DECOUPLING AIR TRAFFIC SERVICES FROM DATA SERVICE PROVISION
Europe’s air traffic management is composed of country-based systems and processes. This fragmentation or proliferation of systems results in a lack of interoperability and increases the cost of air navigation services. SESAR has developed a concept for separating the provision of air traffic services from where the data is produced. This lean and efficient use of ANSP infrastructure tackles the issues presented by fragmented European ATM systems and country-specific architectures, enabling Europe to move to an interoperable, cost-effective and flexible service provision infrastructure. By enabling increased flexibility, the ANSPs should better manage staffing for prevailing traffic conditions and ensure service continuity.
SESAR has set out the high-level system architecture to geographically decouple the ATM data service provider (ADSP) and air traffic service unit (ATSU), through service interfaces defined in service level agreements. One ATSU may use data services from multiple ADSPs, just as an ADSP may serve multiple ATSUs operating in en-route or terminal environment. The solution aims to provide increased flexibility by sharing air traffic control operations between service units, creating a more seamless airspace through the virtual centre concept. This flexibility leads to greater technical and operational agility, which in turn leads to improved performance.
SESAR partners expanded the set of use cases identified during SESAR 1, taking into account the need to safeguard safety, security and regulatory issues, and carried out technical validations using platforms from different suppliers. Among many data services selected, the tests included: voice services; flight data distribution services; flight data management; and airspace status distribution. A total of seven validation exercises addressed different aspects of the virtual centre concept.
Distribution of flight data, flight data management and coordination and transfer management services are the first three candidates to achieve sufficient level of maturity for standardisation by EUROCAE.
The solution is available for industrialisation.
BENEFITS
Increased cost efficiency
Enhanced security
Datapack
