World ATM Now - The Highlights Edition for 2019

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World ATM Congress Breaks Records Again ❙ 9,573 Registrants, an 11 Percent Increase ❙ 253 Exhibitors ❙ 125 Hours of Programming

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The Voice of UTM is a Roar

or the first time ever at World ATM Congress, a panel discussion didn’t include any air navigation service provider (ANSP) representatives, said Andrew Charlton, managing director, Aviation Advocacy, as he kicked off the 12 March “The Voice of UTM” panel. Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) traffic management (UTM) helps use the world’s airspace more efficiently, panelists agreed. But the challenge is enabling communication between human-related air traffic management (ATM) and technology-related UTM. Charlton asked the panelists, who all represent the UTM industry, a series of challenging questions. What does an ANSP need to know to understand UTM? Todd Donovan, vice president of digital aviation, Thales, said controlled airspace is just a construct. So while ANSPs are well positioned to provide services for people who want to use airspace, “we need to rethink what services need to be provided where.” One way to accomplish that is to “do it, not just talk about it,” said Ben Marcus, chairman and cofounder, AirMap.

Todd Donovan (far right) speaks at “The Voice of UTM” panel at the 2019 World ATM Congress.

“Through processes and real-world demonstrations, we’re learning what the role is for each entity. “ How do we establish UTM standards? Richard Parker, founder and CEO, Altitude Angel, answered with his own question: “How do we take the very essence of quality and safety

that’s baked into an ANSP and apply that to the UTM world? The classic problem with standards is if we all have our own standard, we don’t have a standard.” The bottom line, Parker said, is that “it doesn’t matter to the people on this stage what the standard is, as long as there is one. Everyone’s dead clear: we

have to be safe. So at least we have common ground.” Marcus pointed out that “we already have millions of drones flying in the world in the absence of regulation. The longer we wait, the worse it gets. We can’t wait for years and years to develop the perfect standard.” UTM is not a product, he said; it is a set of services. UTM can provide critical foundational services like registration of drones, geofencing, and mechanisms for legitimate operators to fly into sensitive airspaces. What’s the role of counter UAS? The key, Donovan said, is to “inject the notion of trust” into things like drone registration. This is new to the airspace, he admitted. He believes there should be different levels of trust depending on who is flying the drone—for instance, an operator flying a drone over a field would need to be less trustworthy than an operator in an urban environment near government buildings. Parker said it all comes down to identity and registration. “We have a

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Workshop Offers Update on Global UTM Issues and Solutions

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ith speakers ranging from manufacturers to ANSPs, the 14 March Global UTM Association Workshop provided a cuttingedge examination of current drone technology and operations. Marc Kegelaers, vice president of Global UTM, kicked off the workshop with an explanation of flight information management systems (FIMS). FIMS are operated by UTM service providers, and can be supplied by the same company that’s offering ATM services, in a role appointed by a civil aviation authority (CAA). “Usually it’s the ANSP, but we have seen one country where the ANSP isn’t reacting, so another company will get the role of FIMS,” Kegelaers said. Services a FIMS can provide include priority, capacity, permission/access, geofencing, and registration manage-

ment. Kegelaers said FIMS should be considered a public service, meaning they have no competition, and costs of the UTM services provided by a FIMS should be approved by authorities. A FIMS can delegate certain services to local authorities, but those decisions are likely political choices, Kegelaers said. For instance, in Italy, a FIMS is expected to provide many services, whereas it would have a limited role in Switzerland. “The European Commission wants to enable competition, but safety and security must not be hampered,” Kegelaers said. To achieve this, FIMS should be audited and regulated, he said. Currently, there are FIMS feasibility demonstrations in Italy (DIODE), Spain (DOMUS), Greece (EuroDRONE), Finland (GOF), Belgium (SAFIR), France/ Germany/Hungary (USIS), and Holland

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(VUTURA). “We are testing and demonstrating and negotiating as we speak, so by the end of this year I think we will have a good vision of what we need to do,” Kegelaers said. In the UK, NATS has established a dedicated UTM team in its regulated business, said Andy Sage, NATS account director. “This is a recognition that we regard this as part of our core business,” he

said. “We believe we play a role alongside airports, drone operators, USPs, government, and the general public.” For airport authorities, Sage said NATS’ UTM role will allow them to do risk assessment at times of disruption. For commercial drone operators, NATS offers a user portal to help them get airspace access. “For UTM service providers, this year

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Andrea Shestopalov, AiRXOS, addresses questions about FIMS-USP during the Global UTM Association workshop on 14 March.


