Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to the following expected outcomes.

Capacity: the integration of new airspace users and air vehicles (unmanned aircraft systems, HLO operations, etc.) shall not negatively impact capacity;Cost-efficiency: thanks to the new services supported by air–ground and air-air connectivity, cost-efficiency is expected to be improved;Operational efficiency: the proposed solutions are expected to contribute to the improvement of the operational efficiency thanks to advanced communication means and increased automation (e.g., machine-to-machine communication). In addition, further automation will improve trajectory management, in particular vertical flight efficiency;Environment: the proposed solutions shall aim at optimising fuel-burn and the CO2 emissions per flight;Safety: increased air-ground autonomy will enable the human actors to be discharged from routine tasks and to focus on strategic tasks, including safety oversight of the operations;Security: The proposed solutions are expected to identify and mitigate the potential security risks deriving from the increased connectivity between stakeholders. Scope:The challen... ver más

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to the following expected outcomes.

Capacity: the integration of new airspace users and air vehicles (unmanned aircraft systems, HLO operations, etc.) shall not negatively impact capacity;Cost-efficiency: thanks to the new services supported by air–ground and air-air connectivity, cost-efficiency is expected to be improved;Operational efficiency: the proposed solutions are expected to contribute to the improvement of the operational efficiency thanks to advanced communication means and increased automation (e.g., machine-to-machine communication). In addition, further automation will improve trajectory management, in particular vertical flight efficiency;Environment: the proposed solutions shall aim at optimising fuel-burn and the CO2 emissions per flight;Safety: increased air-ground autonomy will enable the human actors to be discharged from routine tasks and to focus on strategic tasks, including safety oversight of the operations;Security: The proposed solutions are expected to identify and mitigate the potential security risks deriving from the increased connectivity between stakeholders. Scope:The challenge is to design and develop concrete innovative applications (that are already TRL1, achieved within SESAR programme or outside) that aim at increasing the level of air-ground integration, supported by high automation levels and that will enable the transition to trajectory based operations (TBO). The proposed solutions will aim at realising the Digital European Sky vision that foresees the full integration of an increasing number of new forms of mobility and air vehicles, which have a high degree of autonomy and use digital means of communication and navigation. The proposed solutions shall support the evolution towards the future ATM system, exploiting existing technologies as much as possible, and developing new ones in order to increase global ATM performance in terms of capacity, operational efficiency and accommodation of new and/or more autonomous air vehicles, i.e. supporting the evolving demand in terms of diversity, complexity from very low-level airspace to high-level operations. The challenge is to ensure the full integration of certified drones into all classes of airspace, full U-space services and single pilot operations thanks to increased automation and delegation of separation responsibility to systems.

The SESAR 3 JU has identified the following innovative research elements that could be used to achieve the expected outcomes. The list is not intended to be prescriptive; proposals for work on areas other than those listed below are welcome, provided they have already successfully achieved TRL1 (within SESAR programme or outside) and include adequate background and justification to ensure clear traceability with the R&I needs set out in the SRIA for the air–ground integration and autonomy flagship.

