Built by Qlarios for Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA)
The Data Collection System (DCS) is a digital platform developed for Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA), enabling efficient submission and management of aeronautical data with precision and compliance.
Project Overview
Qlarios designed and developed the complete technical solution for DCS — a digital platform operated by ITV Consult AG on behalf of the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA). It facilitates the efficient submission and management of aeronautical data, particularly concerning air navigation obstacles.
From cloud architecture and domain logic to the end-user portal, Qlarios delivered every layer of the platform — enhancing data quality and ensuring compliance with aviation safety regulations across Swiss airspace.
End Client
FOCA Switzerland
Delivered Through
ITV Consult AG
Region
Switzerland
Domain
Civil Aviation
Capabilities
Seamless digital delivery and handling of aeronautical data, including obstacles — eliminating paper-based processes and reducing submission errors.
Automated evaluation to determine if an object constitutes an air navigation obstacle, accelerating compliance workflows and improving safety outcomes.
Ensures adherence to FOCA and international aviation regulations for the registration and approval of aeronautical data, keeping all submissions audit-ready.
An intuitive interface for registering and managing obstacle data efficiently, designed for ease of use across all stakeholder groups.
End-to-end streamlined process for registration and approval of aeronautical data, including obstacles — reducing turnaround time significantly.
Enhanced data accuracy and consistency through validation rules and automated checks, ensuring every entry meets the required quality standards.
Improved aviation safety through up-to-date aeronautical information. By keeping obstacle data current and accurate, DCS directly contributes to safer Swiss airspace — protecting lives, aircraft, and infrastructure.
Domain Modules
DCS is designed to handle the full breadth of aeronautical data complexity. Each module encapsulates deep domain logic, adaptive workflows, and rigorous validation rules tailored to Swiss and international aviation standards.
Comprehensive lifecycle management of air navigation obstacles. The system handles complex multi-object scenarios including grouped structures, temporary obstacles, and seasonal constraints. Automated penetration surface computation determines if an object breaches OLS (Obstacle Limitation Surfaces) or OCS (Obstacle Clearance Surfaces), triggering the appropriate regulatory workflow. Supports structure types including buildings, cranes, masts, wind turbines, and more.
Management of Navigation Aids (Navaids) including VOR, DME, ILS, NDB, and GNSS reference points. Supports registration of technical parameters, operational status, and associated protection areas. Enables FOCA to maintain an authoritative, up-to-date inventory of all Swiss Navaids aligned with ICAO Annex 10 and EANPG requirements.
Structured collection and management of aerodrome area survey data including runway strip dimensions, obstacle-free zones, and clearway definitions. The module supports complex polygon geometries and elevation datasets, enabling planners and safety officers to assess airspace integrity holistically at the aerodrome level.
Field-survey data ingestion and management for obstacle verification campaigns. Surveyors submit georeferenced measurements which are validated against existing registrations. Discrepancies trigger an automated review workflow, ensuring that the obstacle inventory remains accurate and that all physical changes in the field are promptly reflected in the system.
Real-time and batch penetration analysis against internationally defined surfaces: ICAO Annex 14 OLS, PANS-OPS OCS, and FOCA-specific national surfaces. The engine ingests object geometry and elevation, computes clearances against all applicable surfaces, and produces a detailed penetration report. Configurable surface parameters allow adaptation for different aerodrome categories and instrument approach procedures.
Obstacle Management is a core DCS feature for creating, maintaining, and publishing air navigation obstacles — and powerlines are among the most critical and complex obstacle types. Previously handled through the standard obstacle workflow, powerlines posed scalability challenges due to the large number of poles and line segments involved, making manual creation time-consuming. In DCS 3.1, powerlines are now structured using a graph-based power grid data model where poles are represented as nodes and line segments as edges — fully compatible with swisstopo TLM data. FOCA decided to replace existing powerline obstacles with authoritative survey data from the Federal Office of Topography swisstopo.
What's new in DCS 3.1
Comprehensive aerodrome data management supporting the full physical and operational structure of an airport, modelled in full conformance with AIXM. Every airport entity — from the top-level aerodrome record to individual runway features and ground infrastructure — is structured and exchanged according to the AIXM 5.0 schema, ensuring interoperability with EUROCONTROL, ICAO, and national aeronautical information systems. A GIS-powered Airports Explorer provides an interactive map to visualise and navigate the complete spatial layout and aeronautical features of every airport in the country, all from a single authoritative platform.