2019 Highlights

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Has Europe Learned the Lessons from Last Summer’s ATM Crisis? Last summer’s ATM capacity and staff shortage was a wakeup call for European aviation, said Henrik Hololei, director-general for mobility and transport, European Commission, during the 12 March keynote session. “What is the saying: ‘Never waste a good crisis?’” he said. “This must not become the new normal.” In a wide-ranging speech and follow-up discussion with Jeff Poole, director general, Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO), Hololei outlined the steps he believes are necessary to manage the phenomenal air traffic growth in Europe and worldwide. Last year, for the first time ever, Hololei said the European network served more than 11 million flights. Global air traffic is also expected to double over the next 15 years, and that brings serious challenges, he said. First of all, there is geopolitical instability due to Brexit and potential trade wars, Hololei said. “Aviation is the business of freedom, but current global trends are challenging this.” Over the years, aviation has proven remarkably resilient to economic shocks, but that was during a time of open markets with liberal economic policies, he said. Hololei outlined four other major challenges that aviation growth will bring: • Maintaining high safety and security standards.

• Dealing with the rising capacity crunch in the air and on the ground. Hololei cited data showing that one out of five flights in European airspace was late last year. • Mitigating aviation’s impact on the climate. Research and innovation will play a key role in sustainable growth and clean air transport, but ATM will need to contribute by limiting delays and shortening routes, he said. • Addressing challenges due to digitalisation, including big data and cybersecurity. “The weakest link can easily destabilise the entire chain, and none of us want to be the weakest link,” Hololei said. But the biggest issue is the ability to deliver safe capacity as the current European system reaches its limits, he said. Last year, according to EUROCONTROL data, enroute delay was twice that of 2017. “Lack of capacity and staffing accounted for 64 percent of all delays,” Hololei said. “This is simply not acceptable nor sustainable.” Hololei’s remedies include speeding up the development of SESAR Solutions; developing proposals for short-, medium-, and long-term solutions to deliver a single European digital sky; and increasing airport capacity. The keynote session closed with questions for Hololei from Poole and the audience, including:

Henrik Hololei, DirectorGeneral for Mobility and Transport, European Commission, talks with Jeff Poole, Director General, CANSO, during the session, “The Big Picture.”

How optimistic are you that we can deliver a single European sky? Hololei said positive signs of progress include deployment of SESAR Solutions, strengthening of the role of the Eurocontrol Network Manager, and the upcoming Group of Wise Persons and European Commission’s Airspace Architecture Study. “The issue of national sovereignty is the main source of defragmentation,” he said. “Why can’t an airplane move like a truck across European borders? Philosophically, this is very difficult to understand.” Hololei said another plus is cooperation with the military. “Nobody would have thought 10 years ago we could have achieved what we have now.”

How are the US and Europe working together to facilitate the integration of SESAR and NextGen programs? “We both want to have the highest level of security, but we might have different means of getting there,” Hololei said. “We don’t need to work together in exactly the same way, but interoperability is the key word.” Why isn’t there a single European general aviation research program? “Our interests are better served when Clean Sky and SESAR are separate,” Hololei said. “It’s important that each program continue to have its own focus and not blur into something where focus will be lost, especially with SESAR moving from the development to deployment phase.”


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Want to Woo Female and Millennial Workers? Here’s How. “When we show them what’s it’s like to be an air traffic controller, a pilot, it sparks something in them.” – Kendra Kincade on founding Elevate Aviation to support women in aviation tion industry organisations shows that while Kincade’s life experiences are exceptional, the professional hurdles she faced aren’t unusual. The study, which began in fall 2018, is called “Soaring Through the Glass Ceiling.” Bell said preliminary results will be announced in April, with the full report planned for the second quarter of 2019. “If there’s a headline for the study, it’s ‘It Takes a Village,’” he said. Emerging themes from the 2,500-plus respondents show that women, business leaders, human resource professionals, parents, and the aviation industry overall need to help women and girls pursue careers in aviation and encourage them to become leaders in the industry. Teri Bristol, chief operating officer,

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Emma Parry, NATS, and Milena Bowman, EUROCONTROL, chat about attracting millennials to the ATM workforce.

