What is the added value of being a member of the SESAR 3 JU?

At Indra, we’ve always believed in the need for an initiative such as SESAR, which provides a space for cross-cutting public-private cooperation to overcome challenges that go beyond the borders or the capacity of a single organisation.

Moreover, thanks to well-focused innovation based on technology platforms such as iTEC, SESAR 3 JU is accelerating the development of new technologies that have been already deployed in real projects or exported worldwide.

We currently have the opportunity to strengthen the collaborative spirit of the programme so as to achieve more digital, connected, accessible and environmentally-friendly air traffic with higher levels of automation and to overcome air traffic fragmentation in Europe.

We’re confident that, through the different phases of the research and development cycle, the Digital Sky Demonstrators to be addressed and the updating of the European ATM Master Plan, we’ll achieve tangible results to build a single European digital sky.

Why is air traffic management and its digital transformation important to Indra?

For Indra, as a global technology partner, it’s essential to continue leading the digitalisation of the sector and supporting its customers in their transformation.

We must adapt Europe’s aviation infrastructure to the digital age to improve the interoperability required to increase capacity, efficiency and safety and put an end to airspace fragmentation.

While public-private cooperation has been key to consolidating the leadership that Europe currently enjoys, now is the time to commit to digitalisation to reinforce it.

We have a long road ahead of us, but we have a well-established and highly ambitious industry that’s made a firm pledge to innovation and proved ready to take on the challenge. This commitment to innovation has led Indra to export solutions around the world, ones which, in many cases, are based on technologies whose development began within SESAR. We’ve also succeeded in persuading advanced suppliers such as NavCanada to consider adopting iTEC, a highly advanced automation system entirely developed in Europe that incorporates the vision of interoperability advocated by SESAR.

What are Indra’s top three innovation priorities?

The implementation of automation systems based on virtualisation technologies will transform air traffic control centres, facilitating higher levels of interoperability and more efficient workload distribution. They’ll also increase the resilience of the whole ATM network, as well as strengthen cybersecurity in order to prevent new threats and thus maintain the high levels of aviation security that have been achieved.

Artificial intelligence will facilitate new applications to increase airspace capacity and provide greater degrees of accuracy and predictability, thus ensuring safe traffic management. At Indra, we’re incorporating its use into advanced systems, such as the Network Manager, which is involved in the coordination of operations with 68 control centres and more than 400 airports on the continent.

Numerous other technologies will be critical, ranging from digital communications systems and drone traffic management platforms to the deployment of satellite communications and surveillance constellations to manage traffic in oceanic and remote areas.

In which flagships of the Digital European Sky programme is Indra particularly interested in getting involved, and why?

As a global technology provider, we offer our customers an integrated portfolio that fully meets their needs. Our leadership obliges us to excel in many flagship projects, so choosing one would be difficult.

The increase in traffic in the wake of the pandemic has highlighted the need to take action. This is why we’re committed to next-generation systems such as iTEC, which allow us to integrate the advances in automation, digitalisation, virtualisation and cybersecurity into global platforms to shorten the development cycle to deploy innovative technological solutions at a faster pace.

These platforms must also enable our customers to decouple the layers that make up the provision of their services to secure more efficient and sustainable use of resources. For example, our remote digital tower, U-space and satellite CNS solutions, through Startical, will allow our customers to improve their capabilities and gain access to new services for new airspace users.