ADSB-in applications

Topic description

Specific Challenge:

ADS-B-in equipage delivers precise information of the surrounding traffic in the cockpit. Airlines have already starting equipping their fleets with ADS-B-in in order to take advantage of the initial applications that are already operational (ATSAW and Oceanic ITP). A number of additional ADS-B-in applications are currently under research in the Industrial Research Programme. The objective of this topic is to investigate additional applications beyond what is covered in IR to leverage ADS-B-in equipage.

The SESAR concept of operations is ground-based, but even in a ground-based concept ad-hoc delegation of separation responsibility from controllers to pilots may bring benefits. Airborne Spacing – Interval Management (ASPA-IM) and CDTI Assisted visual separation (CAVS) are currently under research in the Industrial Research Programme. In addition, the industrial research programme also consider use of ADS-B-in capabilities by airborne safety nets, SURF-A and ACAS X (extended hybrid surveillance). Bids in this topic should propose a new ADS-B-in application and propose a plan to develop a high-level concept of operations and an initial validation (from TRL0 to TRL2) with the objective of assessing whether there would be value in including it in the ATM Master Plan.

The following two innovative applications of interest have been identified by the SJU:

Application area 1: Formation flying

In formation flying operations, an aircraft is positioned in a specific area closely behind another aircraft on the same route, where the wake vortices generated by a leading aircraft push air upwards, so the follower aircraft can benefit from this lift and therefore reduce the engine thrust and, at the same speed, significantly reduce the fuel consumption (initial estimate is that savings for the follower aircraft can be up to 8-12%), with the associated reduction in CO2 emissions. A positive impact in terms of increased airspace capacity (more aircraft in the same portion of airspace) may also be possible. It is envisaged that the concept will allow the creation of strings of aircraft, each benefitting from the wake of the previous aircraft. Fuel savings are realised in the follower aircraft, and the concept has neither a negative nor a positive impact on the operational performance of the aircraft being followed.

The avionics requirements for the follower aircraft are ADS-B-in with a station keeping capability for the follower aircraft to allow it to maintain the prescribed separation with the aircraft ahead. It is expected that the development of the station keeping capabilities will leverage previous SESAR research on airborne spacing, which already enabled a follower aircraft to stay a specified time or distance behind a leader. The leader aircraft does not require any equipage other than ADS-B-out, which is already a requirement by the regulation.

Management of the rendezvous, formation-flying phase and split of military formations is already routine in European skies, but the concept is not directly applicable to civil formations. There is a need to develop a high-level concept of operations of how to manage civilian formation flying. The concept may include some strategic planning (e.g. to allow reduced fuel upload requirements for a flight that is planned to take advantage of formation flying) or be exclusively tactical (i.e. controllers identifying opportunities for formation flying to equipped aircraft that have reported that they are looking for a leader for fuel savings purposes, potentially with the support of the ATC ground system). Like in military formation flying, the concept must include the delegation from controllers to the flight crew of the responsibility for separation between leader and follower.

Application area 2: Use of ACAS logic for separation

In the current SESAR concept of operations, aircraft can manoeuvre based on their picture of the traffic obtained from SSR or ADS-B-in only for collision avoidance when in an ACAS manoeuvre. Previous SESAR ER project AGENT [52] has examined the possibility of aircraft manoeuvring earlier, in the separation provision layer rather than in the collision avoidance layer, with clear criteria being established for allocating separation responsibility to either air or ground agents. Projects working in this application area may build on AGENT’s approach, or take a different approach, e.g. a ground-based concept with ad-hoc ground-to-air delegation of separation responsibility.

Please note that this list of innovative areas is not intended as prescriptive; bids addressing alternative ADS-B-in applications are welcome, provided adequate justification and background are provided in the proposal.

The output of the project must include a high-level concept of operations describing an innovative ADS-B-in application. The objective of the concept of operations is to provide a vision of how the innovative concept will work within the current system and how it will change the operations from the point of view of all stakeholders. By its nature, the final concept of operations deliverable must be public. It is expected that intermediate deliverables supporting the development of the concept of operations (e.g. literature reviews, reports of workshops or interviews) will usually also be marked as public unless there is a specific reason for not doing so. Bidders for this topic marking any deliverables as confidential in their bid are strongly advised to provide adequate justification for the need for confidentiality in the bid.

In the era of digital aviation, ADS-B-in applications will enable the involvement of flight-crews in the air traffic control task by taking advantage of the digital vehicle-to-vehicle connectivity. Leveraging ADS-B-in equipage will allow airlines to get best value for money for their investments in avionics.