Air Traffic Organization, Federal Aviation Administration, said she used to take her three-year-old and five-yearold children with her to classes at the University of Maryland because she didn’t have childcare. After graduation, Bristol interviewed with the US Department of Transportation. A management training program that rotated among four government

agencies gave her the specialised training courses she needed to succeed in the acquisition field. But as she moved into the technical side of the industry, she found management suited her. “I thought I could do a better job than the managers I worked for,” who were all men.

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Kendra Kincade ran away from home at age 13, living on the streets before ending up in the Canadian foster care system. Eventually, she got married, had four children, and decided to train to become an air traffic controller. “That job saved my life,” Kincade said. But she almost didn’t make it. “There was only a seven percent success rate, and I was about to wash out,” she remembers. But one man believed in her and made her believe in herself. “His mentorship has always stayed with me.” Kincade, who is now an employer brand specialist with NAV CANADA, was one of five women who shared their stories during the Wednesday morning panel “Attracting and Retaining Women and Millennials in ATM.” In 2015, Kincade founded Elevate Aviation, a Canadian nonprofit located in Edmonton, Alberta, that provides aviation career support for women. “When we show them what it’s like to be an air traffic controller, a pilot, it sparks something in them,” she said. Panel moderator Michael Bell, senior client partner, civil aviation practice, Korn Ferry, said a study his company is conducting in partnership with avia-

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2019 Highlights

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How Four Continents Handle Crunch Time

The audience attentively listens to a panel discussing how four continents best utilize ATM capacity.

make technology faster and encourage nontraditional uses; and get buy-in from the workforce for long-term and short-term capacity solutions. Asia Pacific has the same capacity issues as Europe, said Tinnagorn Choowong, executive vice president, operations, AEROTHAI in Thailand. The current growth in the region is expected to double in 15 years, and Thailand surpassed 1 million flights last year, he said. AEROTHAI’S new ATM system is expected to be fully implemented by the third quarter of this year, Choowong said, and neighboring countries are

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▲ iTEC Members (including PANSA) and EUROCONTROL signed a Flight Object Interoperability Collaboration Agreement which continues the joint developments of the iTEC Group of ANSPs and system suppliers towards cutting-edge ATM solutions.

also expected to install new systems that will allow more capacity. This year, AEROTHAI will be able to fulfill some of ICAO’s regional framework strategies to enable interconnected operations between countries in Asia Pacific, he said. Argentina is many steps behind Europe and Asia, said Gabriel Giannotti, president and CEO, EANA. There’s been no investment in infrastructure during the last two to three decades, and the country is building its ATM system “almost from scratch,” he said. “We used to go shopping around— buy, buy, buy—for ATM platforms, but

now we’re slowing down the process,” he said, in order to invest in the best products. In the last two years, Argentine air traffic has increased 30 percent, Giannotti said. The government is asking for more domestic operators, “but they want the same level of service as in North America. We’re not able to do that,” he said. Saudi Arabia is in the early stages of a capacity crunch, said Ryann Waddah Tarabzoni, CEO, Saudi Air Navigation Services (SANS). Saudi Arabia’s new ATM system is set to go live before the end of the year, Tarabzoni said. And last year, SANS started an annual assessment with the country’s airlines. “We asked how we can provide stronger service,” he said. “A month ago, we launched a customer portal so airlines can communicate directly with us.” Africa has 12 percent of the world’s population but only 2.5 percent of its air traffic, said Sandile Malinga, chief operations officer, ATNS of South Africa. So the issue isn’t capacity crunch, but rather preparing the continent for future air traffic growth. One key is promoting inter-Africa connectivity. “Sometimes you have to go to Europe to connect to another African country,” he said, noting that this type of connectivity “will lay a good base for a common African airspace.”

Frank Köhne, managing director of Harris, and Kevin Shum, directorgeneral of CAAS, at a 12 March signing ceremony for the Singapore AMAN/ DMAN System Contract.

