Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ASTONISH (Alternate Surveillance Technologies fOr iNnovatIve Solutions)
Período documentado: 2024-09-01 hasta 2025-08-31
With aviation traffic reaching unprecedent levels, surveillance is a critical service for ensuring operations safety and for improving airspace and airport capacity to accommodate the increasing traffic forecast. ASTONISH objective is to develop new surveillance solutions to sustain the growth of the European aviation sector using innovative technologies, addressing the peculiar challenges of airborne and ground traffic management. ASTONISH consortium identified three critical solutions:
‐ “Alternate surveillance for ATM operations”, i.e. ground-based systems for en-route and terminal areas surveillance (addressed in WP2)
‐ “Avionics architectures for alternate surveillance”, i.e. aircraft-based A-SUR (Alternate-Surveillance) technology (addressed in WP3)
‐ “Improved aircraft protection on ground”, i.e. airport and aircraft-based surveillance sensing systems for ground operations (addressed in WP4)
ASTONISH will investigate the use of an LDACS-based passive multistatic radar system and a network of distributed active radar systems (WP2) to increase safety and capacity of sectors not covered by primary or secondary surveillance services, while providing a robust backup solution for non-cooperative surveillance. These solutions are expected to be cost-effective and environmental-friendly, built on services offered by LDACS to deliver a fully integrated CNS solution.
A-SUR solution (WP3) will leverage the Hyperconnected ATM concept to use existing and potential new datalink channels such SATCOM, LDACS, VDLM2, 5G and LTE as alternative means for downlinking aircraft surveillance data. The objective is to relieve the congestion on the 1030 MHz and 1090 MHz frequencies used by SSR, ADS-B, and TCAS, offering a secure and robust solution for cooperative surveillance with limited impact on surveillance infrastructures and avionics systems.
ASTONISH solution for improving aircraft safety (WP4) during ground operation will investigate new sensing systems such as lidars, radars, and vision-based sensor at aircraft and airport level, improving ground operation safety and airport resilience by increasing the situational awareness of the pilots and air traffic controllers under all-weather conditions.
Transversal WPs - WP1 and WP5 - are dedicated to '“Project management” and “Communication, dissemination and exploitation”, respectively.
‐ “Alternate surveillance for ATM operations”, i.e. ground-based systems for en-route and terminal areas surveillance (addressed in WP2)
‐ “Avionics architectures for alternate surveillance”, i.e. aircraft-based A-SUR (Alternate-Surveillance) technology (addressed in WP3)
‐ “Improved aircraft protection on ground”, i.e. airport and aircraft-based surveillance sensing systems for ground operations (addressed in WP4)
ASTONISH will investigate the use of an LDACS-based passive multistatic radar system and a network of distributed active radar systems (WP2) to increase safety and capacity of sectors not covered by primary or secondary surveillance services, while providing a robust backup solution for non-cooperative surveillance. These solutions are expected to be cost-effective and environmental-friendly, built on services offered by LDACS to deliver a fully integrated CNS solution.
A-SUR solution (WP3) will leverage the Hyperconnected ATM concept to use existing and potential new datalink channels such SATCOM, LDACS, VDLM2, 5G and LTE as alternative means for downlinking aircraft surveillance data. The objective is to relieve the congestion on the 1030 MHz and 1090 MHz frequencies used by SSR, ADS-B, and TCAS, offering a secure and robust solution for cooperative surveillance with limited impact on surveillance infrastructures and avionics systems.
ASTONISH solution for improving aircraft safety (WP4) during ground operation will investigate new sensing systems such as lidars, radars, and vision-based sensor at aircraft and airport level, improving ground operation safety and airport resilience by increasing the situational awareness of the pilots and air traffic controllers under all-weather conditions.
Transversal WPs - WP1 and WP5 - are dedicated to '“Project management” and “Communication, dissemination and exploitation”, respectively.
The project started 01/09/2024 and during the first reporting period (01/09/2024-31/08/2025) all the planned tasks started for all WPs and Solutions according to the initial project schedule.
