Singapore. 17 February,2016.  The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and the Institute for Infocomm Research (I 2R) have signed an agreement to establish a joint laboratory to advance air traffic management (ATM) research and development (R&D). The agreement was signed by Kevin Shum, Director-General of CAAS, and Dr Lee Shiang Long, Executive Director of I2R .
The joint laboratory is part of CAAS’ efforts to develop Singapore as a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for ATM1 . It will facilitate scientific research on ATM to achieve innovation and optimisation in operations. The joint laboratory agreement includes the following areas of research collaboration: (i) Application of automatic speech recognition technology to facilitate ATM operations; (ii) Data analytics for ATM performance measurement and improvements; 1 CAAS is developing Singapore as a Centre of Excellence for ATM to meet the ATM needs of Singapore and the Asia Pacific region. This will be a vibrant eco-system, comprising research institutes and think-tanks, academia, industry players, international ATM entities and aviation stakeholders, conducting a wide range of ATM R&D activities. The convergence of minds, ideas and innovations will contribute to the development, testing and validation of ATM concepts, technologies and solutions for Singapore and the Asia Pacific region. 2 (iii) Development of advanced visualisation technologies to facilitate the use of remotely operated airport control towers. Mr Kevin Shum, Director-General of CAAS, said, “This research collaboration marks yet another milestone in achieving CAAS’ vision to develop Singapore as a Centre of Excellence for ATM. The CAAS-I 2R joint laboratory will be the third facility dedicated to ATM R&D established in Singapore. It will further boost our efforts to develop a vibrant ecosystem for ATM in Singapore. This will enable us to better prepare for the continued growth of aviation in this part of the world.” Dr Lee Shiang Long, Executive Director of I2R, added, “The joint laboratory partnership between CAAS and I2R demonstrates the importance of infocomm technology in data driven air traffic management. The research and development in areas such as automatic speech recognition and data analytics will promote a safe and efficient flow for Singapore’s air traffic management.”
 Under the CoE for ATM initiative, CAAS has also established the ATM Research Institute (ATMRI) with the Nanyang Technological University and the MITRE Asia Pacific Singapore (MAPS) with The MITRE Corporation. In addition, CAAS has entered into several collaborative agreements with key ATM and research entities such as Airbus ProSky, SESAR 2 Joint Undertaking and the United States Federal Aviation Administration. I 2R’s expertise in data analytics, information technology, communication networks, interactive and digital media, and signal processing and computing will add breadth and depth to the re