constructed Coldthe monitors. To eliminate overhead lines, crews also had to install War concrete structure, and repurposed it to house the newestall new underground fiber to connect the tower and control center. technology in air traffic control in the country, Helms remarks.With no full plans or specifications from previous projects to Swafford notes that using a simple building like it instead of areference, the team encountered some considerable learning multi-story tower represents tremendous cost savings, not onlycurves. This actually was done under a design-build contract on the construction side, but also for long-term maintenance.with the airport, Swafford says. Realistically, its probably The building also is easier to hurricane harden, which is a keythe only way it could have been done. While Frequentis has consideration in Florida. been working on this technology for a while, they have only implemented a few of these systems in the U.S., and those have A First, But Likely Not a Last been on DoD facilities, where they dont always do things the The entire projectas well as upgrades to the existing traditionalsame way we do in the civilian world. For example, they dont towerwere funded by $6.1 million in state innovation andnecessarily have to go through local agency permitting. So, we legislative appropriation grants. The state funded the digital tower,did have to figure out some things as we went along.for all practical purposes, as a test site for the state of Florida, saysFrequentis worked closely with the airport and Hanson to Swafford. Active control testing is slated for January 2026, anddesign the system. Although remote digital towers have been the target to have the new system providing all air traffic controlcommon in Europe for more than a decade, they are still rare services is July 2026. in the United States. The concept was developed in the early Despite the complexity associated with being the first U.S.2000s, Sami notes. And since 2010, digital towers have been in installation of a Frequentis remote digital tower, the project stayeddifferent places around the world. But in the U.S., it is definitely a close to budget even with a few unexpected modifications. Thosenewer technology.included additional electrical circuits and a second air conditioning November | December 2025AirportImprovement.com'