PJ24 NCM

Network collaborative management

Improving the performance of network operations through effective and efficient planning of network resources.

Network Collaborative Management (NCM) is a trust-building exercise designed to demonstrate the maturity of the integrated network and local concept elements. It is all about helping meet performance targets and expectations, a challenge that requires a collaborative and synchronised effort to be made by all the actors involved in air traffic flow and capacity management (ATFCM).

This project will pave the way for SESAR deployment activities and the implementation of the future performance-driven ATM environment in Europe. Project PJ24 - NCM is a joint venture between the  operational and research activities of EUROCONTROL, combining their knowledge and expertise in this new SESAR challenge. PJ24 kicked off in November 2016 and is managed in close collaboration with PJ25 - Arrival management extended to en-route airspace.

PJ24 is designed not to require outputs from other SESAR 2020 industrial research (IR) projects and large-scale demonstrations (VLDs), though it might follow the evolution of some of them in order to build a compliant concept of operation and tools.

The results and outputs of the S2020 IR and VLD projects should not affect the content of wave 1 planned demonstrations, but PJ24 will ensure that concept of operation maintenance takes them into account in planning wave 2.

Our contribution

PJ24 is based on the following SESAR 1 validation exercises and large-scale demonstrations:

  • VP522 (STAM V3 Trial);
  • VP700 (Interconnectivity local-network);
  • VP749 (Arrival DCB hotspot, AOP-NOP integration);
  • Large-scale exercise iSTREAM (CTOT to TTO part);
  • Large-scale exercise TOPLINK (Enhanced Situation Awareness for FMP).

EUROCONTROL was actively involved in all of these activities – though in TOPLINK only as an external contributor – and our SESAR validation platform (Network Manager Validation Platform – NMVP) proved essential to determining the building blocks of the dynamic demand and capacity balancing (dDCB) concept. Most of these building blocks managed to reach the V3 maturity phase at the end of SESAR 1, qualifying them as candidates for the demonstration activities carried out in SESAR 2020. The successful completion of these demonstrations will prove that the SESAR concept elements are ready to be deployed on a European level.

In all of the SESAR 1 dDCB activities, EUROCONTROL as the NM contributed towards the creation and validation of dDCB concept elements. In SESAR 2020, NM will be actively involved in demonstrating that these concept elements can be managed in a network collaborative environment through the decisive contribution of the entity providing the network management functions.

NM is optimally placed to bring together the network and local perspectives on ATFCM in a more dynamic DCB process, taking into account all the needs of the different ATM actors and projecting the potential impact of various local ATFCM measures on an overall network level. NM is also in the unique position of supporting these ATM actors in their decision-making process through its dedicated systems and data repositories, as well as through the considerable knowledge and expertise gained in over 20 years of continuous ATFCM operations.

Benefits

The major benefits can be expressed in the following key performance areas:

  • capacity: enhanced demand capacity balancing (DCB) measures, integrating the local and network ATFCM solutions, will increase capacity, both for ANSPs (airspace capacity) and airports (airport capacity);
  • efficiency: optimisation of airspace user (AU) trajectories through enhanced DCB measures and procedures and a reduced need for ATFCM measures affecting a large number of flights will increase flight efficiency;
  • predictability: more dynamic DCM measures will increase the predictability of traffic delivered into sectors and airports;
  • flexibility: collaborative management of the network by NM, ANSPs, airports and AUs will increase flexibility;
  • participation: the collaborative manner of managing the network will increase the participation of the ATM actors concerned (NM, ANSPs, airports and AUs);
  • interoperability: the interconnectivity of local and network actors for managing DCM measures collaboratively will increase interoperability;
  • cost efficiency: the access of all ATM actors involved (NM, ANSPs, airports and AUs), depending on their needs and operational requirements, in traffic delivery optimisation will increase cost-effectiveness.

The demonstration plan, which is currently being drafted with the support of the participating partners, will determine more tangible benefits, with detailed values and metrics to be demonstrated by the end of 2019.

Challenges

A large-scale demonstration (VLD) is designed to pave the way for full-scale deployment of the Single European Sky ATM research programme (SESAR) solutions, acting as a bridge between the mature Research & Development (R&D) V3 elements of the SESAR 1 concept and their operational deployment, through the use of SESAR-labelled end-user demonstration platforms and infrastructure.

Deliverables

The effective and efficient planning of network resources is key to improving the performance of network operations. The aim of PJ24 is to link local optimisation processes (including airport processes) with network optimisation processes, taking into account stakeholder preferences where possible. This will also facilitate the innovative use and application of fine-tuned tailored measures (including target times) to further enhance performance.

PJ24 will conduct its demonstration activities in four main areas:

  1. scenario management (including ‘hotspot awareness’), focusing on the network perspective (with local input and support);
  2. tactical capacity management, focusing on the local perspective (facilitated by network support);
  3. airspace user (AU) preferences, feeding both local and network perspectives;
  4. airport – network integration at local level;

PJ24 has as its main objectives:

  • to pave the way forward in evaluating concepts from the PCP (Pilot Common Project), within an integrated global collaborative management of the network, including airports, ANSPs and airspace users (AUs). The demonstrations executed in this project will serve as proof of concept for the ATM Functionality AF#4 (Network Collaborative Management) as defined in the PCP;
  • to optimise the delivery of traffic into sectors and airports;
  • to minimise the need for ATFCM regulations.

Partners

DFS DEUTSCHE FLUGSICHERUNG GMBH, DIRECTION DES SERVICES DE LA NAVIGATION AERIENNE, ENTIDAD PUBLICA EMPRESARIAL ENAIRE, NATS (en route) PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY, INDRA SISTEMAS SA, THALES AIR SYSTEMS SAS, HEATHROW AIRPORT LIMITED, AUSTRO CONTROL OSTERREICHISCHE GESELLSCHAFT FUR ZIVILLUFTFAHRT MBH, CROATIA CONTROL, CROATIAN AIR NAVIGATION SERVICES LTD.