As ATM capacity shrinks, can there be a win-win situation for ANSPs and airlines? That was the central question for the 13 March session “The Big Crunch— Hard Talk on ATM Capacity.” In Europe, where EUROCONTROL data shows air traffic delays have more than doubled from last year, this question isn’t easily answered. “We’re under constant pressure to deliver services in a cost-driven manner, but the supplier can’t expect customers to give all the solutions,” said Thomas Reynaert, managing director, Airlines for Europe (A4E). “Why should we pay for a service if we’re not getting that service? Suppliers need to be more agile or airlines might ask for competition between ANSPs.” ANSPs need to move to networkcentric approaches and flight-centered operations, Reynaert said. To help accomplish that, he said A4E is planning to “call out member states, which we haven’t done in the past.” The goal is to tell politicians that “our passengers— your voters—aren’t happy,” he said. Maurice Georges, CEO/director, DSNA, said the French ANSP has four pillars to mitigate capacity constraints: establish a more mutual relationship with customers, including the final customer—the passenger; encourage better ANSP networking, with EUROCONTROL acting as a real network manager;

▲ Geert-Jan Beckman, ITMS, and Heinz-Michael Kraft, GroupEAD, shake hands at the GroupEAD Stand.

▲ On 13 March, a ceremony took place between Airbus Engineering—represented by Jean-Brice Dumont, EVP Engineering – and a delegation from the Chinese ATM solutions supplier CETC, to mark the cooperation for validating a new CETCdeveloped Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS) ground station.


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Women in Aviation Inspire Shaesta Waiz’s Solo Flight Shaesta Waiz’s first flight was in 1987, when she was a baby. Waiz, her parents, and her five sisters fled their native Afghanistan during the Afghan-Soviet war and settled in California. When Waiz was 17, she had an opportunity to fly in an airplane again. “It was as if my world became electric,” she told World ATM Congress attendees during a Wednesday morning guest speech. “The power in the engines offered me a view of Earth and my place in it from a different perspective. I finally felt accepted.” That short airplane ride determined

Shaesta Waiz

Waiz’s future. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from EmbryRiddle Aeronautical University, and be-

came the first certified female civilian pilot from Afghanistan. “I was on the path to become a commercial pilot, but I felt somewhat empty inside,” she said. “I felt a sense of duty to share my experience with other girls like me who never quite fit in.” So she founded Dreams Soar, a nonprofit supported by a variety of partners, along with an all-volunteer team of seasoned aviation professionals and college students. Dreams Soar is designed to help shape the future of young girls interested in aviation and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). “It’s built on the principle that knowl-

edge is power, and it gives you the freedom to soar,” Waiz said. “It gives girls a village to support them in their educational endeavors.” In 2017, in an effort to reach girls globally, Waiz became the youngest woman to fly solo around the world in a single-engine aircraft. She piloted a Beechcraft Bonanza to 22 countries, teaching STEM and aviation concepts to 3,000 children along the way. Since then, Waiz has collaborated with over 30 STEM organisations, reaching another 8.000 children around the globe. “My message to kids everywhere is that they can dream and soar their way out of any situation,” she said.

Sara De La Rosa Reaches the Unreachable On 12 March, a presentation focused on how drones are delivering healthcare supplies to the world’s most remote areas. “Just a five-pound parcel dropped by a drone makes a huge difference for humanity,” said Sara De La Rosa, unmanned aircraft systems coordinator, Interagency Supply Chain Group (ISG) seconded by UNICEF to ISG. De La Rosa’s nonprofit uses drones in 26 countries to deliver medications, vaccines, and other health supplies to clinicians. These countries have poor in-

“Just a five-pound parcel dropped by a drone makes a huge difference for humanity.”

— Sara De La Rosa on how drones are delivering healthcare supplies

Sara De La Rosa

frastructure or roads that have been destroyed by natural disasters, making traditional medical deliveries impossible. In Papua New Guinea, for example,

public health drones deliver polio vaccines directly to a clinic, rather than being dropped miles away by helicopter. “It gives health workers more time to spend with patients instead of hiking in the jungle for six hours to retrieve supplies,” De La Rosa said. Many of these drones rely on twoway radio communication with air traffic controllers. “There’s a lot of room for players to come into the space and improve the last mile of logistics,” De La Rosa said. “We need longer-term partnerships to make this proficient.”

