Geospatial asset tracking improves safety in the air.

CHALLENGE

Aviation, specifically the use of aircraft for moving people and in conducting search and rescue operations, is a high stakes industry that requires those transporting assets to achieve the highest level of safety.  Bristow Group is no different; their success in regard to safety depends on their ‘Target Zero’ program: zero accidents, zero harm to people.  From transporting people to battling the toughest conditions to execute a search and rescue operation, Bristow’s Target Zero program is always at the forefront of their minds.

SOLUTION

ESP worked with Bristow to build a flight following control tower using the ESP Maestro platform as its core integration, real-time, and analytics platform, along with Esri’s ArcGIS Online for mapping and location-based functions.  This combination enables the ESP team to provide Bristow with an operational viewer as well as dashboards and other user specific interfaces, which are designed for Bristow’s customers as well as internal operations throughout Bristow.

ESP Maestro powers Bristow’s Global Tracking solution (GT), managing and integrating multiple types of GPS/Satellite Tracking sensors and business systems. This enables Bristow to monitor, report, and communicate with pilots in real-time to confirm aircraft flight plans and flight paths, locations, landings, takeoffs, and geofences, along with more than 20 other different types of custom alerts.  Notifications are sent to command center operators when it detects a potential issue, such as flight delays, flight pattern deviations, or an aircraft experiencing an excessive descent. Maestro instantly perceives if an aircraft landed on the wrong platform, bringing any unexpected landings immediately to the attention of operators, allowing them to assess the situation and take corrective actions swiftly.

The platform's vigilance extends to monitoring the continuity of positional data. If an aircraft stopped sending positional data, an alert would be automatically generated. This is a critical safety feature, ensuring that any aircraft is constantly tracked and accounted for, even in challenging conditions. Operators can extract data through the system’s robust interface to develop an appropriate response and actively mitigate any potential safety concerns. As an added safety feature, pilots have an emergency button, which they can push at any time to instantly alert the operators of an issue.  

These safety alerts, in conjunction with the broader suite of alert capabilities, fortifies Bristow's commitment to aviation safety. By addressing specific scenarios such as incorrect landings, flight path deviations, and positional data loss, Maestro elevated safety protocols to an unprecedented level, minimizing risks and enhancing overall operational safety.

Beyond tracking the current location of aircraft, ESP Maestro also acts as a comprehensive aviation historian. It captures and stores the complete activity history for each aircraft, including detailed records of all flight plans and flight actions. This wealth of data became invaluable for post-flight analysis, regulatory compliance, and future flight planning. 

ESP Maestro’s integration with Bristow’s existing business systems pulls together valuable business data for visualization and analytics. Through this assimilation and data transfer, a unified system of asset tracking was created, reducing redundancy, and developing a true data source. Also, through Maestro’s geospatial visualization, our team produces visualization tools/maps using data from Bristow’s flight stream, allowing Bristow to view their assets in real-time. 

SUMMARY

Bristow worked with ESP Logistics to develop a modern flight following and operations solution. GT uses the ESP Maestro Platform for real-time integration of Bristow helicopter sensors and Bristow business systems, providing flight operators with a simple solution for their day-to-day flight operations. Through the ESP Maestro platform and maximizing Bristow’s IT investments, Bristow and ESP produced a reliable solution for daily use as well as historical analytics, assisting Bristow in reaching their ultimate goal, ‘Target Zero’.