WP1 “Project Management” has addressed the project coordination with the SJU, between the members and with the project management team and has delivered the following deliverables in the first reporting period:
- D1.1 - Project Management Plan (PMP)
- D1.2 - Initial Data Management Plan (DMP)
The following relevant meetings at project level have been held:
- Project Kick-Off Meeting (Rome) on 27/09/2024
- Project Management Board (PMB) meeting #01 (MS Teams) on 17/12/2024
- Project Management Board (PMB) meeting #02 (MS Teams) on 21/03/2025
- Project Management Board (PMB) meeting #03 (Rome) on 11/06/2025
- First F2F Technical meeting (Rome) on 10/06/2025
- Monthly coordination meeting at consortium level
- Monthly coordination meeting between Project coordinator and S3JU
WP2 “Alternate surveillance for ATM operations” has addressed the activities related to the corresponding solution and has delivered the following deliverables in the first reporting period:
‐ D2.1 - Operational Service and Environment Description (OSED) for alternate surveillance for ATM operations
‐ D2.2 - Functional Requirements Document (FRD) for alternate surveillance for ATM operations
‐ D2.3 - Economic Evaluation (ECO- EVAL) for alternate surveillance for ATM operations
WP3 “Avionics architectures for alternate surveillance” has addressed the activities related to the corresponding solution and has delivered the following deliverables in the first reporting period:
‐ D3.1 - Operational Service and Environment Description (OSED) for avionics architectures for alternate surveillance
‐ D3.2 - Functional Requirements Document (FRD) for avionics architectures for alternate surveillance
‐ D3.3 - Economic Evaluation (ECO- EVAL) for avionics architectures for alternate surveillance
‐ D3.4 - Exploratory Research Plan (ERP) for avionics architectures for alternate surveillance
WP4 “Improved aircraft protection on ground” has addressed the activities related to the corresponding solution and has delivered the following deliverables in the first reporting period:
‐ D4.1 - Operational Service and Environment Description (OSED) for improved aircraft protection on ground
‐ D4.2 - Functional Requirements Document (FRD) for improved aircraft protection on ground
‐ D4.3 - Economic Evaluation (ECO- EVAL) for improved aircraft protection on ground
WP5 “Communication, dissemination and exploitation” has focused on the identification of key messages to be conveyed through the communication and dissemination activities and related strategy. Also, key stakeholders for the project as well as relevant events for communication and dissemination have been identified. WP5 has delivered the following deliverable in the first reporting period:
- D5.1 - Initial Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation (CDE) Plan
WP1 “Project Management” has addressed the project coordination with the SJU, between the members and with the project management team and has delivered the following deliverables in the first reporting period:
- D1.1 - Project Management Plan (PMP)
- D1.2 - Initial Data Management Plan (DMP)
The following relevant meetings at project level have been held:
- Project Kick-Off Meeting (Rome) on 27/09/2024
- Project Management Board (PMB) meeting #01 (MS Teams) on 17/12/2024
- Project Management Board (PMB) meeting #02 (MS Teams) on 21/03/2025
- Project Management Board (PMB) meeting #03 (Rome) on 11/06/2025
- First F2F Technical meeting (Rome) on 10/06/2025
- Monthly coordination meeting at consortium level
- Monthly coordination meeting between Project coordinator and S3JU
WP2 “Alternate surveillance for ATM operations” has addressed the activities related to the corresponding solution and has delivered the following deliverables in the first reporting period:
‐ D2.1 - Operational Service and Environment Description (OSED) for alternate surveillance for ATM operations
‐ D2.2 - Functional Requirements Document (FRD) for alternate surveillance for ATM operations
‐ D2.3 - Economic Evaluation (ECO- EVAL) for alternate surveillance for ATM operations
WP3 “Avionics architectures for alternate surveillance” has addressed the activities related to the corresponding solution and has delivered the following deliverables in the first reporting period:
‐ D3.1 - Operational Service and Environment Description (OSED) for avionics architectures for alternate surveillance
‐ D3.2 - Functional Requirements Document (FRD) for avionics architectures for alternate surveillance
‐ D3.3 - Economic Evaluation (ECO- EVAL) for avionics architectures for alternate surveillance
‐ D3.4 - Exploratory Research Plan (ERP) for avionics architectures for alternate surveillance
WP4 “Improved aircraft protection on ground” has addressed the activities related to the corresponding solution and has delivered the following deliverables in the first reporting period:
‐ D4.1 - Operational Service and Environment Description (OSED) for improved aircraft protection on ground
‐ D4.2 - Functional Requirements Document (FRD) for improved aircraft protection on ground
‐ D4.3 - Economic Evaluation (ECO- EVAL) for improved aircraft protection on ground
WP5 “Communication, dissemination and exploitation” has focused on the identification of key messages to be conveyed through the communication and dissemination activities and related strategy. Also, key stakeholders for the project as well as relevant events for communication and dissemination have been identified. WP5 has delivered the following deliverable in the first reporting period:
- D5.1 - Initial Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation (CDE) Plan
Results and potential impacts will be reported after the solutions have carried out the validations activities and the concepts have been validated, in the second phase of the project.