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2019 Highlights

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Women & Millennials ❚

Continued from page 3

Today, Bristol is in charge of a workforce of more than 30,000. “I’ve learned that the farther up you go in an organisation, it’s less about management and more about leadership. I don’t have to be a technical expert, but I have to be able to inspire people and develop people to take the organisation where it needs to go.” Bristol’s advice for women looking to get into aviation management is “you don’t have to be an expert at anything. It doesn’t matter how smart you are, because if you can’t get along with people and collaborate with people, you’re not going to go very far in your career.” Anne Kathrine Jensen started as an air traffic controller before becoming CEO of Entry Point North, a Swedishbased global air traffic service academy. Jensen said her career path has been divided into different phases. “I have three sons. When my youngest was a little older, I studied for an executive MBA, supported by my employer,” she said. “It helped me get the feeling that it’s OK to do something that you’re not sure you can do. You don’t have to feel like you can do everything before you do it.” Now, she leads an organisation of 150 people. But her business philoso-

phy still dates back to her early days as a mother. “My first son was born with major difficulties and had to fight for life for two to three years,” she said. “It’s the worst thing that can happen to someone. In the business world, nobody dies if you make a mistake. You can always figure things out.” Bristol, Jensen, and Kincade closed their section of the panel discussion with tips on how to elevate women in the aviation industry. Bristol said the key is to get girls interested in aviation before they go to college, when it’s often too late. The FAA is partnering with human resource organisations to “recruit” kids, she said, including using technology and gamification to train aspiring controllers. Bristol also pushes for development programs that target future managers. “It’s the responsibility of leadership to identify people with potential. Women just need equitable consideration,” she said. The second part of the panel included a discussion on millennials and post-millennials, led by Milena Bowman, executive manager ASP a.i., Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre, EUROCONTROL, and Emma Parry, digital marketing manager, NATS. Parry said while the term “millennial” encompasses a range of ages, in general, this generation wants work-life

FAA ATO COO Teri Bristol’s advice for women looking to get into aviation management: “It doesn’t matter how smart you are, because if you can’t get along with people and collaborate with people, you’re not going to go very far in your career.”

balance, flex time, and the opportunity to try new things in their careers. Social media is an important millennial communication tool, she said, and members of this generation want to “make the gap shorter” between entrylevel jobs and executive roles. They also want to communicate regularly with leadership. “It helps us feel valued and like we have a place,” she said. Bowman said young professionals raised on Snapchat and Instagram “need feedback in a nanosecond.” They use shorter words and a lot of emojis, so older coworkers may have to adjust their language to communicate with them. They also don’t want procedures detailed in a book or manual, but rather an app or a graphic. It’s important that older supervisors recognise that many millennials manage dual careers, Bowman said. Both she and her husband work in ATM, but her husband opted to work part time in order to care for their children.

“We get a lot of questions and bias about that choice,” she said. “Millennials have shared responsibility for raising a family, and leaders need to adjust to that. Connectivity and technology allow us to work remotely and have flexible working times. And that enables all kinds of people to pursue a career.” Another key characteristic of millennials is that they’re not necessarily looking for a “job for life,” Parry said. But this can create issues for air traffic controllers because of the need for extensive training. Bristol said the FAA is dealing with this by using technology to expedite training time. The enroute center near Washington, D.C., can train a controller in about 26 months, she said. Controllers can also move within their organisations, going to security, tech ops, or management jobs. “The investment in their training pays dividends in the work they can do in other functions,” Bristol said.

