Satcom and terrestrial architectures improving performance, security and safety in ATM

Project Information

SAPIENT

Grant agreement ID: 699328

DOI

10.3030/699328

Project closed

EC signature date 10 March 2016

Start date 1 April 2016

End date 30 September 2017

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 999 500,00

EU contribution

€ 859 500,00

Coordinated by

THALES ALENIA SPACE ITALIA SPA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - SAPIENT (Satcom and terrestrial architectures improving performance, security and safety in ATM)

Reporting period: 2017-04-01 to 2017-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) Programme, under the responsibility of SESAR Joint Undertaking (SESAR JU) is defining the future European Air Traffic Management System. Communications between air and ground are intended to move from voice based communications to data based communications to enable efforts toward greater efficiency in a context where, additionally, air traffic is expected to increase. Central to the vision of future Air Traffic Management is the concept of 4D trajectory management, which drives the requirements for the Future Communications Infrastructure (FCI).
The SAPIENT innovation is based on the idea of the integration of the accurate estimation of the flights 4D trajectories with the data obtained by dynamic and accurate monitoring and measuring of the performance of ATM Air/Ground Datalinks carried out by the aircraft transceivers (satellite and terrestrial communication user terminals) linked to the new navigation infrastructure.
SAPIENT idea is therefore based on including the DL (Data Link) communication resources in the list of the resources to be managed for the determination of the definition of the best DL resource and best 4D trajectory.
The SAPIENT simulator development and the associated SAPIENT Verification activities aim at demonstrating that the implementation of the SAPIENT solution can provide the following positive impacts on the ATM multilink environment:
1. Enhanced efficiency of the data-links management in a multilink environment, resulting in less resources needed by ATM communication system elements, with main focus on effective and efficient use of RF spectrum.
2. Reduced Communication issues in the ATM air/ground communication minimizing the need of tactical interventions from ATC and pilots to de-conflict situations
3. Reduced Communication issues in the RPAS C3 satellite DL minimizing the use of RPAS safety procedure that will limit the execution of the RPAS missions
4. Reduced Air Navigation Service cost providing a cost saving obtained by improving the Air navigation Service productivity and the L band frequency usage.

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

In the overall project duration, the SAPIENT Consortium has performed the following activities:
• SAPIENT Solution benefits identification. T
• Identification of appropriate Key Performance Indicators (KPI), suitable to quantify the quality of both the terrestrial (i.e. LDACS) and the satellite ATM air/ground datalink.
• Definition of the 4D-Tagging methodology and 4D-MAP protocol. In order to support the SAPIENT solution, a new set of protocols and processes have been introduced. They will allow integrating the data obtained by dynamic monitoring and measuring of the performance of the ATM Air/Ground data links with the estimation of the 4D trajectory of the aircraft.
• Definition of the SAPIENT System Architecture
• Definition of the security requirements for the SAPIENT system
• SAPIENT Solution Preliminary Verification. The evaluation of the SAPIENT system benefits was done using the SAPIENT system-level simulator
• Communication, dissemination and exploitation activities: a website has been defined to both introduce SAPIENT in terms of Project and Consortium.The SAPIENT Consortium has so far released 3 Newsletters. Then a dedicated workshop, following SJU approval, was organized in Rome on 3rd July 2017 and all interested stakeholders. Finally, two papers about SAPIENT will be presented during the 23rd Ka and Broadband Communications Conference.

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 main conclusions that can be derived from the body of work and results achieved by SAPIENT Project are:
• The Project has confirmed the presence of a gap in the current definition of ATM Datalinks
• The project has proved the important role of a Solution to monitor and control ATM Datalinks in order to be proactively avoid or, at worst, mitigate through quick reaction any abnormal conditions in Datalink exploitation for Safety and Efficiency ATM CNS
• The project has highlighted the important role of a Solution to monitor and control ATM Datalinks, exploiting monitoring and control both local – by Aircraft means - and global – by Ground/System means
• The project has verified the important role of a unified set of KPI processed by all air ground datalinks to collect, disseminate and exploit 4D status information about the operation of Datalinks
• The project has focused the important role of a unified set of KPI for both manned and remotely piloted/unmanned aircraft flying not segregated in Single European Sky
• The project has emphasized the relevance that the SAPIENT Solution is defined, designed, verified and validated as an external “enabler” that complements transparently the capability set of existing and/or planned Datalinks, to effectively meet the QoS requirements of the CPDLC, ADS-C, AIS/MET and AOC applications in all relevant airspaces
• The project has shown the relevance that the SAPIENT Solution is defined, designed, verified and validated as an element of the Multilink Solution currently in definition as part of SESAR2020 P 14.2.4 to effectively meet the QoS requirements of the CPDLC, ADS-C, AIS/MET and AOC applications in continental airspaces
• The project has direct attention to the important topic that a the KPI enabled collection, dissemination and exploitation of Datalink 4D status information is able to improve the overall behaviour of ATM/CNS Datalinks in several abnormal conditions, such as frequency handover, Datalink cell overload, CNS/ATM application overload, etc.
• The project has given prominence to that the long term SATCOM service shall be interoperable with respect to the legacy services and to other future services, as soon as the same communication protocol is applied
• The project has generated the SAPIENT requirements and initial business case scenario
• The project has defined the unified set of KPIs to perform cost-effectively the monitor and control of ATM Datalinks and Multilinks

The SAPIENT solution definition and the associated SAPIENT Verification activities, performed via SAPIENT simulator, have demonstrated that the implementation of the SAPIENT solution provide positive impacts on the ATM multilink environment, that have been translated in data link measurable performances that can be assessed and verified with the developed tool:
• The integrity improves by reduction of data losses (bit, packet or frame). The SAPIENT solution implementation should allow to reduce the Packet Loss Rate (PLR), the Bit Error Rate (BER) or the Frame Error Rate (FER) depending on the selected performance indicator and the applied protocol for DL, therefore it is expected an increased service integrity
• The service continuity improves with respect to a system not implementing the SAPIENT solution.
• The service availability improves with respect to a system not implementing the SAPIENT solution.


The innovative aspects addressed in the SAPIENT Project are related to the TAS-I patent “System for Aeronautical Safety of Life Applications Providing Adaptation of Services and Communication Resources for Maximized Safety and Capacity Performance” . Significant references for the ATM Datalink aspects are the activities undergoing in SESAR on VDL2 (VHF Digital Link Mode 2) and other new generation digital datalinks and in ESA on Iris.