ECHO – the European Concept of Higher airspace Operations –delivered successfully in its first phase a Higher Airspace Operations (HAO) Concept of Operations. ECHO2 will now build on what this achievement to propose validated solutions that pave the way towards the operational integration of HAO into ATM in three directions:
- Space Launch Real Time Monitoring Module and associated working station for the EUROCONTROL Network Manager for increased situational awareness at network level, supporting air traffic flow management as well as crisis and contingency management.
- A Procedural Package covering specific ground and air-ground operational integration issues (including for communications, navigation and surveillance (CNS) means) associated with the integration of High-Altitude Platform Systems (HAPS) operations into ATM.
- A Procedural Package covering specific ground and air-ground operational integration issues (including for CNS means) associated with the integration of supersonic, hypersonic and suborbital vehicle operations into ATM.
These solutions will propose all the elements needed by operational stakeholders for a safe, rapid, harmonised and cost-effective implementation of HAO into the European aviation network, at TRL6 maturity. They will also include assessments of potential specific related standardization and regulatory activities.
