Fast-track Extending U-space eco-system

Expected Outcome

To significantly advance the following development actions:

• IR-6-02 CNS capabilities for U-space, which includes detect and avoid and collision avoidance for UAS, and the use of mobile networks by U-space (including performance-based communication and surveillance services using a mobile network infrastructure).
• IR-6-03 Extending U-space eco-system. This includes the use of U-space services by commercial aircraft, general aviation, crewed VCA, etc., and the use of U-space services outside U-space airspace.

Scope

The following list of R&I needs is proposed as an illustration of the potential project content, but it is not meant as prescriptive. Proposals may include other research elements beyond the proposed research elements below if they are justified by their contribution to achieve the expected outcomes of the topic and are fully aligned with the development priorities defined in the European ATM Master Plan.

• Use of public LTE/4G/5G cellular networks for low altitude operations

Research addresses the potential use of public LTE/4G/5G networks for drones, GA and rotorcraft in various environments focusing on CNS applications – primarily enabled by TIS/FIS type of services and automatic vehicles’ position reporting. The key operational benefit is increased traffic situation awareness of all stakeholders in the airspace today typically without or with very limited traffic surveillance.

The research shall address:

• The definition of operational use cases. These use cases should take into consideration operational use cases involving small drones in the open or specific categories, for fixed wing or rotorcraft GA, for certified crewed or uncrewed IAM vehicles, for ATC and/or for USSPs.
• Development of onboard CNS equipment with integrated cellular network modem supporting deployed public cellular network. It includes additional CNS functions as required by local operating environment (e.g., U-space). Research shall define and validate performance requirements (e.g., low % of lost messages, latency, etc.).
• Based on the coverage measurements/maps for different altitudes, it is expected that up to a defined altitude connectivity over public cellular network is reliable; multiple categories of reliability could be considered depending on the type of onboard equipment and the use case. The research should develop this taxonomy and investigate how they may be considered within SORA, e.g. to relax operational constraints when CNS capabilities are reliable.
• Development of the operational procedures applied to manage the potential degradation of service including the alerting mechanisms allowing to detect and share information about such degradation among all users.
• Assessment and demonstration of benefits resulting from the explored CNS enhancements for operational safety and for individual stakeholders (general aviation (GA) fixed wing or rotorcraft pilots, IAM pilots, remote pilots of drones and IAM, and ATC).
• Validate applications for GA, rotorcraft, and drones (e.g., traffic information, conformance monitoring & alerting, emergency management, etc.).

Research should investigate the potential for the newly developed technologies to be further developed in order to fulfil the performance required for their application to certified aircraft.

Research shall consider the work performed by solution PJ.14-02-05, which enabled GA pilots.

to receive updated FIS/TIS information during flight using LTE network, exploratory research FACT, which addressed the use of public LTE network for drones, GA and rotorcraft in various environments focusing on non-critical CNS applications and ER project NEWSENSE. Note that there is on-going work under project ANTENNAE.

• Low-cost CNS solutions for vertiports (and regional airports)

This research element addresses the development of low-cost CNS solutions for vertiports. These solutions could be deployed also at regional airports that cannot afford the implementation of existing surveillance technologies such as MLAT and SMR because of their infrastructure costs. They represent a gap-filler solution that could also be used at larger airports to cover up current system limitations such as coverage issues and to extend ATS situational awareness in the apron and gate areas. The scope covers the potential application of:

• mmWave radar as a new technology for the vertiports/airports surveillance. MmWave radar has been used for automotive and industrial applications but its use in the scope of airport/vertiport surveillance is new. MmWave radar assessment and machine learning applied to radar data obtained with measurements in airfield are completely new. Research shall consider the output of project NewSense.
• 5G new radio (NR) as a new technology for airports. 5G signals has been previously used for other application areas (automotive, industrial, smart city), but their use in the scope of airport traffic management (e.g., positioning, line of sight detection, etc.) is new. An important advantage of being able to use the existing 5G networks for CNS objectives is the fact that no new infrastructure needs to be built and one could take advantage of already existing infrastructures. Research shall consider the output of project NewSense. Note that there is on-going work under project ANTENNAE.
• Potential enhancements of ground infrastructure supporting augmentation of onboard navigation to increase its accuracy and resilience against GNSS degradation and supporting high integrity Autoland.
• High-resolution video images as a "low cost" alternative means of surveillance for airports and vertiports.

