European Concept for Higher Altitude Operations Phase 2: Towards the integration between Air Traffic Management and Higher Altitude Operations

Project Information

ECHO 2

Grant agreement ID: 101114697

DOI

10.3030/101114697

EC signature date 15 June 2023

Start date 1 September 2023

End date 31 August 2026

Funded under

• Climate, Energy and Mobility

Total cost

€ 14 849 731,25

EU contribution

€ 7 030 567,87

Coordinated by

EUROCONTROL - EUROPEAN ORGANISATION FOR THE SAFETY OF AIR NAVIGATION
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ECHO 2 (European Concept for Higher Altitude Operations Phase 2: Towards the integration between Air Traffic Management and Higher Altitude Operations)

Reporting period: 2023-09-01 to 2024-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Global operations at altitudes above bordering space are steadily increasing with new vehicles tested and put in operations. Technology innovations progress at pace and the European Air Traffic Management (ATM) system needs to prepare and adapt to include inter alia unmanned balloons, airships and solar planes capable of persistent (months) of flight, collectively known as High Altitude Platform Systems (HAPS), super and hypersonic aircraft, trans-atmospheric and suborbital vehicles. The emergence of commercial space operations as a driver for new infrastructure and operations (launch/re-entry) from the European region, which in turn is accelerating the development of a European Space Traffic Management system, calls for new ATM procedures and system capabilities to ensure a safe, efficient, and secure interface between ATM and Space Traffic Management (STM).
The European ATM system presents specificities requiring Higher Airspace Operations (HAO) developments adapted to its own needs, constraints, and methods of cooperation between all civil and military stakeholders. The integration of HAO into the European ATM system will build on those elements of cooperation between all actors at European level including State authorities, service providers, operators, the EUROCONTROL Network Manager (NM), airspace users, etc. These specific elements were identified and agreed through the European Concept of Operations (ConOps) for HA developed by the ECHO project (ref. SESAR-ER4-19-2019) which delivers a coherent operational approach for HAO in Europe.
The project ECHO2 proposes to validate at TRL6 three solutions for integrating higher airspace operations in the European ATM system, while investigating the potential application of Dynamic Mobile Areas Level 3 (DMA3) for such integration.
Solution #1 (WP1): Network HA and Space Real Time Mission Monitoring Module and related procedure pack
Solution #2 (WP2): Sandbox module and procedural package for the integration of Higher Altitude Platform Systems (HAPS) operations in European ATM
Solution #3 (WP3): Sandbox module and procedural package for the Integration of supersonic, hypersonic and suborbital operations in European ATM

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

ECHO-2 will build on the deliverables of the ECHO (European Concept of Higher airspace Operations) project, starting from the Concept of Operations, to propose validated solutions paving the way towards the operational integration of HAO in ATM, on three directions:
WP1: Space Launch Real Time Monitoring Module and associated working station for the European ATM Network Manager for increased situational awareness at Network level, supporting Air Traffic Flow Management as well as crisis and contingency management.
WP2: Procedural Package covering specific ground and air-ground operational integration issues (including for communications, navigation and surveillance means) associated with the integration of High-Altitude Platform Systems (HAPS) operations into ATM
WP3: Procedural Package covering specific ground and air-ground operational integration issues (including for communications, navigation and surveillance means) associated with the integration of supersonic, hypersonic and suborbital vehicles operations into ATM.
These solutions will propose all the elements needed by the European ATM Network operational stakeholders for a rapid, harmonized and cost-effective implementation of a European approach towards the integration between ATM and HAO, at TRL6 maturity. They will also include assessments of potential specific related standardization and regulatory activities.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The ECHO2 project is relevant and will provide benefits to internal and external stakeholders, whilst significantly advancing the definition and validation of the operational interface between space operations and the European ATM system. Within the project, air navigation service providers and the EUROCONTROL Network Manager are mainly concerned with obtaining validated SESAR solutions for HAO that are operationally viable, complete in scope and applicable to specific scenarios where cross-border cooperation is essential for safety and confirm the responsibilities towards the space domain. Also, within the project, the airborne and ground industry are interested to test and validate global leading prototypes (such as the Airbus Zephyr) and identify the necessary system improvements needed to integrate HAO in the European ATM system. External to the project, European institutions, ICAO, standardisation, and regulation bodies as well as international organisations with responsibilities in space and security aspects will be interested in the project’s outreach.
Scientific outcomes and impact
• By validating the elements of the ECHO ConOps, results will verify the assumptions and conceptual ideas of the ECHO project and provide impetus for the necessary follow-up research.
• The result of the ECHO2 work will pave the way for future commercial operations of new entrants, in particular for high altitudes.
• Collection of experimental data to validate assumptions, to improve equipment and functional reliability and accuracy.
• Procedure harmonization for point-to-point HA transport network.
Economic/technological impacts
• By conducting flight trials with HAPS and supersonic and hypersonic cruisers, the potential use of these aircraft can be shown and possible new business cases may be discovered.
• By developing concepts increasing the efficiency integration launch and re-entry operations into air traffic and airspace management, the commercial space transportation sector will benefit as it reduces factors that may limit the number and cadence of launches, which is crucial for the viability of this sector.
• More efficiency in the authorization process for new entrants.
• Logistic and transport asset improvement.
Societal outcomes and impacts
• Improving the efficient integration of space and air traffic operations will support and secure independent and reliable access to space for Europe. At the same time, it limits traffic impacts, contributing to environmentally friendly, cost-efficient and affordable air transport for Europe's citizens.
• Increased awareness about current capacity and environmental footprint related to current procedures and operations and evidence for possible improvements in the adjacent sectors.
• Job creation.
Scale and significance of project’s contribution to the expected outcomes and impacts
The scale of the project’s contribution to the expected outcome will be influenced by the extent to which its SESAR solutions are deployed. The adoption of solutions that provide a holistic perspective for a safe, efficient and scalable ATM-STM interface would position European industry to compete and win significant portions of the global market for commercial space whilst protecting the efficiency of the European ATM network.