Enhanced Air and Ground Safety Nets

Project Information

PJ11 CAPITO

Grant agreement ID: 732996

DOI

10.3030/732996

Project closed

EC signature date 27 October 2016

Start date 1 November 2016

End date 31 December 2019

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 15 230 981,42

EU contribution

€ 4 980 600,77

Coordinated by

EUROCONTROL - EUROPEAN ORGANISATION FOR THE SAFETY OF AIR NAVIGATION
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - PJ11 CAPITO (Enhanced Air and Ground Safety Nets)

Reporting period: 2019-01-01 to 2019-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The project is concerned with Enhanced Air and Ground Safety Nets. Airborne Collision Avoidance Systems (ACAS) are operational globally and need to be optimised for all airspace and to be compatible with existing systems. The scope of work is extended from that performed within SESAR1 to include Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), General Aviation (GA), rotorcrafts (R) and military operations. Safety nets are not widely advertised as saving lives, however the social benefit to assure safety cannot be measured as they are in relation to events that do not happen, or very rarely. Preventing collision between aircraft is the main purpose of Air Traffic Control and any failures resulting in accidents will have social impact on travelling public and, consequently, economic impact on the industry. The Risk Ratio (i.e. Measure of mid-air incidents with and without safety nets) is a measure of this, although not in absolute financial terms. In addition, accommodating RPAS integration safely is a prerequisite for the development of the RPAS business.
The main objectives of the project are those defined by the Solutions:
PJ11-G1: Improve the Short Term Conflict Alert (STCA) via system support to the Non Transgression Zone (NTZ) safety NET including the use of downlinked aircraft parameters (DAPs); Develop a minimum STCA and NTZ Operational, Safety and Performance Requirements.
PJ11-A1: Validate the introduction of ACAS Xa in Europe. Check that flight crew confidence in the collision avoidance system (and thus a good manual response to the alerts) is maintained; analyse the interaction of ACAS Xa with specific European aircraft features developed in SESAR 1.
PJ11-A2: Contribute to development and evaluate the performance & benefits of ACAS Xu within European operations/airspace; ensure that the ACAS Xu system is compatible with the European definition of Detect And Avoid system/capability.
PJ11-A3: identify the main use cases for ACAS Xo capability within current and future European operations; evaluate the benefits/suitability of the basic ACAS Xo implementation developed by FAA for these European scenarios; evaluate the opportunity in terms of achievable benefits for a tailored ACAS Xo implementation addressing selected use cases and define the relevant technical and operational requirements.
PJ11-A4: evaluate the operational benefits achievable by TSAA+ during mixed equipage encounters; analyse reusability of specific elements introduced in ACAS Xu solution for GA/R/military users.

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

PJ11-G1, performed three validation exercises and delivered the V2 DataPack. Significant safety improvement results were achieved, based on quantitative results. The time needed in the prediction of future alerts (STCA and NTZ) is reduced. Reduction of nuisance alerts (STCA and NTZ) number is confirmed. The level of trust the alerts presentation increased, the reduction of workload in terms of reduction of nuisance alerts number was confirmed.
The Solution G1 has achieved V2 Maturity Level
PJ11-A1 performed two validation exercises: an assessment of ACAS Xa compatibility with the SESAR 1 TCAP (TCAS Alert Prevention) feature and the European verification of ACAS Xa. This exercise was supported by the new CAFÉ Encounter Model developed by EUROCONTROL. The V3 DataPack has been delivered. Technical feasibility was confirmed (a prototype exists) and operational benefits exist. However, the operational performance results collected in the V3 validation exercises may lead to a Change Proposal in ACAS-Xa.
The Solution A1 has achieved V3 Maturity Level.
PJ11-A2 performed four FTS validation exercises and delivered the V1 and V2 DataPacks. According to the obtained results Runs 4.x of ACAS Xu seem to perform well its intended function and has positive impact on safety. Further simulations with a more realistic environment (encounter model, operational definition) and using Run 5+ version of ACAS Xu are needed to confirm and refine these results in V3 phase.
The Solution A2 has achieved V2 Maturity Level.
PJ11-A3 performed two validation exercises (Workshop with Air Space Users and Real Time Simulations) and delivered the V1 DataPack. As a conclusion, ACAS Xo as defined in the ACAS Xa+Xo MOPS (RTCA DO-385/ EUROCAE ED-256 published in October 2018) is technically feasible since no technical blocking point was observed. But from an operational point, the ACAS Xo benefit in Europe is not obvious.
The Solution A3 needs additional work (operational concept must be redefined) to reach the V2 maturity level and this solution is at V1 (ongoing).
PJ11-A4 performed eight validation exercises and delivered the V1 and V2 DataPacks. TSAA+ has shown clear benefits in terms of safety (KPA SAF): the Validation Targets assigned to the solution were achieved.
The Solution A4 has achieved V2 Maturity Level.
Exploitation and dissemination continue as planned. Presentations of PJ11 made in the RTCA-SC-147/EUROCAE WG-75 forums are uploaded to a communications folder in the PJ11 area of Stellar.

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 project will have made innovative contributions to the state of the art in modelling and metrics for the operational and safety evaluation of RPAS in the Air Traffic Management environment. This works is performed in conjunction with Universities and Research Centres both in Europe and the USA.
The early research activities into the collision avoidance variant for General Aviation will address techniques and systems as a first mover in the global collision avoidance community.

PJ11 G1

PJ11 ACAS Xu

PJ11 A4

PJ11 ACAS Xo

PJ11 Logo

PJ11 ACAS Xa