3.4.2. A layered approach to service delivery

The transition affects not just individual ACCs but the entire ATM system, focusing on three main layers of service delivery (as illustrated in Figure 5): business, services and infrastructure.

• The business layer captures the business goals, processes, functions and organisational arrangements of all stakeholders concerned, including new entrants (i.e. airspace users, air traffic service (ATS) providers, Network Manager, local airspace management and air traffic flow and capacity management cells, airport operators, uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS), IAM operators, vertiport operators and related U-space service providers delivering drone/UAS traffic management). This layer also describes an open-market ecosystem for service delivery and the specific roles, responsibilities and capabilities of each of these stakeholders.
• The services layer outlines the future service landscape in a data-driven architecture. This layer is organised along four service domains.
  • End user services cover air transport services for passengers and cargo, and interfaces with other modes of transport within an innovative multimodal mobility framework. These services aim to deliver a high-quality passenger experience.
  • Core services refer to ATM and U-space air traffic management services and functionalities in a highly inclusive and dynamic airspace. These services are critical for improving safety, cybersecurity, capacity, operational efficiency and sustainability against a backdrop of traffic growth and increasing traffic complexity and diversity.
  • Information management services provide accredited, quality-assured and timely information exchange between all stakeholders to support the core services on flight and flow, airspace, weather (meteorology (MET)) and environmental information. These services are essential to enabling scalable and flexible ATM and U-space service provision.
  • Support and utility services provide access to communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) services, system-wide information management (SWIM) infrastructure and IT services (including cloud-based services). These services contribute to secure, resilient and cost-efficient operations. See Section A.2 for the CNS roadmap.
• The infrastructure layer refers to technology and infrastructure systems, such as ground and airborne systems, MET sensors, CNS, system-wide information management, IT (including cloud-based) infrastructure, and ATM network infrastructure such as the pan-European network service (PENS) or more broadly speaking the network infrastructure provided by the designated Network Manager. This layer is closely interconnected with other layers in the architecture, ensuring alignment between technology and business goals and providing the necessary resources. It contributes to reducing the impact of ATM on the climate through virtualisation (e.g. virtual centres, remote towers), rationalisation, cloud computing and adoption of new power supply technologies. Within this layer, civil–military dual-use technologies, in particular in the domain of CNS, enable greater interoperability, optimise the use of radio spectrum and increase the economic and environmental sustainability performance. See Section A.2 for the CNS roadmap.

Development and deployment activities have been carried out on the service delivery model. See Section 4.2 for the current state of play.

The architecture is part of priority setting for future development and deployment. More details are provided in Chapters 5 and 6, alongside roadmaps in the Appendix.

Figure 5: Target enterprise architecture (1)