SINGAPORE -- For months, air traffic controllers and engineers have been holed up in a windowless room at Singapore's Changi Airport. This is the prototype of the control "tower" of the future.
Gone is the traditional wall of glass affording a 360-degree view of runways, taxiways and gleaming jets. In its place is a panoramic digital screen that the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore says provides a similar perspective. And the staff can see far more than they would with their own eyes: Advanced camera and video-stitching technologies allow tracking, panning, tilting and zooming in on a particular plane or area.
