Controller tools and team organisation for the provision of separation in air traffic management

The objectives are to further investigate the concept of operation and the associated system support required for operating in new team structures such as the Multi- Sector Planner.

Objectives of this new role are to have a Planner Controller responsible for the airspace under executive control of two or more independent Executive Controllers (1P-nE) with the purpose to balance the workload among them. The Solution focuses on the typical “one Planning Controller to several Executive Controllers” Multi Sector Planning organisations and concentrates on the efficient and safe distribution of responsibility for traffic and separation management across the team.

The PJ.10-01a Solution will also concentrate on the environment where the MSP could act efficiently by addressing following topics:

• Does sectorisation fit to MSP activities?
• Does MSP Interact with ATFCM?
• Which tools will be necessary to achieve MSP role?
• Effect of route structure on MSP role; current route structure versus Free Route airspace
• Controller Training as key factor

This will be assessed through two sets of V2 and V3 validations dealing with different environments (i.e. low/medium/ high complexity En-Route and TMA, fixed route network and free route environment).

Solution PJ.10-01b encompasses the investigation of Flight-Centric ATC for two different environments: low and medium complexity environment and high and very high complexity environment.

The different validations will address the investigation of a baseline which compares (actual) controller numbers and  number of voice communications with the demand in flight-centric ATM and quantification of the expected benefits in terms of performances; productivity and capacity; operational procedures to deal with the coordination needs among controllers; possible technological scenarios toward data link and geographically independent voice for communication (air-ground, ground-ground), analysis and suggestions for communication Solutions both based on current and future technologies; an assessment of the taskload distribution between controllers and different criteria for the assignment of aircraft to controllers including a quantification of the expected benefits in terms of performances; analysis of integration needs with local traffic flow processes; an investigation of required performance of advanced tools which help the controller in providing separation between aircraft; investigation of safety aspects including non-standard situations (severe weather, closure of airspace, system degradation, emergency) under flight-centric application;  transition strategies from current to flight-centred ATC, including a roadmap how to progress step-by-step from the current situation to a future desired communications environment.

This Solution results in a concept of operation for collaborative control (i.e. co-ordination by exception rather than co-ordination by procedure).

New concepts such as release-on-contact, “porous” sector boundaries, sharing of airspace, flight intent and controller intent, are all investigated. These concepts support:

• Reduced need for co-ordination agreements (so reduced workload) between En-Route and TMA;
• Fewer boundary constraints (so improved aircraft profiles);
• The application of constraints to aircraft trajectories at the point where the separation resolution is needed (which may be mid-sector rather than on the boundary);
• The ability to combine sectors into Multi Sector Planner (MSP) teams (enhancing the concepts developed in Solution PJ.10-01a);
• The investigation of working Collaborative into a SPO configuration when appropriate, mostly during quieter traffic situations for a single controller (SPO) to perform the role of both Planner and Tactical using the enhanced toolset;
• To research the collaborative control concept when it is paired with advances in controller tools support (PJ.10-02a);
• The issuance of clearances to aircraft operating within airspace which is the responsibility of another sector;
• The creation and facilitation of complementary plans without the overhead of coordination

The SESAR Solution “Improved Performance in the Provision of Separation” aims at enhancing the provision of separation (tactical layer) in TMA and En-Route environments through the use of improved separation tools (controller decision support tools) based on enhanced Trajectory Prediction (TP).

• Tools’ improvements to incorporate enhanced TP:
  • Conflict detection and resolution set, including additional resolution features (e.g. : what-if, what-else).
  • Flight Conformance monitoring service, including additional alerts (e.g. : vertical rate monitoring)
• Assessment of the benefits of enhanced TP on the provision of separation for different Operational Environments via Real Time Simulations

Trajectory prediction is expected to be enhanced through :

• The integration of aircraft derived data (e.g. : weight from Extended Projected Profile (EPP), speed from Mode S)
• The integration of ground data, e.g. : Enhanced Flight Plan data (EFPL), Meteorological data such as wind direction /speed.

Solution is currently fine tuning Tools improvements through V2 activities .

TP integration is expected end of 2018.  Stay tuned!

This Solution aims at further increasing the quality of service in separation management by providing a higher level of automation in the supporting tools/functionalities and adding new data to the trajectory calculation. Concurrently the level of situational awareness shall remain high and the mental picture of the controller shall not be negatively impacted. The outstanding key R&D needs of this Solution in the V1 maturity phase mainly comprise:

• Development of functionalities providing an enhanced level of automation in separation management support – in close co-operation with controllers to fully meet their needs and expectations;
• Use of new data to enhance the quality of trajectory calculation and therefor of the CD/R aid and conformance monitoring;
• First assessment of the new ideas in providing a higher level of quality and automation in CD/R aid and conformance monitoring;
• Assessment of the increased quality of service in separation management in different operational environments (TMA and En-Route).

As the demand for Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) is growing, the necessity of integrating their operations into non-segregated airspaces has recently drawn much attention. Currently special arrangements are needed to accommodate RPAS operations in manned aviation environments (such as the RPAS operations over the Mediterranean) due, amongst other things, to concerns over safety aspects, particularly related to the risk of mid-air collisions and the loss of the Command & Control (C2) link between the Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) and the Remote Pilot Station (RPS) on the ground.

Integrating RPAS in non-segregated airspaces is a complex topic which includes airworthiness standards, Remote Pilot (RP) licensing, aviation regulations, procedures and requirements, as well as technical challenges unique to RPA.

RPAS are going to be, in particular, part of the traffic in controlled airspaces (i.e. A to E classes). Thus, they will have to be controlled by ATC and be compliant with ATM rules. The scope of PJ.10-05 solution is to investigate ways in which RPAS may be able to use a technical capability or procedural means to safely integrate in En-Route and Terminal ATM areas, these ways including the compliance with ATC instructions in order to integrate in non-segregated and controlled airspaces where they will operate under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR).

The objective of this solution is to identify the human, system and procedural needs that will allow a more flexible ATCO validation regime, for example “sector-type validations” that would allow a controller to operate in any airspace classified as a particular type.