Flight Information Exchange

Once awarded this VLD shall establish a limited set of connected SESAR high-technology demonstration platforms in relation to the “Enabling Aviation Infrastructure” key feature of the SESAR 2020 programme.

The main objective of this VLD during Wave 1 is to ensure that FO-IOP works in the real world upper En-Route airspace environment of several ACCs, thus demonstrating it is sufficiently reliable, meets performance expectations and supports the ACCs daily operational functions and procedures. This includes demonstrating the correct implementation of blue and yellow SWIM profiles. Furthermore it will be demonstrated that FO-IOP can be used without compatibility problems with other ATM functions, such as OLDI. This is a key deployment aspect, because FO-IOP and OLDI are expected to co-exist in operational service for a very long transition period.

The functional and geographical scope of this VLD are to demonstrate that FO-IOP works in upper airspace ACCs, supporting standard coordination and transfer functions during execution flight phase, based on SESAR1 P10.02.05 Technical Specification D55. This demonstration will address only G/G Interoperability between ATC.

This VLD shall use “Shadow Mode” and “Live Trials” techniques:

• Shadow Mode shall demonstrate that FO-IOP equipped ACCs can process all live traffic information such as radar-data, flight plan data, aeronautical data, MET data etc., with sufficient performance and stability, but without direct impact on air traffic. Typically the shadow mode could be executed on an operational ATM system in test mission mode. The added value of the shadow mode is to allow performing real time validation operating in the real operational traffic scenarios.

• Live Trial shall be executed in a real operational environment with a direct impact on air traffic. Hence it is necessary to include all safety and security related activities, to assure there will be no adverse impact on, or risk introduced to air traffic.

The following activities shall be performed:

• Shadow Mode in upper airspace.

• Preparation of Live Trials in upper airspace.

• Completion of Live Trials in upper airspace.

Flight Information Exchange covers flight information exchange during the pre-tactical and tactical phases by ATC systems and Network Manager within Europe.

This project is an integral part of the SESAR Solutions delivery approach towards the SESAR deployment phase. The objective of this VLD is to bridge “industrial research” and “deployment” related to the PCP ATM Functionality 5 (as defined in Commission Implementing Regulation EU No 716/2014), and not to replace either type of activity.

This demonstration will assess the benefit of Flight Information Exchange to improve ATM Network performance; it will serve as Proof of Concept for this sub-functionality of AF#5 as defined in the PCP.

The Proof of Concept to be conducted under this VLD is a confidence building exercise that comes in addition to the traditional validation required prior to certification and implementation of new concepts or new technologies. This has to be distinguished from operational live trials since it brings a new dimension of the validation: early operations with a significant scale environment.

The Proof of Concept consists in an early operation of the SESAR Solutions making use of pre-operational or operational products (airborne and ground) in a real operational environment.