Project of the month: Demonstrating space-enabled air traffic control

Plans are underway by SESAR members and partners to demonstrate the feasibility of using low-orbit satellites to provide voice communications to manage aircraft in oceanic regions of the world. The project aims to show how space-based communications, navigation and surveillance technologies can help optimise air traffic, while reducing carbon emissions and maintaining safety levels.

Florian Guillermet, Executive Director of the SESAR JU, will step down from his role on 4 July to take up a new position as CEO of DSNA (Direction des Services de la Navigation Aérienne), France’s air navigation services provider.

The U-space project, AURA, will tackle one of the main hurdles that prevent drones from taking off in cities: their safe integration into the very low-level airspace without impacting conventional air traffic operations in controlled airspace.

The winners of the 2021 SESAR JU Digital Sky Awards were announced at a dedicated awards ceremony on 17 June. The awards celebrated the best of SESAR research and innovation, recognising the achievements of projects across each strand of research, as well as U-space and sustainability.

The SESAR and industry have developed a programme of U-space research and demonstration projects, the results of which are being fed directly into regulatory and operational real-life actions. Read this interview with Florian Guillermet, Executive Director, SESAR JU and Leon van de Pas, CEO, Unifly, on the progress of U-space implementation in Europe.

On 2 June, the SESAR JU, in collaboration with EUROCONTROL, hosted a second in a series of webinars on the L-Band Digital Aeronautical Communication System - LDACS – a key component in the Europe’s future aeronautical air/ground communications infrastructure.

The 11th edition of the SESAR Innovation Days, the flagship event for ATM research, will take place online from 7 to 9 December. Those interested in submitting papers or participating with posters, exhibits or demonstrations, are invited to submit their proposals by 15 September.

The recently launched SESAR JU very large demonstration project, ALBATROSS, unites multiple actors from the aviation industry to demonstrate the potential of commercial aviation to reduce the environmental impact of air traffic.

Are you a young scientist active in the field of air traffic management (ATM) and aviation? Are you looking for the perfect opportunity to showcase your talent and advance your career? If yes, then look no further… the SESAR Young Scientist Award is for you!