Erfurt Airport

The Erfurt airport is situated in the centre of the German federal state of Thüringen. The Soviet military airport of Erfurt-Bindersleben was converted for civilian use in the 1950s, and the DDR’s first passenger aircraft since WW II landed in 1957. During the 1960s, the terminal building and the tower, as well as the runways, were adapted to meet the requirements of civilian aviation. Meanwhile, Erfurt airport has transformed into a modern and international airport with a new terminal, tower and parking. Today it is used for scheduled and charter flights, general aviation and cargo. In 2008, more than 310,000 passengers were served, and 3,400 tons of air cargo was handled.

Pre-existing situation & UTCFS’s role

At the beginning of the new millennium the Erfurt airport was gradually modernized: the runway was extended, the terminal and tower were replaced by new buildings, the car park was transformed and additionally a parking garage was built. Before the airport was used for commercial flights, there were no security systems present. However, since the reconstruction of the airport, along with its new functions, a tight security system was vital to ensure safety of passengers, cargo and personnel. One of the key features of airport security is video surveillance. With already an existing video surveillance system in place, the challenge was to optimise this system in order to obtain the highest possible quality.

UTCFS’s solution

All relevant areas of the airport are remotely guarded by a video surveillance system. A solution needed to be found to how the data from every single camera on such a large site travels towards a central monitoring station. Thanks to UTCFS’s Fiber Communications product range, data can be transferred over long distances at high speed without losing quality. This is of particular importance to an airport, since the video cameras that are deployed throughout the facility are the eyes of security personnel. When capturing events on camera, one does not want to risk losing any quality. Today, UTCFS’s fibre products allow the airport of Erfurt to transmit video footage over distances up to one kilometre to the central monitoring station, enabling security personnel to work with high quality images on which they rely.