Partners in the CINEA/SESAR JU ECHOES Digital Sky Demonstrator will begin trials of low-orbit satellite VHF data and voice communications technology in May 2025 in Cabo Verde.

The Atlantic archipelago, strategically located along major Europe-South America air routes, will serve as the testing ground for these groundbreaking exercises. The trials will gather vital data to assess the performance of the use of low-orbit satellites for VHF communication and ADS-B surveillance in regions that lack ground-based infrastructure.

These trials are a key milestone for ECHOES, designed to enhance air traffic management across oceanic and remote areas, with the potential to reduce aircraft separation, optimise routes, cut CO2 emissions, and boost operational safety.

“This project will be a turning point in air navigation, where for the first time, actual VHF communication tests over oceanic areas will be carried out between pilot and controller without the need to modify avionics or ATM systems. We are bringing communication to space in a transparent way for our professionals,” said Juanjo Cornejo, Director of Business Development, Startical, the ECHOES’ coordinator. He was presenting the plans at the recent CANSO Africa Conference in Sal, Cabo Verde, alongside Margarett Marques, Operations Director at ASA, also participating in the project.

In addition to Cabo Verde, ECHOES will conduct a series of use cases in the South Atlantic corridor, including other oceanic airspaces at both sides of the Atlantic, such as Canarias, Azores-Santamaría, Dakar Oceanic and Brazil Atlantic with other participant ANSPs, such as ENAIRE, NAV Portugal, ASECNA and DECEA.

All this data and information gathered will be used to assess various and decisive system capabilities which could enable operational improvements such as increasing airspace efficiency by reducing separation minima, the possibility to use User Preferred Routes (UPR), enabling contingency and delegation capabilities, among others.

The importance of ECHOES for oceanic and remote regions

The potential impact could be transformative for oceanic and remote regions where traditional ground-based communication systems are limited. By deploying satellite-based systems, ECHOES paves the way to provide efficient VHF voice and data link and determine end-to-end service parameters (availability, latency, data rate), in combination with satellite-based ADS-B in remote continental areas or also in areas where ground infrastructure deployment is difficult.

What's Next for ECHOES?

In the coming months, the focus will be on the launch of the IOD.1 satellite, scheduled to be launched aboard SpaceX’s Transporter 13 mission in March 2025, followed by the launch of IOD.2 on the Transporter 14 mission in July. This will enable ECHOES system to perform exercises under real-world conditions.

The demonstrator is led by Startical, and brings together the following partners: Indra, ENAIRE, NAV Portugal, DLR, CRIDA, MITIGA.

ECHOES project has received funding under the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility programme under grant agreement No 101079448 under CINEA.