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Voice of UTM ❚

Continued from page 1

duty to protect people’s personal information that we hold, but we also have to satisfy the air service provider’s request of who’s flying and where they’re flying.” Parker believes a digital exchange platform or single database could provide that. This is effectively a federated system. Is that how deconfliction will be handled? “You don’t federate with people you don’t trust,” Parker said. He envisions that centralised deconfliction service would probably

be handled by ANSPs, which decide who gets to see what is flying in the airspace. But that is not possible with some types of information sharing. In that case, Parker said, “the question is, should companies decide that, or should aviation?” Is it better that geofencing be built in by manufacturers? Some manufacturers are producing geofencing capabilities that aren’t allowed in the countries where their drones are flying, Donovan said, which highlights the need for standards. That said, “there are a lot of different technologies to meet the performance requirements,” he said. “We need to strongly avoid saying: ‘It has to be this;

it has to be that.’” Another issue, Parker said, is that some countries aren’t providing detailed geofencing information. “We don’t have a centralised resource we can look at where we can say: ‘Where can I fly my drone?’” Marcus pointed out that currently, humans need to interpret the information a UTM is giving them. “I’m looking forward to the day when these things are autonomous and can just follow the rules on their own,” he said. The ultimate geofencing currently occurs in India, said Marc Kegelaers, CEO, Unifly. India’s No Permission, No Takeoff (NPNT) system requires that every drone that flies in the country has to

connect to a central UTM system. Should drone operators be licensed? Licensing offers additional scrutiny, Donovan said, but manufacturers’ fundamental belief is that licensing shouldn’t be overly burdensome for the operator. He believes there need to be varying degrees of licensing depending on how and where a drone is operating. This also applies to operator training levels, Kegelaers said. “The reality is that in 10 years from now we’re not going to be having one pilot flying a drone,” Marcus added. Instead, there will be operations flying multiple drones, with limited human involvement.

Growing Risk of Drones to Air Traffic Drone incidents reported by pilots more than doubled to 158 in Germany compared to the prior year. At Britain’s Gatwick Airport, drone sightings severely disrupted operations in December. In various demonstrations, the UTM system developed by the German ANSP DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung and the telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom has proven to be a reliable solution for safely integrating unmanned traffic into airspace. The UTM system is the key enabler for unlocking the commercial potential

of drones. The various tests conducted included a search mission together with the German Lifesaving Society DLRG for a missing person, the pre-exploration of an accident site with a fire service copter, and an aerial patrol of a Thyssengas pipeline. “Drones offer so many positive aspects over conventional methods,” said Thilo Vogt, head of UAS/UTM development and solutions at DFS. “However, drones also pose a growing risk to air traffic. The aviation world is at a turning point. Integrating drones into the airspace opens

up new worlds – but also poses new challenges with regard to safety.” This is why DFS has also developed an interface for data communication between its UTM and drone detection systems used for preventing disruptions caused by “bad” drones. In February, DFS and Rheinmetall, Germany’s largest supplier for defence technology, tested an integration together with the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces. Air traffic data were exchanged with advanced radar systems, acoustic and infrared sensors, and optical equipment to detect a po-

tentially threatening drone. The UTM system is an advanced version of the ATC system Phoenix, a DFS in-house development which can process position data from a range of sources. Drones equipped with a special LTE transponder connect to the mobile network and transmit their position to the UTM. The UTM system then displays the air situation, shows surrounding traffic, and warns of potential conflicts. The project has received much attention in Germany and was awarded the German Mobility Prize 2018.

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Airbus UTM and ATCA

Defining Future Skies: The Evolution of ATM and UTM Dr. Isabel Del Pozo de Poza, head of Airbus UTM, and Peter F. Dumont, president and CEO of the Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA), sat down on 13 March at World ATM Congress to share their insights on best practices for approaching the digitisation of ATC and its integration with UTM. The industry heavyweights discussed how UTM will affect and inform ATM, diving deep on everything from Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) to lessons learned from other industries like autonomous vehicles. From Dr. Del Pozo de Poza: “To accommodate the changing needs of airspace traffic, building out a safe and robust UTM infrastructure will be critical. We understand that the proper evolution of ATM to UTM will require an incremental and intentional ecosystem effort. Working closely with regulators and policy makers will help ensure a highly global and interoper-

manned systems, such as self-piloted air taxis.“ From Dumont: “Implementing a UTM system is an iterative process. LAANC is the first step, and it is the logical place to start. The aviation industry is very slow by design at implementing new technology. We have to define the mission and requirements first or we’ll never get there. That will dictate what we do and how we do it. With UTM, we will get there—maybe not as fast as we’d like, because we’re being pushed by the speed of technology and constrained by the speed of regulation, but I believe we’ll get there – we have to so that our industry can evolve.” Peter Dumont, ATCA, and Dr. Isabel Del Pozo de Poza, Airbus UTM, chat about Defining Future Skies: The Evolution of ATM and UTM.

