31st May, 2021 

Hundreds of AODBs have been implemented in the past decades. An AODB is, in fact, a good database that combines all available data streams at the airport and gets fed by a multitude of partners. The AODB then tries to make sense of all that data so the airport operations staff have a good view as to what is happening, when and where.

The world is going digital and this means that new tooling is available that can process data faster. With AI being added, these tools can make much more sense of the data that is available around us. Is the future of the AODB an open system that processes data and can easily be used or implemented by any airport operation? Very likely.

More and more proprietary systems are being replaced by systems created by IT professionals that do not have a large organization behind them. These professionals develop non-proprietary systems that easily interface with other data sources and that can, for example, collect data on flights using ADSB systems or any other data.

These systems are often intelligent enough to prioritize the data they get based on certain algorithms. They use more than one source of data so that they do not have to rely on one single point or version of the truth. Even in an environment like the airport business, the future will be different: open architecture - even hosted on-site - is the way forward together with an easily programmable extension of sources or the addition of microservices so that whatever changes, the airport is no longer locked in to a single provider that puts airports on a waiting list whenever necessary changes need to be made.

The new normal is not about returning to the old situation. The new normal is about questioning all that has been done so far and seeing whether in the current situation, whatever we do makes sense and whether there are easier ways to obtain and interpret data. Let’s start rethinking how we do things and stop allowing others to lock us in. Whatever solution you (will) use for your AODB or to generate AODB-like data, EMMA Systems can make it work and help you make sense of your data. Get in touch with us to find out more!