Solution to increase ATCO flexibility passes maturity assessment

The SESAR solution “Increased Flexibility in ATCO Validations” (PJ.33-W3-01a) explores ways to more flexibly deploy air traffic controllers to specific parts of en-route airspace, sectors and working positions. The tools and procedures developed, which are tailored to reduce the need for controllers to have local knowledge of a sector, have now reached V2 maturity. This is an important milestone on the way to deployment. The solution is part of the SESAR project FALCO (Flexible ATCO Endorsement and LDACS Complement).

On Tuesday 18 April 2023, the research team behind this solution met with representatives of the SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking for a Maturity Gate Meeting at the EUROCONTROL premises in Brussels, Belgium. The researchers presented and discussed the results and documentation of the work carried out. DLR, as the project and solution leader, presented a short summary of the project scope and objectives, the concept and the results, before going into more detail on the maturity assessment criteria.

After internal discussions, the SESAR 3 JU confirmed that the developed solution has fully reached “V2 maturity”. This is a success for the international team and paves the way for the continuation of the research on increased flexibility of ATCO validations, which is planned in the upcoming SESAR 3 project IFAV3.

About FALCO

The SESAR industrial research project PJ.33-W3-FALCO investigated solutions for making air traffic management and the deployment of air traffic controllers more flexible, cost-efficient and responsive to changing traffic demand and conditions. The project started on 1^st Jan 2021 in the frame of SESAR Wave 3, and will end on 30^th June 2023.