Emma Kelly/STOCKHOLM
A team led by SAS and the Swedish civil aviation authority, Luftfartsverket (LFV), has demonstrated a gate-to-gate communications, navigation and surveillance/air traffic management (CNS/ATM) capability.
In a demonstration carried out this month at Stockholm's Arlanda Airport, the airline performed gate-to-gate exchange of information - air-to-air and air-to-ground - using automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B).
The display involved a Fokker F28, equipped with the MMI5000 cockpit display of traffic information, developed by Carmenta of Sweden and the LFV, with Carmenta software. SAS has two F28s fitted with the system and two McDonnell Douglas DC-9s, while Lufthansa has six Boeing 747s equipped as part of a wider European CNS/ATM project in which the carriers are participating.
In addition, about 25 ground vehicles, including snow clearing, catering and ground support machines, are equipped at Stockholm and Frankfurt airports.
The F28 demonstrated the CNS/ATM capability of the system in all phases of flight. At the airport gate, the position of the aircraft and the ground vehicles equipped with the system were clearly displayed, allowing shorter aircraft turnaround times as ground support vehicles are aware of the exact movements of aircraft and vice versa.
After take-off for Angelholm Airport in southern Sweden, a potential loss of separation situation was created with LFV's Beech King Air 200, also equipped with the MMI5000. Using software developed by Eurocontrol for the latest stage of the Free Route Experimental Encounter Resolution (FREER-3) programme, the crew of the F28 was able to resolve the potential conflict. The FREER-3 programme is investigating the feasibility of delegating air traffic control to the aircraft through the transmission of position reports and information between aircraft via VHF datalink mode 4 (VDL-4).
The F28 performed a differential global navigation satellite system (DGNSS) approach at Angelholm Airport and a second potential loss of separation was resolved in the cockpit on the return to Stockholm. On approach to Arlanda, the system also highlighted runway incursions by ground vehicles.
A second demonstration of the gate-to-gate system is planned for 21 February, when two F28s, LFV's King Air 200 and a Maersk Air helicopter will participate from Denmark's Copenhagen Airport to Stockholm.
Conflict detection and resolution will be demonstrated en route and in the terminal areas, in addition to DGNSS approaches.
The demonstrations are the latest stage in the team's pioneering CNS/ATM activities aimed at providing solutions to European congestion problems.
Germany's DFS, LFV, Lufthansa and SAS have been at the forefront of European CNS/ATM developments, participating in European Commission and Eurocontrol-supported projects, including FREER, the North European ADS-B Network (NEAN) the NEAN Applications Project and the NEAN Update Programme (NUP).
The NUP, launched at the beginning of this year, is aimed at moving the activities from a research and development phase to an operational system.
Four teams, comprising airports, airlines, air traffic service providers and equipment manufacturers, are aiming to establish a European ADS-B network, both air and ground. This will be based on global standards with certifiable applications and equipment, to support new air traffic management concepts that can be put into operation.
Source: Flight International
