Weekly review #115 - 8th September

ANSP news

• Saab’s Digital Towers Selected for Belgium - Saab Digital Air Traffic Solutions has been selected for a long-term framework agreement by skeyes for their Digital Tower programme.
• ENAIRE invests over 8 million euros to digitalise voice and data communications at the Air Traffic Control Centre in the Balearic Islands - ENAIRE has awarded the contract to digitalise voice and data communications at the Balearic Air Traffic Control Centre, a contract worth 8,112,568 euros, excluding taxes.
• CS SOFT - Oro Navigacija and CS SOFT signed contract for ALS ATM system upgrade - In mid-August, CS SOFT and Oro Navigacija signed the contract for an upgrade of the air traffic control system ALS 2.1, currently operated by SE Oro Navigacija Kaunas air traffic control centre.
• NATS Blog - Changing the way we monitor controller competence - You’ve probably never thought about how the performance of air traffic controllers is monitored. But it’s an incredibly important part of the work we do to keep our skies safe. In May, we launched the NATS Management of Competence System, a single evidence-based system which is transforming the way we manage the competence of our controllers.

Market news

• Collins Aerospace to acquire FlightAware - Collins Aerospace has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held FlightAware, a leading digital aviation company providing global flight tracking solutions, predictive technology, analytics and decision-making tools.
• Big success with European aeronautical information services database EAD – prolongation of release development, IT service management, and operations contracts - Frequentis rejoices about being the chosen partner for the already third decade of EAD for the provision of release development, IT service management, and operations services.
• Indra optimizes ground surveillance at Canadian airports - Indra has been awarded a contract for the delivery of ground surveillance systems at five airports to air navigation service provider NAV CANADA. The systems will provide air traffic controllers with an optimized overview of the ground traffic, and include runway incursion alert functionality to enhance their situational awareness.

Context information

• Adjusting Airspace Classifications to Adapt to Emerging Airspace Users - When airspace volumes were originally created and designed, we only had to contend with manned aircraft. Unmanned aircraft were not considered. Since then, remotely piloted aircraft of all sorts and sizes have emerged, but the legacy airspace designs have not adapted to these new aircraft and their missions. I will concentrate here on airport control zones.
• Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Schramböck visits FREQUENTIS: “Artificial intelligence improves safety and generates additional economic growth” - In the coming years, airspace will become increasingly busy – despite the present pandemic-related downturn. Scheduled and charter flights and the rising use of drones are greatly increasing the challenges for safety and communication systems. It is currently estimated that drone traffic will grow by 14% a year. In order to manage the entire airspace, conventional towers operated by air traffic controllers need to be supplemented by remote towers, which use artificial intelligence to manage air traffic at airports from a different location.
• Airservices - Airservices Australia CEO talks to airspace about the impact of the pandemic on air traffic management - The biggest lesson for us has been the need to respond to both short-term volatility and long-term growth at the same time. Crisis management is core to what we do as an ANSP, so we have been able to adapt quickly to the immediate impacts of the pandemic, such as creating resilience rosters.

Reports and data

• EUROCONTROL Data Snapshot #15 - The 15th EUROCONTROL Data Snapshot is here, looking at the delay caused by checking the COVID-19 documentation of passengers.
• BHANSA - In September, we expect 84 per cent of air traffic from the pre-pandemic 2019 - Air traffic in the Bosnia and Herzegovina airspace has significantly increased compared to the previous year when most of the flights in Europe i.e. in the world were cancelled due to the COVID pandemic and restrictive measures. The available data shows, that in August, there could be 80 per cent of traffic we had in pre-pandemic 2019, said the director of BHANSA Mr Davorin Primorac.

Research and innovation

• CANSO - Emerging technologies for future skies - A new CANSO whitepaper series is set to examine the new and emerging technologies that will shape our world.

UAV and UTM

• Unmanned airspace - SwissDrones completes first BVLOS powerline inspection flight with a flight distance of more than 100km - Commercial drone operator SwissDrone Operating AG has completed the first beyond visual line of sight powerline inspection in Belgium covering a flight distance of more than 100 km in a single flight. SwissDrone’s SDO 50 V2 VTOL unmanned helicopter undertook a single flight over a two-hour period.
• Unmanned airspace - Spain awards Indra EUR1.3m contract to develop automated UTM platform in partnership with Airbus and Unifly - ENAIRE has selected Indra in a contract worth EUR 1.349 million to develop an automated and digital U-space done management platform. The solution is expected to provide U-space services for the automated management of drone operations BVLOS. Indra is partnered with Airbus and Unifly under the contract which has an execution timeline through 2023, extendable by 24 months.
• First drone test flights for GOF 2.0 to take off in September 2021 - The SESAR JU project Gulf of Finland 2.0 focuses on the safe, secure, and sustainable integration of unmanned aerial vehicle and air taxi operations in urban airspace. After eight months of intense preparation work, the first wave of trials will start in Tartu, Estonia, on 2 September 2021 and continue in Finland, Poland, and Austria.
• Unmanned airspace - New Honeywell airborne technologies aim to improve light drone BVLOS capabilities - In August, Honeywell announced a range of technologies to support small drone operations, allowing them to fly three times longer and with less human intervention, according to the company.