DCS 4.0 — What's Included
Complete data management for aeronautical communication services, fully modelled in conformance with AIXM. The module manages Communication Services — including Air Traffic Control Service, Ground Traffic Control Service, and Information Service — alongside their associated Communication Channels and the Units Providing those Services. All service data is structured according to the AIXM 5.0 schema, ensuring authoritative, interoperable exchange with EUROCONTROL, ICAO, and national AIM systems. Each entity supports a full lifecycle from registration through to publication, with configurable service parameters, frequency assignments, and operational status tracking.
What's new in DCS 3.1
Lifecycle Management
Every aeronautical entity in DCS carries a precise lifecycle state. The messaging system surfaces these states across all stakeholder interfaces, ensuring that planners, engineers, and regulators always act on the correct version of the truth.
Live aeronautical data records that are currently valid and in effect. Active entities are visible to all relevant parties, included in safety assessments, and reflected in official publications. Any updates to an active record trigger a versioned change workflow requiring re-approval.
Records that have been temporarily suspended — for example, an obstacle that is being modified or a Navaid taken offline for maintenance. Inactive items are retained in the system with full history, excluded from live assessments, and can be re-activated through a streamlined approval workflow.
Entities that have been permanently removed from service. Decommissioned records are archived with a complete audit trail including the reason for decommissioning, effective date, and responsible authority. They remain queryable for historical analysis, regulatory audits, and safety investigations but no longer participate in active workflows.
Real-time alerts pushed to users when data they own or manage changes state — keeping every stakeholder informed without manual chasing.
Automated email dispatches at key workflow transitions — submission received, assessment complete, approval granted or rejected, and decommissioning confirmed.
Every state transition is timestamped, attributed to a named user, and stored immutably — satisfying regulatory audit requirements and supporting incident investigation.
Workflow
Stakeholders register obstacle data via the intuitive DCS web portal.
The system automatically evaluates whether the object is an air navigation obstacle.
FOCA officials review submissions and grant or deny approval within the platform.
Approved aeronautical data is published and made available to relevant parties.
Infrastructure
DCS is deployed on AWS ECS (Elastic Container Service) using a fully containerised, cloud-native architecture — delivering the scalability, resilience, and security that a national aviation authority demands.
Entry
Route 53 DNS
CloudFront CDN
AWS WAF
Load Balancing
Application LB
Target Groups
Health Checks
ECS Fargate
App Containers
Auto Scaling
ECR Registry
Data Layer
Aurora PostgreSQL
PostGIS
S3 Storage
Security by Design
Aeronautical data is safety-critical. DCS is built with a security-first architecture where every layer — from the network edge to the database — is hardened against unauthorised access, tampering, and data loss.
The platform follows the principle of least privilege, with role-based access controls scoped to each user's responsibilities. All inter-service communication occurs within a private AWS VPC, and no sensitive credentials are exposed in application code.
Web Application Firewall rules block injection attacks, XSS, and anomalous traffic patterns at the CloudFront edge before they reach the application layer.
All data is encrypted in transit via TLS 1.3 (ACM-managed certificates) and at rest using AWS-managed KMS keys for RDS, S3, and ECS secrets.
Fine-grained RBAC ensures that submitters, assessors, approvers, and administrators each operate within tightly bounded permission scopes — no elevation of privilege without explicit grant.
Every data access, state change, and administrative action is captured in immutable audit logs stored in S3 with lifecycle policies — meeting FOCA's regulatory retention requirements.
Application and database tiers run in private subnets with no direct internet exposure. Only the ALB sits in a public subnet, and security groups enforce tight ingress/egress rules.
AWS Secrets Manager stores and rotates all database credentials and API keys. Application containers retrieve secrets at runtime via IAM roles — zero hardcoded credentials in any artefact.
Internationalisation
Switzerland operates across four linguistic regions. DCS is fully internationalised to serve every stakeholder — whether they are submitting obstacle data in Zurich, Geneva, Lugano, or internationally — in their preferred language.
All user interface elements, validation messages, notifications, and regulatory communications are available in German (DE), French (FR), Italian (IT), and English (EN) — ensuring accessibility across all Swiss cantons and for international operators working within Swiss airspace.
Deutsch
German-speaking Switzerland
Zürich, Bern, Basel, Luzern
Français
French-speaking Switzerland
Genève, Lausanne, Fribourg
Italiano
Italian-speaking Switzerland
Lugano, Bellinzona, Locarno
English
International Operations
ICAO, Airlines, Global Operators
UI & Forms
All interface elements fully translated
Notifications
Alerts and emails in user's language
Regulatory Comms
Approvals and rejections localised
Validation Messages
Inline errors in preferred language
Live Production System
Qlarios designed, developed, and delivered the complete technical solution for DCS — from architecture and cloud infrastructure to domain logic and user interface — delivered through ITV Consult AG to the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation.
Built & Delivered by Qlarios
ITV Consult AG / FOCA
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