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What is FASTI?
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FASTI is the abbreviation for First ATC Support Tools Implementation.
FASTI refers to a set of controller tools and system support for controllers, devised during the late 1990's by multi-national groups lead by EUROCONTROL, that now require implementation in order to avoid a shortfall between airspace user demand and available capacity while improving safety.
FASTI also refers to a EUROCONTROL programme that aims at co-ordinating the implementation and deployment of the FASTI tools, as required, across ECAC by 2012 in a harmonised way.
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What is the scope of FASTI?
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Geographically the scope of the FASTI programme is for ECAC States.
In terms of contents, the FASTI programme covers the following controller tools:
Medium Term Conflict Detection (MTCD) to assist the controller in conflict identification and planning tasks by:
• Providing automated early detection of potential conflicts;
• Facilitating identification of flexible routing or conflict free trajectories;
• Identifying aircraft constraining the resolution of a conflict or occupying a flight level requested by another aircraft.
Monitoring Aids (MONA) helps controllers reduce the workload with traffic monitoring tasks by providing warnings if aircraft deviate from a clearance or plan, and reminders of instructions to be issued.
MONA also provides conformance monitoring triggering trajectory re-calculation essential for the MTCD.
System Supported Co-ordination (SYSCO):
• Permits controllers to conduct screen to screen co-ordination between adjacent ATSUs or sectors;
• Enables controllers to conduct co-ordination dialogue and transfer flights between ATSUs;
• Facilitates early resolution of conflicts through inter ATSUs/sectors co-ordination.
Trajectory Prediction (TP) and adapted Human Machine Interface (HMI) are critical to the performance and use of FASTI tools.
Application of the FASTI scope will be in en-route and extended TMA airspace.
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What are the objectives of FASTI?
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The aim of the EUROCONTROL’s FASTI Programme is to ensure the rapid and co-ordinated deployment of an initial set of controller support tools across ECAC by 2012 in a harmonised way. In doing so, short and medium term requirements will be addressed while the deployment will also establish a foundation for further automation in ATC in the longer term.
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Who is involved in FASTI?
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Apart from the involvement of the EUROCONTROL Agency staff, the involvement of stakeholders is currently achieved through the following groups:
• Operational requirements and Data processing Team (ODT): The ODT members are senior civil and military representatives from participating States, ANS Providers, Airspace Users, Industry and all other relevant organisations and stakeholders.
• Programme Steering Group (PSG): The PSG members are senior civil and military representatives from participating States, ANS Providers, Airspace Users, Industry and all other relevant organisations and stakeholders.
• Operational Focus Group (OFG): The external participants are controllers, human factors and technical staff representing the Stakeholders.
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What has been done so far?
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The FASTI Programme has led to the development of an Operational Concept and of a Validation Plan.
Validation activities (Real Time Simulations) have been conducted on FASTI tools.
Support has been provided to pioneer ANSPs.
Guidelines have been developed to support the implementation of the FASTI tools by ANSPs. These guidelines address human factors issues, implementation issues and allow optimising their business case.
Several workshops have been organised to disseminate the results and guidelines of the FASTI programme.
Support now starting for Newcomer ANSPs.
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How can I obtain specific FASTI documents?
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FASTI documents may be viewed or downloaded from the Documents Page of this website.
The OLDI standards supporting SYSCO implementation may also be viewed or downloaded from the Documents Page.
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What are the driving needs or requirements?
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Air traffic is growing steadily in Europe and air traffic management must keep pace if safety and efficiency is to be maintained in the future. The classical methods of achieving operational improvements are nearing their limits and new initiatives are necessary to accommodate the current and planned growth in air traffic. Providing more system support to controllers is an effective way of improving the capacity of the current network while improving safety.
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What are the common, harmonised specifications?
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Specifications are required for SYSCO implementation between ATSUs to ensure interoperability. This interoperability will be ensured through the implementation of OLDI standard version 3.0 (or a later version).
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What are expected to be the main benefits?
