The SESAR Annual conference 2025, held on 18 February in Brussels, brought together 500 stakeholders to discuss the rapid implementation of ATM innovations. As part of the Digital Sky Marketplace Exhibition, the HUCAN project, represented by Paola Lanzi and Elisa Spiller from Deep Blue, showcased the Glossary of essential terminology for AI and Advance Automation in aviation. The glossary collects definitions and terminologies related to the certification of AI and advanced automation from various EU sources, including the AI Act (2024), GDPR, EASA AI Roadmap while also incorporating inputs from SESAR AI framework and EU HLEG-AI Ethics guidelines for trustworthy AI. The document was very well received by the audience attending the event, who acknowledged the importance of building and adopting a common vocabulary when talking about AI and advanced automation and unanimously considered the booklet produced by the HUCAN project as a useful first step in this direction.
Conference highlights and HUCAN’s role in the framework
The overarching theme of the conference was the presentation of the European ATM Master Plan 2025, which aims at setting the strategic direction for the future of ATM. The plan envisions the Digital European Sky strategy, aiming to make Europe's airspace the most efficient and environmentally sustainable by 2045. It focuses on the twin digital and green transitions, structured around five technological levers for transformational change. The conference highlighted the importance of collaborative efforts in addressing the evolving challenges faced by Air Navigation Service Providers across Europe and the strategic approaches adopted to this end in the Master Plan.
Paola Lanzi commented on the alignment between HUCAN's objectives and the new Master Plan 2025:
The vision of making Europe the most efficient and environmentally friendly airspace in the world, as outlined in the European ATM Masterplan 2025, calls for a significant transformation and modernization of ATM across Europe. One of the key enablers identified is the introduction of higher levels of automation, which inevitably raises crucial considerations regarding the evolution of the human role and the design of effective human-machine teaming dynamics.
I am very pleased to see these aspects being fully addressed in the Masterplan and greatly appreciate the effort to align SESAR's automation roadmap with EASA's work on AI levels and their implications for human-AI collaboration. This alignment is particularly important given the Masterplan's strong focus on deployment and its ambition to accelerate the innovation cycle by significantly reducing both time to market and market adoption barriers.
The work carried out by HUCAN so far is fully aligned with this direction, particularly through the design and development of practical guidelines that support research and industrial projects in integrating certification requirements from the early stages of the development phase.
Elisa Spiller addressed HUCAN's role within the regulatory landscape:
AI can undoubtedly help make our skies safer, more efficient and greener, but the right conditions must be put in place, and this also requires significant regulatory efforts. With the adoption of the AI Act and the important guidance provided by EASA through the AI Roadmap 2.0, the aviation sector will see a renewal of the current regulatory ecosystem.
Seeing how SESAR projects can serve as an incubator for this transformation and providing them with the right tools to succeed is essential. We are pleased how HUCAN can contribute in this direction, supporting the transition also in terms of compliance and certification.
The Certification Glossary disseminated by the project is an important first step in creating a common language for dealing with AI and advanced automation in aviation, based on the emerging official definitions from EU law and EASA.
