Projects focussing on airports and initial 4D (i4D) trajectory management are the winners of this year’s SESAR Project Awards. The winners were announced on 9 March 2015 at the World ATM Congress in Madrid, during a ceremony presided over by Florian Guillermet, Executive Director of the SESAR Joint Undertaking, and Benoit Fonck, SJU Chief of Development and Delivery.

The awards were created in order to recognise excellence within the SESAR Programme and to pay tribute to the hard work and commitment of the partners involved. A total of 15 projects were submitted for nomination, 3 Best in Class and 9 Outstanding projects and 3 Best Release Exercises. Magnus Lindegren, NATMIG (SAAB) and Peter Whysall, NATS, and representatives of the SJU made up the jury. “If the annual SESAR Project Awards are a means to measure performance, then this year’s winning projects are clearly proof that the SESAR Programme is achieving its goal of delivering a continuous output of innovative solutions for the modernisation of ATM in Europe,” said Mr Guillermet, who presided over the ceremony.

In the Best-in-Class category, the jury distinguished P12.03.04 for the considerable work it undertook on Enhanced Surface Guidance solutions, such as D-LINK services for vehicle drivers and Virtual Stop Bars to manage operations in low visibility. The jury highlighted in particular the innovative work that was completed by the project on Wi-MAX and its use in the airport surface communication system, called AeroMACS – to be further validated in 2016 by SESAR. The jury also noted that the project served as an excellent example of efficient project management, pro-activeness and excellent collaboration between industry members. Project Manager, Andrea Cosmi, accepted the award on behalf of Selex ES and the other members of the project.

Airports were also the focus of the winning project in the Outstanding Project category. Project SWP 06.05 on Collaborative Airport Planning was recognised for successfully combining a complex range of solutions relating to operations, systems, SWIM and MET, and for a sensible and realistic planning of its validation work. Project Manager, Andy Knight, accepted the award on behalf of SEAC and the other members of the project. The jury singled out innovative outcomes, such as the Airport Operations Plan and the Airport Operations Centre (APOC), which have now been introduced into the current baseline for Airport-Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) - a pre-requisite for the full integration of airports into the ATM system.

In the Best Release Exercise category, the award went to P09.01 on initial 4D (i4D) trajectory management in support of EXE-05.06.01-VP-478/EXE-04.03-VP-472. The jury noted the successful completion of the second flight trial, the delivery of consolidated validation results and their integration into other operation projects, and the finalisation of standardisation material to support deployment. These exercises have been performed thanks to the close coordination of operational and technical experts of SESAR members such as Airbus, Eurocontrol Maastricht, Honeywell, Indra, Noracon and Thales.

Project Manager, Lucille Revertegat, accepted the award on behalf of Airbus and the other members contributing to the i4D trajectory management