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The benefits for air navigation service providers and airspace users are in terms of improved safety, increased capacity, delay reduction and reduced flight time.
Feedback from pioneer implementations indicates that the benefits for controllers are in terms of perceived safety, improved working conditions and job satisfaction.
Environmental benefits will be derived from the flight efficiency benefits.
FASTI is also a key ATM component of the ATM/CNS equation enabling enhanced benefits from other ATM/CNS evolutions.
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What is the relationship between FASTI and other short to medium term European programmes?
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FASTI can be considered as independent from other short or medium term European initiatives like the extension of the 8.33 kHz channel spacing or the Mode S elementary surveillance.
However, some of the FASTI have synergies with other technological or operational enhancements, like the Data-Link applications. Other short or medium initiatives, like the Functional Airspace Blocks, will benefit from some parts of FASTI, e.g. the SYSCO functionalities to improve coordination between sectors.
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Is this programme of interest to me? In which respect?
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The aim of the EUROCONTROL FASTI programme is to cope with the steady growth in air traffic and the foreseeable capacity problems in Europe through the provision of more system support. This programme may be part of larger ANSP projects for the modernisation of ATC systems and Controller Working Positions.
If you are starting with the implementation of FASTI tools then some of your costs, timescales and risks may be saved by re-using the work done in the programme, based on validation and previous experience gained from pioneer implementations and projects.
If you have already started the implementation of FASTI tools then, as an ANSP, you will have an interest in adjacent ATSUs being able to cope with the extra traffic you will delivered at the boundary of your airspace. The FASTI programme aims to avoid bottlenecks at the interfaces between local implementations thus insuring an efficient ATM network.
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Who has to implement FASTI?
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FASTI can have an application in all ATC environments i.e. low to high density en route and extended TMA. However, if you have no foreseeable capacity problems, low costs and your level of safety is high then you probably do not need FASTI.
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Why are FASTI tools required? Is it solving a short/medium term need?
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FASTI tools bring solutions to foreseeable capacity problems. Today, there are no other lower cost alternate solutions for the short and medium term.
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Are there tools already in use?
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Pioneer implementations featuring MTCD, MONA and SYSCO already exist across Europe. Although operational benefits have already been reported, enhancements are still required to realise their full potential. Several ANSP R&D activities are now culminating into implementation projects.
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Do I need to implement all the FASTI tools?
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The preferred approach for the deployment of the FASTI tools shows that the very initial implementations may be limited to one of the FASTI tools to demonstrate the potential of automation. However, further evolutions have to involve several FASTI tools, particularly to implement a consistent operational environment. This is also needed to achieve the full benefits of their synergies and to reach the target KPIs.
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Can I afford it in my current structure?
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The Financial model of the FASTI Business Case provides ANSPs with the means to assess their FASTI-related projects from a financial point of view, taking account of the local context.
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What would be the expected support from EUROCONTROL?
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As part of the FASTI Programme, EUROCONTROL conducts validation activities, develop guidelines (Human Factors, Safety, Transition, Business Case…) and can also provide resources to ANSPs on their projects.
EUROCONTROL also organise workshops in order to disseminate the results and guidelines of the FASTI programme.
You will also benefit from EUROCONTROL’s support to ensure harmonisation with other ECAC States and also consistency with other European programmes such as SESAR.
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Are there synergies or issues with emerging ATM operations and technologies?
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The possible synergies of the FASTI tools with emerging technologies and ATM operations are the following:
• Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC): The gains in capacity with FASTI tools may be constrained by other factors such as frequency congestion. In this context further additional capacity gains may be brought by the use of CPDLC. Moreover, the implementation of an advanced HMI with FASTI support tools will pave the way for CPDLC implementation.
• Aircraft-Derived Data (ADD): ADD will provide more accurate data on the aircraft dynamics and on the aircraft intentions. These aircraft-derived data could be used to improve the implementation of FASTI tools.
