AVTECH and Its Partners Demonstrate New ATM Concepts

AVTECH and its partners, Rockwell Collins and Smiths Aerospace, together with the Technical University of Delft and the Swedish CAA, recently demonstrated an "overall operational ATM concept as well as the individual building blocks" at a meeting in Aronsborg, Sweden.

According to AVTECH CEO Lars G.V. Lindberg, several aspects of the demonstrations attracted the attention of airlines, ATM officials and R&D organizations, especially the fact that the components used during the demonstrations are either currently available, or soon will be.  These included:

• An updated Smiths Aerospace FMS (flight management system) in the B-737 NG (next generation) that enables it to accept uplinked flight trajectory commands from air traffic management, airline and airport control systems.
• A VHF datalink multi-mode receiver (VMMR) that Rockwell Collins is considering for “black label” (production unit) testing in the NUP 2+ (second phase of the NEAN or North European ADS-B Network update) project.  A VMMR would accommodate 25kHz and 8.33 voice as well as VDL Modes 2 and 4.
• Expanding the use of a traditional electronic flight bag to serve as a FDI (flight deck information) terminal for air traffic control applications.

According to Christer Forsberg, who is managing AVTECH’s involvement in NUP 2+, these elements will be evaluated in flight trials, planned for early 2005, that will include uplinking (initially via ACARS) FMS trajectory commands.

Throughout the NUP 2+ project, which should begin in mid-September, there will be both fast-time and real-time simulations to develop and validate applications such as advanced continuous decent approaches, required time of arrival (RTA), and collaborative decision making.  RTA information from the upgraded Smiths’ FMS will be linked with Eurocontrol’s AMAN (arrival management) tool.

AVTECH’s AASES (airborne ATM system engineering simulator) will be used for much of this work, and results will be coordinated and shared with universities such as the Technical University in Delft, the Technical University in Munich and the Royal institute of Technology in Stockholm.

According to AVTECH, NUP 2+ is building on projects such as the Airbus-led Aircraft in the Future ATM system (AFAS)  and NUP Phase 2 for the VMMR and applications such as an A-SMGS (advanced surface movement and guidance system) for both pilots and controllers.  07-07-2004.