The construction of smart civil aviation involves the whole field, the whole body, the whole factor and the whole cycle of the civil aviation industry. The construction of smart civil aviation is long-term, systematic and arduous. "Smart travel, smart air traffic control, smart airport and smart supervision" are the four core focuses of the construction of smart civil aviation. These four cores cannot be separated from the supervision of the airport tower. How to efficiently, economically and safely supervise is an important topic, and the remote tower technology is gradually becoming mature. The basic concepts and characteristics of the remote tower is introduced , the operation status and main achievements of the remote tower at home and abroad is summarized, the research on the basic status, system composition, video monitoring, information acquisition and other aspects of the remote tower are combed, and the development of the remote tower in the future is put forward prospected.