• Functional Airspace Blocks (FAB): Coordinated implementation of support tools in the ATSUs which support FABs will contribute to ensure some homogeneity of capacity gains within a FAB and between adjacent FABs.
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Is this programme of interest to me? In which respect?
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The introduction of the FASTI tools in your working environment will modify your working methods, the working positions and therefore, the training sessions. The impact is even larger that FASTI tools come with the transition from a paper strip environment to a paper strip-less environment.
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What are the benefits of FASTI for controllers?
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Feedback from pioneer implementations indicates that the benefits of automated support tools for controllers are in terms of:
• Perceived safety and perceived efficiency, in particular for the detection of potential conflict and the delivery of unambiguous coordination messages.
• Improved working conditions especially with a strip-less environment.
• Job satisfaction through homogenisation of the performance of a controller for the detection of conflicts and also the enhancement of the role of the planning controllers.
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I am an airline pilot or a private pilot. Am I affected by FASTI?
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In the FASTI programme, it is assumed that no modification of your role, your responsibilities and your working methods are required for using FASTI tools.
Consequently, no modification of pilot training is required for using the tools.
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I am an aircraft operator. Am I affected by FASTI?
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The use of FASTI tools should bring benefits in flight efficiency through optimised transfers, enable flight time reduction through air route network optimisation, mostly at regional level, and delay reduction resulting from a capacity increase with at least the same level of safety.
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Which parts of the ATC system need modification to implement the FASTI tools?
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The modifications required in the ATC system to implement the FASTI tools will strongly depend on the local context:
• The existing ATC system architecture, functions and status (i.e. its level of obsolescence).
• The targeted ATC system functions, taking account of the global scope of the project in order to provide the controllers with a consistent operational environment.
Generally speaking, the implementation of the FASTI tools will impact the Human Machine Interface (HMI) and possibly the Flight Data Processing System (FDPS). New components are also expected to be added in the ATC system architectures (physical and/or software architectures) to host the new functions. Simulators that are used to train controllers on the ATC system will also be impacted.
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What are the pre-requisites?
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The implementation of FASTI tools requires conducting some pre-implementation activities to develop the operational requirements, the functional specifications and the working methods. These pre-implementation activities may include prototyping, simulations and/or evaluation of commercial products.
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What are the dependencies?
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The implementation of FASTI tools depends on the provision of an adapted Human Machine Interface (HMI) and on Trajectory Prediction (TP) capabilities.
Additional complementary functions may also have to be implemented in order to provide the controllers with a consistent operational environment. For that reason, the project(s) which will implement the FASTI tools should have a wider scope with a more global approach. Particularly, there may be a need to consider a transition from a paper strip environment to a paper strip-less environment.
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What are the risks? What if it fails or is delayed?
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The main risks are related to the operational acceptability.
In order to reduce these risks, the initial deployment phases should:
• Focus on the deployment of support tools rather than control tools in order to not impact the role and responsibilities of controllers and to facilitate the validation of the system.
• Allow demonstrating the potential and benefits of automation to controllers through early gains.
The pre-implementation phase of the ANSP projects should allow the development of their operational requirements and working methods prior to the implementation phase. This could be achieved through prototyping activities with controllers and/or through the assessment of commercial products with controllers. More generally, the projects should allow the direct involvement of the final users (controllers) into the design and validation phases in order to ensure the usability and usefulness of the system.
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Does FASTI implementation require coordination with neighbouring ATSUs?
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The implementation and operation of MTCD and MONA is a local issue which does not require coordination with neighbouring ATSUs.
For the implementation of SYSCO between adjacent ATSUs, the implementation of the EUROCONTROL OLDI standards will address the interoperability issue. Some co-ordination will be required to operate SYSCO between adjacent ATSUs.
From an operational viewpoint, it should be noted that the benefits obtained from FASTI implementation (such as capacity gains) will be enhanced when FASTI is implemented at a regional level, involving several neighbouring ATSUs.
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Which airspace is impacted by FASTI implementation?
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The en-route and extended TMA airspace is targeted by FASTI implementation.
