SESAR members recently validated a virtual stop bar guidance system, which aims to improve the safety and efficiency of traffic on the surface of the airport, particularly in low-visibility conditions. The tests are part of the Integrated Surface Management (SUMO PJ 03a), a SESAR 2020 project which aims to ensure smoother and more predictable airport operations in all weather conditions.

Large drones or remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) have been used for many years by the military, but have been restricted to segregated airspace to protect their operations. With increasing demand for large civil RPAS, SESAR members are investigating how best to integrate these vehicles into non-segregated airspace alongside commercial traffic.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, SESAR Joint Undertaking and SESAR Deployment Manager have together published a summary of the current state of progress towards achieving the necessary level of harmonisation and global interoperability between the NextGen and SESAR modernisation initiatives.

Virtual centres, drone integration, block chain technology are just some of the areas that SESAR member Skyguide - Switzerland’s air navigation service provider - is pioneering as part of its innovation programme on air traffic management. In this article, Thomas Buchanan, Senior Advisor International Affairs, talks about the importance of moving with the times and collaborating on research and development at a pan-European level.

The deadline for the SESAR Innovation Days call for contributions has now been extended until the 5 October 2018. This deadline applies to both full paper submission and posters and exhibits. The call for contributions and selection process will be managed by the Engage network, who were selected as part of the first SESAR 2020 exploratory research call in order to inspire new researchers and help facilitate the transfer of results from fundamental and applied research into industrial research.

The SESAR Joint Undertaking in collaboration with its European partners, European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC), European Commission, Eurocontrol, European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and EUROCAE, have contributed to European working papers that will be presented during the upcoming ICAO Thirteenth Air Navigation Conference in Montreal (9-19 October). These cover topics such as civil-military cooperation, trajectory-based operations, cyber security, Global Air Navigation Plan, integrated CNS and spectrum, UAS integration, among others.

Engage, SESAR’s Knowledge Transfer Network, is running four thematic challenge workshops this autumn. At the core of the KTN is the definition of various thematic challenges: new ideas suggested by the research community, not already included within the scope of an existing SESAR project. The workshops are free to attend and likely to fill up quickly, so please register soon if you would like to participate.