The SESAR Joint Undertaking has launched an open call for exploratory projects within the framework of the SESAR 2020 research and innovation programme. Projects include control of IFR RPAS in the TMA, Remain Well Clear for IFR, RPAS Integration in class D-G airspace, RPAS for manned flight contingency management and U-space. The call covers a wide range of topics aimed at fostering new and innovative ideas to transform air traffic management in Europe. A total of EUR 38.5 million is earmarked for the research from the EU’s Horizon 2020 budget.
According to the SESAR JU:
“The research topics covered by the call are steered by the needs identified in the Aviation Strategy for Europe, the European ATM Master Plan, Flightpath 2050 – Europe’s Vision for Aviation and the ACARE’s Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA). This fourth call of proposals is driven additionally by the results from current and previous SESAR research, relevant Horizon 2020 projects and other research activities. Specifically, the call consists of two work areas (WA) addressing “ATM excellent science & outreach” and “ATM application-oriented research…”
“Increasing the Automation in ATM is considered as a key to significantly improve ATM performance. However, ATM is a continuous 24-7 set of services where the complexity of the ATM system, its fallback modes and necessary recovery steps has proved to be a major challenge for the introduction of further automation, and this has consequently slowed down the advancement of automation in ATM, especially in the most congested areas of Europe. The latest progress in the domain of Artificial intelligence and in particular Machine Learning may open new possibilities for further automation in ATM in high-density operations and some new applications have already been developed in SESAR.The application of Machine Learning for Automation in ATM also comes with new challenges, including sound assurance arguments that need to be solved to avoid a negative impact. In particular safety, business continuity and cyber security issues need to be proposed at an early stage of development of the automation concept.”
“Proposals should select a specific ATM operational environment, present a vision of a higher level of automation in this operational environment (which may include the delegation of control to the automation) and address one or more of the specific challenges above that hinder the application of machine learning methods for the further automation of ATM (e.g. Transparency, Generalization). Proposals should aim at providing a better understanding of this challenge(s) and investigate innovative methods to address the(se) challenge(s) in ATM. Proposals may make assumptions about the availability of technology and/or operations enablers (e.g. data link), but need to state them clearly. This topic covers ground and airborne automation that impacts ATM.”
Deadline for submission is 29 August 2019 at 17:00 CET.
For more information
https://www.sesarju.eu/news/new-call-launched-sesar-exploratory-research