These technologies are dual-use civil-military.

• CNS capabilities for U-space, UAS and military integration

This covers the development of:

• Navigation solutions based on 5G (or other means) for drone operations in urban areas.
• Surveillance needs for drones. Drones are too small for primary surveillance, too low power to communicate position, and ADS-B is not a solution for them due to 1030/1090 congestion. Research shall propose potential solutions based on 5G (or other means) for surveillance purposes.
• For drones research shall define the U-space requirements for communication infrastructure. While it is assumed U-space will have all needs covered, there may be limitations for their access to communication infrastructure / capabilities. This also covers the G/G communication between ATC and the drone operator (G/G), etc.
• U-space GNSS: expansion of navigation infrastructure is essential to support the requirements of U-Space (e.g., related to weight and power consumption). This entails primarily utilizing GNSS sources capable of processing multiple constellations (e.g., DFMC ABAS or GBAS) and/or integrating SBAS or RTK augmentation.

Research shall avoid duplication with on-going activities under the scope of European Defence Agency (EDA).

• E-conspicuity solutions for U-space

Integration of other e-conspicuity solutions for U-Space, such as ADS-L over 866MHz (TACAN) or over Telecom networks. Coverage must extend to very low airspace volumes, as well as small targets with reduced radar cross section (RCS).

• Integration of drones and crewed aircraft in defined shared airspace geozones

The DAR is based on the segregation of crewed aircraft and drones. The objective of the research is to develop a concept for a U-space service allowing the integrated operation of drones and crewed aircraft. This is expected to be of interest for example for the operation of rotorcraft and VCA in shared airspace with drones within a defined geographical zone. The research shall focus first on integration of drones with crewed VFR aircraft (which is considered to be the main use case) and may optionally address integration of drones with crewed IFR (provided applicable use cases are defined). The first use case for the application of this concept is emergency response, where the paradigm or rotorcraft flying above drones may not always apply. The concept may apply to additional use cases, e.g. ad-hoc surveillance operations (e.g., events).

The research may build on previous work[1] has explored the potential use of pre-departure deconfliction, whereby the drone and the VFR aircraft are each assigned areas of operation, concluding that the definition of meaningful areas of operation for VFR aircraft should be based on landmarks and on-board support for the VFR pilot would be useful in supporting adherence of the VFR aircraft to its assigned area of operation. The research should define the separation between the drone operating zones and the VFR operating zones, including definition of the applicable buffers. The concept may also address the introduction of flexibility for in-flight replanning of the VFR flights and/or the drones.

• U-space services for certified (crewed or uncrewed) aircraft

The objective of this topic is to investigate the potential benefits of the use of U-space concepts by certified (crewed or uncrewed) aircraft. A first candidate service considered of interest for general aviation (GA), rotorcraft and GA is the U-space traffic information service. Indeed, general aviation (IFR or VFR) in uncontrolled airspace currently relies on see and avoid procedures to remain well clear from other aircraft, and could benefit from an increased situational awareness provided by an extended U-space U3 traffic information service providing traffic information. This would be like the TIS FIS service, but would provide information on all vehicles, including certified crewed or uncrewed aircraft and small open or specific category drones flying in the area. The service would integrate traffic information from different sources, i.e. U-space tracking, cooperative surveillance, uncooperative surveillance.

Proposals may address U-space services other than the traffic information service; in such case, the proposal should provide a description of the U-space service and briefly described how it would be used by certified aircraft and what the expected benefits are.

[1] Andreeva-Mori, A., Ohga, K., Kobayashi, K. Okuno, Y. Homola, J., Johnson, M., Kopardekar, P. (2021). Management of Operations under VFR in UTM for Disaster Response Missions. SESAR Innovation Days 2021.