EMMA KELLY / LONDON
PROVE platform will enable automated control of aircraft movements using agency-developed tools
European air navigation organisation Eurocontrol, the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory NLR and the Swedish civil aviation authority LFV have successfully completed the first in a series of trials of medium-term conflict detection (MTCD) tools.
The tests have been designed to lead to the operational implementation of automated aircraft conflict detection.
The trials were conducted last month at Sweden's Malmo area control centre (ACC) and made use of a shadow-mode technique involving a sector of the Malmo ACC in which a validation environment was established.
The tests included a sector team, comprising tactical and planning air traffic controller work positions that shadowed the operational sector and a "feed" working position that was responsible for updating flight data.
The test used the Pre-Operational Validation and Experimental (PROVE) trials platform, developed by the Eurocontrol Experimental Centre, which receives radar and flight data from the host operational system.
PROVE enables controllers to conduct conflict detection using tools developed by Eurocontrol. The system first calculates aircraft trajectory from the flight plan using aircraft performance parameters in addition to meteorological information.
This is then refined by monitoring the actual performance of the aircraft.
PROVE notifies the controller of a possible conflict through the potential problem display showing the time of conflict and predicted minimum separation.
Flight information on the conflict is provided by the system's vertical assistance window, which depicts the vertical profile of the conflicting flights along with information on any aircraft that could influence how the conflict is resolved.
PROVE allows the controller either to resolve the conflict himself or to transfer it to the tactical controller.
Eurocontrol says the trials were intended to provide information on the effects of MTCD on controller workload, working methods, airspace procedures and capacity ahead of implementation of the tools.
According to the organisation, "a number of possible improvements" were identified during the trial, which also provided the controllers with some direct experience of automated conflict detection.
MTCD is an important element of Europe's Air Traffic Management (ATM) 2000+ Strategy, which is designed to lead to a gate-to-gate ATM approach.
MTCD is expected to reduce controller workload associated with routine monitoring and conflict detection.
The Malmo trials are the first in a series of tests of the PROVE system and tools, says Eurocontrol, with additional pre-operational trials planned at the Rome ACC later this year and at the Maastricht upper area control centre next year.
Source: Flight International