Frequency switching management. This research will investigate, from a gate-to-gate perspective, the automation of air–ground coordination to ensure the use of automatic voice and datalink frequency selection for communications by the pilot and ATC. The scope of automatic frequency selection covers an assessment of multilink schemes, such as policy-based routing (including criteria for selection of terrestrial or satellite bearer and best frequency based on prevailing airspace and service requirements). This is expected also to support enhanced crew resource management, single-pilot and cross-border operations (R&I need: enabling greater ground and airborne integration and wider performance).Advanced air–ground integration for general aviation. This activity will ensure that access to all airspace classes remains open to general aviation in an equitable manner and at an affordable cost as well as the leverage on-board technologies (potentially not certified) in order to guarantee better and safer flights for all general aviation users, including sports aviation. It may also include the development of a concept enabling VFR aircraft to share their intended plans in real time with ATC and/or U-space service providers through a low-cost non-certified EPP-like concept based on whatever application the general aviation pilot is using to plan his/her flight in real time. This solution would complement surveillance information and would result in a continually updated flight plan, which could be used to automatically change the destination airport, to ensure that general aviation pilots receive updated information if their plan changes and to support search and rescue operations when no surveillance information is available. VFR pilots would retain at all times the same degree of flexibility in changing the plan as they have today. Research shall develop applications beyond the state of the art (e.g., existing apps for GA like Safesky) (R&I need: enabling greater ground and airborne integration and wider performance).Clear air turbulence data presentation to ATC. According to IATA, turbulence is the leading cause of injuries to airline passengers and crews globally. Flight crews routinely report clear air turbulence to controllers, who, workload permitting, relay turbulence reports with aircraft that will be overflying the same area. However, controllers often are not able to properly relay this information. Turbulence information is also relevant for controllers, e.g., because it can support proactive management of level change requests. Research can propose potential solutions for sharing turbulence reports to controllers addressing how the information will be presented to ATCOs and how they would use it. Proposals should focus on improvement of the clear air turbulence prediction processes (R&I need: enabling greater ground and airborne integration and wider performance).Evolution of controller/pilot communication. In today’s environment, each en-route or TMA sector requires a dedicated VHF frequency for controllers and pilots to communicate over, which means the lack of availability of VHF spectrum in areas with a high density of air traffic, can make it impossible to increase ATC capacity by adding additional sectors. However, the share of controller-pilot communications over datalink vs. those conducted over voice is expected to increase rapidly over the coming years. As voice communications become less and less frequent, it will be impractical to require a single VHF frequency to be reserved for the exclusive use of the controller-pilot communications within a sector. Instead, the SESAR long-term concept is that voice will be transmitted via the same channel as datalink, i.e. move to digital voice. The new concept also allows for an evolution of the voice communications concept. For example, in digital voice, the transmissions for change of frequency and checking into a sector would not be necessary anymore. Instead, the handover from one controller to the next will be linked to the handover of the CPDLC communications and be completely transparent to the flight crew, i.e. whenever the pilot makes a voice transmission, the communication would be routed to the controller in charge of the flight. Digital voice will also make it possible to configure voice communications as broadcast or point to point depending on the environment. Where broadcast is not in use, an access indicator might be implemented to indicate to the flight crew the voice channel is busy (without transmitting the content of the ongoing communication), to avoid simultaneous transmissions over the same channel. There is a need to further investigate how the dynamic allocation of IP connections may reduce the need for VHF channels on the ground side and the need for the airborne side to switch frequencies several times during the flight. In SESAR, the technical feasibility and performance of the digital voice concept has been researched by solution PJ.33-W3-02 in SESAR considering LDACS as the underlying technology. The objective of this element is to further develop the operational concept and make a holistic analysis of the potential for the concept to be supported by alternative datalink technologies, e.g., Satcom, commercial links, satellite-based VHF, etc. (R&I need: enabling greater ground and airborne integration and wider performance).Air and ground synchronisation applications. AI-powered systems are expected to be integrated into ground and cockpit systems, enhancing communication for trajectory management and much more. The scope of this research includes the identification of innovative applications / AI-based solutions that could improve such synchronisation. Research aims at performing a risk assessment on loss of air-ground communications and determining continuity, integrity and performance requirements on air-ground communications for the proposed applications (R&I need: enabling greater ground and airborne integration and wider performance).Controller support systems for improved radio communication and inclusion of automation. Several radio communications require the controller to bear a significant workload, be it for a negotiation process with pilots or repetition of routine messages, the coordination with datalink communication and the induced task of simultaneous input into a dedicated information system. The multiple remote tower use case is for example in need of a solution to address the specific problem of multiple frequencies management in a safe and easy way. Assistance, either automated or reducing time and workload for input or radio frequency management at large would therefore be beneficial. Research aims at developing a proof of concept for an enhanced system to assist radio management. This would relieve the controller from the active execution of input, ease message, identify potential errors and eventually enable automatic treatment