28 Skyway
london City Airport
Future ATM avionics systems will have to be designed for a wide spectrum of airspace users
to equip with data com equipment – a key enabler for the future flow of increasingly large packets of data between the ground and the air. but for many aircraft operators the nearterm cost-benefit analysis figures do not seem to add up – there is a mandate for equipage in European aircraft by 2015 but will this be enough? deciding what kind of data link should be made available for the various different applications is the sort of discussion which might frustrate progress towards a truly integrated global ATM system. The other major technical challenge is to determine how the world’s different ATM systems can be accommodated within a single avionics set. “here EUROCOnTROl can help accommodating the European needs into that framework so they reflect what is needed in Europe but are also useable in other parts of the world,” according to bo Redeborn. but despite the challenges there are plenty of reasons for optimism about the outcome of the iCAO Air navigation Conference. The world has embraced some fairly radical ATM concepts in recent years and rolled them out with
Winter 2012 | www.eurocontrol.int
impressive speed – reduced vertical separation minima (RVSM), continuous descent operations, a new digital format for aeronautical information and automatic dependent surveillance – broadcast (AdS-b). “We’ve made dramatic improvements in safely reducing the timescales for nextgen technologies and procedures,” said the FAA’s Victoria Cox. “For example, in a relatively short period of time we’ve gone from outfitting a fleet of general aviation aircraft in Alaska with AdS-b to being on target to have a nation-wide system deployed next year. Optimised profile descents are already in use at airports in the US, enabling airlines to save time and fuel by making smooth, idle-thrust descents into airports rather than making the traditional, stair-case descent.” And what is being discussed at Montreal is not the introduction of minutely-defined hardware packages but, in most cases, capabilities. “interoperability is not about deploying the same piece of equipment – in the aeronautical information field, for example, it’s about formatting data. interoperability can be a physical layer but it can also be a common definition of data
formats,” said bo Redeborn. One of the keys to effective deployment will be to ensure the ground and the air segments are aligned, and here EUROCOnTROl has a deep fund of experience and expertise to bring to the discussions. “Even though we have interoperability requirements and aircraft equip if there is no service provided on the ground the system will not be effective,” said bo Redeborn. Meeting different needs A clear imperative is that synchronisation should be addressed and agreed early in the deployment process. Which is why a truly holistic, expert but pragmatic approach needs to be taken to introducing a new global ATM system which will meet the different needs of nations all at the same time. This means understanding the shortest route through the jungle of technical and institutional complexity, a path EUROCOnTROl has forged many times in the past through programmes such as RVSM and air traffic flow management capabilities at the network Management level. This expertise is needed now more than ever.
“I would suggest that the complexity in Europe is not so much of a problem. We have already defragmented research within SESAR and we have made considerable efforts with the FAA and ICAO in terms of developing what is needed.” bo redeborn eUroControl’s principal Director atM