FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1995
1995 - 3314.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT Better conflict alert/resolution and data transmission/display systems are required if free-flight is to work. Direct exchange among aircraft, airline-operations centres and con trollers are critical to a successful evolution to free-flight. A precursor to free-flight is the Future Air Navigation System (FANS). It provides accu rate and direct pilot-to-controller information exchange over oceans and remote areas nor mally out of range of ground-based stations. The FAA and airlines are now running FANS-1 operational trials. The near-term programme being recom mended would involve no significant avionics changes, and relatively small investments in, or modifications of, buildings, equipment or pro cedures, either by the FAA or the user. Datalinks and automated dependent surveil lance systems which are affordable and which support reduced separation standards are criti cal, as are "decision-support systems" which assist the controller in the prediction and reso lution of conflicts. • In Europe... JULIAN MOXON/PARIS THE EUROPEAN view of "free-flight" and the speed with which it might be introduced is substantially different to that of the USA. This is not least because Europe has not only the world's densest air-traf fic environment, but also a highly developed ground-based infrastructure, which is already capable of performing many of the ATM func tions required for at least the initial stages of FANS implementation. Eurocontrol's development director for its European ATC Harmonisation and Integration Programme, Phil Escritt, points out that the US approach to die FANS is "necessarily different" to that ofEurope, since Europe is concentrating on solving its capacity problems, whereas the USA is aiming to solve the problem posed by hundreds of small airports which are still with out ground landing aids. Escritt adds, however, that "...in the long run, if you look in detail at what the USA is doing under the free-flight banner, it is very similar to what we're doing with the EATMS [European air-traffic-man agement system]". Eurocontrol, the European Commission and the European Space Agency are working together to develop the global-navigation satel lite system (GNSS), and the group, says Escritt, is maintaining "very close" contacts with the FAA to ensure compatibility. "We're not being Luddite," says Escritt in response to criticism that Europe is dragging its feet over the FANS. "We recognise the future, but we must see that GNSS provides as good a service as the existing system before Europe Under free-flight, pilots, not controllers, would choose routes, speeds and altitudes gets rid of its ground-based ATC infrastruc ture," he adds. Europe is proceeding "quietly, and without drama", getting on with the institutional arrangements, plugging the research and development gaps, and gathering the data needed for certification of new systems. "We're dealing with some fundamental issues that the USA hasn't even thought about," he says. Eurocontrol's Roland Rawlings says that the EATxVIS "...will achieve initial operational capa bility around 2005". He foresees a ten-year tran sition to full EATMS, culminating in complete operational capability in 2015, which he says "...will be characterised by the stepwise intro duction of new features and benefits". Rawlings is careful not to commit Europe to the free-flight concept so enthusiastically pro moted by the USA, cautioning that it "...would demand significant airborne-system develop ments". Taking only the problem of aircraft separation in the crowded European airspace, he says that any significant developments "...are likely to demand high-integrity onboard moni toring and conflict-resolution capability demanding direct air-to-air datalinks". Experience with the problems of introducing the "...much more limited capability" aircraft collision-avoidance system indicates that "...the airborne tools enabling the realisation of free- flight in Europe are not going to be achieved without significant development and substantial investments". SATELLITE NAVIGATION Rawlings confirms that the existing ground- based navigation infrastructure in Europe is suf ficient to support near-term EATMS requirements. To ensure compatibility with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) communications, navigation and sur veillance/ATM timetable, Europe is ensuring that it will be able to move from ground-based navigation aids to satellite navigation. The ini tial, augmented satellite-based system based around the GNSS "...will be part of the system architecture by 2005". Rawlings stresses, how ever, that the GNSS "...will not provide the integrity and availability for stand-alone input to area navigation", so that ground aids "...will continue to be employed for the period up to 2010-2015". Satellite augmentation will be provided by The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), and will employ two leased transponders aboard Inmarsat satellites covering Europe and other areas which come under their footprint, such as Africa. The associ ated ground infrastructure is already funded, says Escritt, "...and we're talking to Africa and other nations about its possible use for them". The EGNOS is comparable to the US wide- area augmentation system, says Escritt, "...except that it provides a European instead of a US monitoring service". The system will reach initial operational capability in 1999 (a year after the USA), with full operational capa bility in 2002. "By then, the system should be technically capable of achieving sole-means cer tification down to Category 1 precision approach over most, although probably not all, of the ECAC [European Civil Aviation Conference] area," he adds. The debate over who controls the global- positioning system (GPS) and the GNSS is unresolved, says Rawlings, "...but should not hinder progress towards developing arrange ments for complex systems such as EGNOS, where different states all provide components of the overall system". The deployment of several monitoring networks, he says, "...increases distribution and control of the global GNSS infrastructure". Escritt notes that Eurocontrol is intent on developing the ATN high-speed communica tions datalink as soon as possible, and will meet the ICAO deadline for validation of the ATN-1 at the end of 1996 (clearing the way for its intro duction). He is clear about the existing ARINC 622 system "...which is not designed for safety- critical operations". Escritt agrees that airlines are confused about the timescale for the arrival of ATN "...which is why we're now putting a huge effort into developing it". He also points out that Europe does not have the same need for a local-area augmentation (GPS/GNSS) system, such as that being devel oped in the USA, since its ground-based infra structure already provides extensive Category II and III landing-system capability. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 15 - 21 November 1995 29
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