Nevertheless, the implementation of FASTI in this airspace can be phased, starting for example with the upper en-route airspace. Moreover, FASTI implementation could be limited to part of this airspace, depending on the local ANSP’s operational needs.
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How to proceed with FASTI implementation?
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Based on the pioneer ANSPs’ experience, the general approach depicted below is the preferred approach for the deployment of FASTI tools. This approach needs to be adapted and tailored to the local context.
This preferred approach highlights the need to initially focus on the deployment of support tools rather than on control tools.
Three major deployment steps are identified and each step will lead to implement a certain level of FASTI tools capabilities:
1. Quick wins
The aim of this step is to demonstrate the potential of automation to controllers and to have early gains from the implementation of support tools before going through the most demanding phases of the projects, particularly during the next step for the transition from a paper strip environment to a paper strip-less environment.
2. Transition to a paper strip-less environment
The introduction of further automation, particularly through the implementation of additional FASTI functions, will increase the need to input data into the system. Thus, the aim the project will be oriented towards a transition from a paper strip environment to a paper strip-less environment: the scope of the project will be wider and the approach will be more global.
3. Improvements
The transition from a paper strip environment to a paper stripless environment will pave the way for additional improvements. These improvements can be related to synergies with emerging technical capabilities (e.g. aircraft-derived data), they may consider an extension to another type of airspace (e.g. lower airspace) or they may be lower priority improvements that were not implemented in the previous step.
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Implementation phases |
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Where are the roles of the Regulator and the NSA in FASTI?
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For each State member, the three key players are the Regulator, the National Supervisory Authority and the ANSP. In the frame of a FASTI implementation, the Regulator may have a very limited or even no role to play, as its field of competence is limited to what is not covered by the Community. On the other hand, the National Supervisory Authority is in charge of ensuring that every system put into service by the ANSP is compliant with the interoperability regulation (552/2004).
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How does FASTI relate to SESAR and do they overlap?
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SESAR is basically composed of three phases: definition, development and deployment. The aim of the definition phase is to define the ATM target concept, to be progressively implemented up to 2020, according to the ATM Master Plan. This Master Plan also identifies short and medium term implementations to get the earliest benefits. One of the foundations of the SESAR technological breakthrough is an increased automation for Air Traffic Control, the human actor still playing a central role.
FASTI is one of the on-going initiatives which are consistent with the current Operational Improvements and System Enablers being developed in the frame of the SESAR definition phase.
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Does a European plan exist which lays down a roadmap?
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The FASTI programme derives from the following ECIP Objectives:
• ATC12 - Provide automated support for conflict detection
• ATCX - Implement Enhanced Procedures for Inter and Intra Centre Coordination (under development)
The ATM Master Plan, which is being built during the SESAR definition phase, will identify the main operational and technological steps from 2011 to 2020. FASTI is also currently part of the first Implementation Package, to be implemented before 2013.
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Are there any plans to mandate FASTI?
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SYSCO is fully in line with the Interoperability principle, as it permits electronic coordination between controller working positions and enhances coordination dialogue and transfer of flights between ATSU’s. As such, the COTR Implementing Rule and the OLDI Community Specification are building the first regulatory baseline to support the implementation of the SYSCO part of FASTI.
Currently, there is no mandate or specification related to MONA or MTCD.
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Does FASTI contribute to save the environment?
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The implementation of FASTI is expected to bring flight efficiency gains in terms of reduced flight time. This should in turn lead to a reduction of emissions.
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What are the current and planned activities in the context of the EUROCONTROL FASTI programme?
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For the FASTI pioneers, EUROCONTROL provides support to maximise the potential of FASTI tools, e.g.
• NORTH project with LFV, FINAVIA and THALES
• SOUTH project with ENAV, MALTA and SELEX
For the FASTI newcomers, EUROCONTROL provides support to ANSPs who are willing to implement the FASTI tools, essentially by providing lessons learnt from FASTI pioneers.
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