Projects
Overview
Projects
Overview

The EU-funded project “Digital Technologies for Tower” (PJ05-W2 DTT) project is contributing to this in two ways. First, it proposes the development of a remote aerodrome air traffic service in which services from various aerodromes are combined in a centralised control room independent of airport location. Second, it intends to validate innovative human-machine interface modes and related technologies in different airport towers. The project aims to validate and progressively mature these solutions for the benefit of the ATM network in terms of safety, capacity, efficiency and flexibility.

Digital Technologies for Tower (SESAR 2020 PJ05-W2 DTT)
The EU-funded project “Digital Technologies for Tower” (PJ05-W2 DTT) project is contributing to this in two ways. First, it proposes the development of a remote aerodrome air traffic service in which services from various aerodromes are combined in a centralised control room independent of airport location. Second, it intends to validate innovative human-machine interface modes and related technologies in different airport towers. The project aims to validate and progressively mature these solutions for the benefit of the ATM network in terms of safety, capacity, efficiency and flexibility.

City-ATM (Demonstration of Traffic Management in Urban Airspace)
To deal with the question of how a future airspace management system for unmanned and manned airspace users, especially operations in urban areas could look like, the German Aerospace Center has started the City-ATM Project at the beginning of 2018. It will address a variety of constraints to ensure safe and efficient integration of new airspace users. These airspace user can be very diverse and, in addition to VFR air traffic, also include others such as personal air vehicles (PAV), cargo UAS, parachutists, weather balloons or prioritized air traffic, such as rescue helicopter. In addition to aspects of different size, performance and abilities, additional requirements with regard to protected flight areas (so-called geo-fencing) or favored, risk-minimized routes must be taken into account in a U-space concept.

REMOTE TOWER MEETS VIRTUAL REALITY
Air navigation service providers (ANSP) and airports benefit from synergies provided by remote air traffic services (ATS), but many airports with very low revenues are nevertheless unable to afford state-of-the-art remote-tower technology. These predominantly smaller airports often do not provide a full air traffic control service but instead offer lower levels, such as aerodrome flight information service (AFIS), or just a universal communication station, operated by non-air traffic control agencies providing an advisory service to the pilots. The operational environment is less complex, general traffic volumes are lower – mostly one aircraft at a time, and traffic is not separated: instead, traffic advisories are provided, which downsize the scope of operational requirements.

SPEECH RECOGNITION MEETS AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
In air traffic control, as in many other areas, there is a permanent need to increase the performance of the overall system. This need exists in particular at highly congested airports. At the same time, however, an increase of efficiency must never come at the expense of safety. A decisive factor in this equation of efficiency and safety is the air traffic controller, who has a major influence on the overall system performance. A key approach to increase air traffic controller’s efficiency is through digitization and automation. The means used to achieve this are digital assistants that support controllers in carrying out their work. This leads to a reduction of workload and allows air traffic controllers to guide the air traffic more efficiently while maintaining the same level of safety…

PLATE LINES – MITIGATING WAKE-TURBULENCE RISK
When an aircraft is in flight, counter-rotating regions of turbulence, known as wake vortices, are formed behind it. Wake vortices pose a potential threat to following air traffic. Aircraft must therefore keep to a minimum separation distance. These aircraft separations limit the capacity of congested airports in a rapidly growing aeronautical environment as expected after recovery from the pandemic…
City-ATM (Demonstration of Traffic Management in Urban Airspace)

To deal with the question of how a future airspace management system for unmanned and manned airspace users, especially operations in urban areas could look like, the German Aerospace Center has started the City-ATM Project at the beginning of 2018. It will address a variety of constraints to ensure safe and efficient integration of new airspace users. These airspace user can be very diverse and, in addition to VFR air traffic, also include others such as personal air vehicles (PAV), cargo UAS, parachutists, weather balloons or prioritized air traffic, such as rescue helicopter. In addition to aspects of different size, performance and abilities, additional requirements with regard to protected flight areas (so-called geo-fencing) or favored, risk-minimized routes must be taken into account in a U-space concept.
The City-ATM project will develop a concept for future air traffic management (ATM) in urban airspace, which will enable safe and efficient integration of new airspace users (such as unmanned aerial vehicles and air taxis). This includes the definition and validation of operational and technical concepts for airspace management, information provision, traffic flow control and monitoring, as well as CNS-infrastructure. Based on these concepts, a simulation and demonstration platform for urban ATM will be developed. This comes along with the development of a concept of operations, the definition of requirements and framework conditions for the future ATM system as well as the considerations on the technical feasibility for users to operate safely in these environmental conditions.