able system. We know we must start building this infrastructure today, so

it will be ready before mass adoption of some of the more advanced un-

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European Aviation Organisations Start Preparing for World ATM Congress 2020 After Successful 2019 Event #EuropeForAviation was the theme around which European aviation organisations working to implement the Single European Sky (SES) gathered at World ATM Congress 2019. Strong collaboration between these bodies (civil and military) is proving key to generating growth for the industry and to answering passenger needs for safer, smarter, greener, and more seamless air travel, in line with the EU Aviation Strategy. Throughout the week,

these organisations showcased how through collaboration they can go much further in tackling pressing ATM challenges, such as air traffic delays and congestion, drone integration, digital transformation, and cybersecurity. This year, the “Europe For Aviation” stand and theatre hosted a wide range of debates, presentations, and guided SESAR walking tours, illustrating the collaboration between European

aviation organisations working to implement SES, namely the European Commission, EUROCONTROL, SESAR Joint Undertaking (SESAR JU), SESAR Deployment Manager (SESAR DM), European Aviation Safety Agency, European Defence Agency, Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA), and EUROCAE. In doing so, the organisations showed how together they cover the full project management cycle from policy and funding to

research and deployment. On March 12, the Europe For Aviation theatre proved an ideal location for the European Commission to host the Single European Sky Awards 2019. Click here for the winners. Keep an eye on all Europe For Aviation organisations’ websites for World ATM Congress 2020. Preparations are already underway. Stay tuned for the latest developments and follow #Europe ForAviation on social media.


2019 Highlights

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we hope to be the first to open our network to open APIs to use whatever platform they want,” he said. “For the general public, we’re committed to spending some of our safety budget to provide information to hobbyist users. We believe we can play a key role in enabling trust in drone use.“ In addition to outlining NATS’ UTM principles, Sage said NATS has launched an online training module for hobbyists, published UK flight restriction zones at dronesafe.uk, created safety cases for specific categoAndy Sage talks about FIMS-USP during the Global UTM Association workshop.

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Benbrook said Operation Zenith shows that situational awareness is key in bridging the ATM and UTM worlds. This includes bringing together many surveillance and telemetry fields, and identifying the “good, bad, and unexpected” radar pings. Amit Ganjoo, ANRA Technologies, said his company’s vision for the evolution of mixed airspace management is a “crawl, walk, run” scenario. The crawl phase involves ATC and UTM systems. The walk phase is solely UTM, and the run phase is a unified ATM. The unified ATM system design should be highly scalable and not

require constant human monitoring and surveillance, Ganjoo added. It should also allow full audit capability. He also discussed the potential role of a FIMS. The system could handle registration and licensing; identity and authentication for providers; controlled airspace notification and authorisation; data exchange between manned and unmanned aircraft; constraint management; an emphasis on open, federated ecosystem approaches; airspace definitions, restrictions, and no-fly zones; interANSP data exchange; and fair use of airspace.

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Attendees listen to Andy Sage talk about FIMS-USP during the Global UTM Association workshop on 14 March.

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ries of operation in different types of airspace, and launched Operation Zenith in partnership with Altitude Angel and Manchester Airport. Rupert Benbrook, Altitude Angel, provided more details on Operation Zenith, which began in November 2018 and includes a drone operational position in the Manchester Airport tower. Operation Zenith covers a variety of UTM scenarios, including on-airfield delivery, runway threshold inspection, beyond visual line-ofsight linear infrastructure inspection, atmospheric survey (VLOS), commercial VLOS operation, VLOS site survey, safeguarding, and airspace management.

ATCA membership keeps you on the forefront of the industry and moving forward in your career. With a full cadre of events and award-winning publications, we connect the world of air traffic management. Won’t you join us?

Learn more at www.atca.org.


ENTER THE ATMOSPHERE FOR BUSINESS

2020 A CANSO partnership with ATCA

10 -12 March | Madrid, Spain IFEMA, Feria de Madrid worldatmcongress.org @WorldATM_now

#WorldATM


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