of requests or communication (R&I need: enabling greater ground and airborne integration and wider performance).Integration of super-high-altitude operating aerial vehicle. These vehicles, which can be viewed as drones, will also need to be integrated, with entry and exit procedures through segregated or non- segregated airspace. As a result, new airspace users include highly autonomous vehicles. Safe separation management of this traffic and efficient integration into the traditional ATM operation is both a technical and operational challenge. By 2035, daily high-level operations (HLO) are expected and their transition from a segregated and/or non-segregated airspace have to be well established with appropriate regulations (with EASA involvement), clear technological capabilities and suitable performances for such air platforms. The research could also benefit from research on the physics of the atmosphere for such HLO, based on the existing state of the art. Research should consider the relevant human factor issues (R&I need: super-high-altitude operating aerial vehicles).Single pilot operations (SPO). Research aims at addressing the following aspects:Safety systems and crew health and HP monitoring systems for supporting SPO. In order to operate safely with a reduced crew, safety systems and crew health monitoring systems will be a key enabler to trigger the back-up modes in case of incapacitation, stress or exhaustion of crew members. This is of paramount importance in order to be able to recognise possible dangerous situations, forgotten steps of procedures or checklists, inappropriate or non-executed actions by the pilot.Incapacitation detection in SPO. Development of a highly reliable automated incapacitation detection system. Research addresses the challenges derived of a possible failure of the incapacitation detection system, false positives and how to address partial incapacitation or drift towards incapacitation. The transfer of authority can fall into a grey area between the air and ground pilots for a relevant period: crew resource management (CRM) procedures and guidelines for this new distributed crew should be developed and evaluated. The analysis of the transition period from nominal SPO case (on-board pilot in control) and incapacitation confirmation is as well under the scope.This research addresses also the expected role of FOC/WOC in the case of SPO abnormal situations: it requires their connection to ATC centres to support safe return to land even in a congested traffic environment. Research should consider the relevant human factor issues. Research shall consider the output of project SAFELAND (R&I need: Single-pilot operations (SPO)).Machine-to-machine communication. In addition to human-to-human communication, such as controller–pilot datalink communications (CPDLC), datalink will also support machine-to-machine communication. This covers for example a machine-to-machine negotiation-based conflict resolution. The development of mechanisms and tools for creating negotiation-based resolutions at conflict resolution and collision avoidance levels (e.g., what-if extended projected profile (EPP)-based tools, or ATC offering a choice to the FMS of two potential cruising levels) will be addressed. This is a flight deck to ATC solution (i.e. with airline operations centre involvement). Technical and operational requirements, as well as use cases and initial validation, will be addressed in this research (R&I need: integrated 4D trajectory automation in support of TBOs).FMS-twin for enhanced A/G connectivity. The SESAR-developed availability of the flight management system (FMS) trajectory on the ATM ground systems via the EPP downlink has represented a breakthrough in ATM. This capability provides visibility to ATM systems of what is loaded in the FMS, thereby enabling a multitude of advanced applications on the ground. It is envisaged that additional applications can be developed if the ground ATM system also have availability of what-if FMS trajectories, which make it possible for ATM to anticipate how the trajectory would change under certain hypotheses. The hypothetical trajectory revision to be considered could be proposed by the ATM system, be proposed by the flight crew (potentially associated to a request for a clearance) or be automatically generated (to inform the ATM system of the way the FMS would implement different potential clearances that are relevant to the current context). However, development of additional applications for the FMS is slow and complex due to the safety criticality associated to the FMS flight-path control capabilities; for the same reason, once an FMS feature is developed, there is little flexibility for its evolution. A potential way through might be the development of an FMS-twin software, to be installed in an on-board embedded computer without flight-path control capabilities, in an Electronic Flight Bag without flight-path control capabilities, or in the FOC (on the ground). If located on board the aircraft, the FMS-twin should be able to exchange information with both ATM and the FOC through non-certified A/G links. The FMS-twin is expected to be a decision support tool enabling the A/G exchanges during the execution phase for both A/G FF-ICE/R2 negotiations for the update of the trajectory during the execution phase beyond the horizon of interest of ATC and A/G exchanges in support of the ATC TBO concepts. The research would explore the challenges of the FMS-twin concept, define a first set of candidate applications and perform an initial evaluation of potential benefits. Research shall take into consideration the potential applications to meet the needs of solution PJ.01-W2-08A2 and/or solution PJ.07-W2-38 (R&I need: Integrated 4D trajectory automation in support of trajectory-based operations (TBO)).Advanced aircraft on-board systems. Research aims at developing potential ATM applications such as: tools for monitoring flight crew workload, support to 4D navigation (applied to all types of flight from low altitude to sub-orbital), increased situational awareness, self-separation of traffic, traffic prediction, collision alerting and avoidance, all weather approach and landing, and automatic flight control . Research also addresses pilot support systems for automatic route negotiation with ATCOs. A route change request requires the pilot to sustain a negotiation process with ATCOs over a shared radio channel while performing its duty. Industry is developing tools for supporting the pilot during this process that, however, are very limited in terms of automation and, as a result, require still active execution of the task by the pilot. Research aims at developing a proof of concept of an automatic system for reliving the pilot from the active negotiation by delegating that to an automated system (R&I need: integrated 4D trajectory automation in support of TBOs). ver menos