Weekly review #140 - 9th March

Welcome to another weekly review from FoxATM!

First up, there is news that a joint initiative from FAB CE / FABEC will expand cross-border free route airspace in Europe. Specifically, the functional airspace blocks Central Europe and Europe Central will expand free route airspace for climate-friendly air traffic. The goal is to optimise critical southeast and northwest routes.

There is interesting technological development in South Korea with Indra installing Asia's first 3D civil aviation radar. 3D radars bring many benefits, such as improved reliability and accuracy. As a result, they can handle a higher volume of flights. Here is the full story if you'd like to learn more.

For those interested in what the future of air traffic might look like, there is a new report from Cranfield University and Inmarast. The research explores 21 fascinating concepts. These include conscious aircraft, trajectory-based operations and digital trust technology. Conscious aircraft sound a little like science-fiction to us, but who knows what the future holds! Here is how Cranfield University describes them.

Finally, there is news from Australia with Department 13 unveiling its first remote operations centre. The centre will support the increasing demand for Beyond Visual Line of Sight drone operations. If you are interested in the ongoing adoption of drone technology, you can learn more about the story here.

• ANSP news

  • FAB CE / FABEC – Expansion of cross-border free route airspace for climate-friendly air traffic - DFS - In a joint initiative, the functional airspace blocks Central Europe and Europe Central are expanding free route airspace to optimise important south-east/north-west routes in Europe.
  • COOPANS team – SMATSA - COOPANS harmonization team representatives, from five of the six ANSPs, members of COOPANS Alliance visited SMATSA Llc in order to exchange information related to the technical monitoring and control function of the SMATSA TopSky-ATC system.

  Airports news

  • Arunachal Pradesh to get a Greenfield Airport in Hollongi - Considering the importance of air connectivity to the capital city of Arunachal Pradesh, AAI has undertaken the work of constructing a Greenfield Airport in Hollongi, 15 Kms from Itanagar.

  Market news

  • Indra to install Asia's first 3D civil aviation radar in South Korea - Indra is the world pioneer in the inclusion of 3D radars to manage civil air traffic. It’s now deploying these systems at critical points for air navigation both in Europe and now in Asia. The reliability and accuracy they provide enables them to manage a greater number of flights.

  Context information

  • The government of the United Republic of Tanzania continues to invest in the aviation sector - The Deputy Minister for Works and Transport Dr. Ally Possi said The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania under HE. President Samia Suluhu Hassan will continue to invest in the civil aviation sector including improving Air Tanzania Company Limited, Aerodromes, aviation infrastructures and other related matters of aviation industry.
  • Public consultation launched for revision of the Air Services Regulation - DG MOVE - The European Commission is currently reviewing the Air Services Regulation (Regulation (EC) 1008/2008) to ensure it is in line with moves to make aviation more sustainably, smarter, more resilient and socially responsible.

  Reports and data

  • EUROCONTROL Comprehensive Assessment — European Aviation - Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, EUROCONTROL’s Comprehensive Aviation Assessment has been charting pandemic impacts on European aviation, using the latest traffic data to track the recovery across airlines, airports, States, ACCs and regional flows.

  Research and innovation

  • Technology innovations to revolutionise aviation unveiled in new Cranfield University and Inmarsat report - Research explores 21 cutting-edge concepts, such as conscious aircraft, trajectory based operations, artificial intelligence and digital trust technology, set to define future of aviation.
  • Airports of the future: FREQUENTIS and German Aerospace Center to bring multiple remote tower operations to the next level - Multiple Remote Tower Modules develop at fast-pace and will eventually replace traditional air traffic control towers. Located in a remote tower centre, the modules aim to allow the control of several different airports, with varying complexity, from a remote location. This will also allow the centralisation of air traffic services and the combining of resources at different airports, providing efficiency gains.
  • Validation of speech recognition for relieve of tower controllers - SESAR 3 JU member, DLR together with air traffic controllers from AustroControl and Oro Navigacija recently validated an assistant-based speech recognition system to support controllers working in future multiple remote tower centres. The validations are part of the project "Digital Technologies for Tower", which is developing new technologies for airport towers, particularly in the area of remotely controlling multiple airports and innovative human-machine interfaces.
  • Multi-Airport Concept: optimising the use of existing airspace structure - To70 - Dutch airports have developed considerably over time. This development took place almost autonomously, as no mechanisms exist to balance traffic volumes among airports, routes or airspace strategically. Further independent development of these airports is expected to introduce bottlenecks in Dutch airspace soon. Redesigning Air Traffic Services routes and sectors in congested airspace can increase capacity slightly but will quickly run into limitations. Could introducing a Multi-Airport Concept also help?

  UAV and UTM

  • SESAR project tests concept for the safe integration of remotely-piloted aircraft systems around airports - Unmanned airspace - The SESAR JU INVIRCAT research project is investigating the integration of remotely-piloted aircraft systems using instrument flight rules routes in the terminal manoeuvring area and aerodrome environment.
  • Department 13 announces first remote operations centre to support increasing BVLOS operations in Australia - Unmanned airspace - Department 13 has unveiled its first Remote Operations Centre to support the increased demand for Beyond Visual Line Of Sight drone operations across a range of industry sectors throughout Australia. The ROC is capable of operating a range of drone platforms, with success recently illustrated using the Nightingale Security Blackbird, says the company press release.