The European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol) and the founding members of the iTEC Collaboration have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly develop Single European Sky interoperability capabilities.
Under the terms of the MoU, made through Eurocontrol’s Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC), the partners will collectively develop the components to advance interoperability between their respective Air Traffic Management systems and promote the Single European Sky initiative.
Together, the two organisations will develop the Flight Object Manager (FOM) and the System Wide Information Management (SWIM) Node that will strengthen the future exchange of flight trajectory data.
iTEC Board/Steering Group chair Enrique Maurer said: “This memorandum of understanding reflects the full commitment of the iTEC Alliance to ensuring interoperability, a key component of the Single European Sky and the European ATM Masterplan. We look forward to working with EUROCONTROL on this important initiative.”
Eurocontrol MUAC director John Santurbano said: “Improving the performance of the European ATM system together with our stakeholders is our priority. With this cooperative venture, Eurocontrol and the members of iTEC will actively develop the much-needed interoperability that will help us all cope efficiently with growing traffic demand.”
According to Eurocontrol, the sharing of this data is vital to deliver the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) concept of operations mentioned in the European ATM Masterplan and to fulfil the increasing demand for air travel in Europe in a safe way.
The European Commission’s Pilot Common Project legislation includes a requirement to share flight trajectories between Air Navigation Service Providers and the Network Manager by 2025.
The law highlights the core functionalities that are required to modernise Europe’s air traffic management system.
The SESAR IOP operational concepts are being validated in SESAR projects following the collaboration between European Air Navigation Service Providers and industry.
The result of these validations will be integrated into the standards being developed by EUROCAE, the European Organisation for Civil Aviation Equipment.
