Partnership of three industry giants aims to maximise technology to cope with increasing traffic levels
Airbus, EADS and Thales have formed an industry alliance to create common air traffic management (ATM) solutions in a bid to cope with a predicted increase in air transport.
Thales chief executive Denis Ranque says the alliance will be open, with the intention of bringing in more companies to develop global standards and harmonisation. Ranque says Anglo-Italian group AMS is a prime candidate, although the company says it has not been approached. Ranque says the venture will be open to US companies, including Boeing, which formed its own ATM division two years ago.
Each partner brings different experience, says Ranque. Airbus has airliner experience, EADS has expertise in satellites and aerospace technologies and Thales is an ATM equipment and avionics provider.
John Hughes, Thales chief operating officer, says: "We're trying to create an ecosystem of partners to advance the ATM system."
Hughes says the group has not yet spoken to air traffic service (ATS) providers, but plans to talk to European air navigation organisation Eurocontrol, ATS providers and the International Air Transport Association this year. The process "has to be open and include the stakeholders", he adds.
Hughes says short-term work will include deployment of technologies such as controller-pilot datalink communications to reduce voice congestion and improve capacity and safety; datalink-enhanced air/ ground surveillance, with the downlink of real-time aircraft trajectory data and parameters to improve capacity/safety; and new navigation aids, such as microwave- and satellite-based landing systems, he says.
Ranque says it is software rather than hardware that needs to be developed, adding that some software exists, but its use needs to be rethought. "Information contained in the flight management system aboard an aircraft could be precious to the ground controller, but he doesn't get this information now."
Validation and deployment of key technologies are planned for 2003-06, including large-scale trials with up to 100 in-service aircraft and three or four operational air traffic control centres. A funding system needs to be created that would include the European Commission, says Hughes.
Longer-term strategies include four-dimensional trajectory air/ ground data exchange; datalink-based aircraft separation assurance using automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast; satellite navigation using the global positioning system and Europe's planned Galileo system; co-operative flight data processing and traffic flow control systems; and integrated airport surface management systems.
Source: Flight International
