At EUROCONTROL, we published the specification for air traffic management surveillance system performance (ESASSP) in support of the need for independent non-cooperative detection and tracking. The specification encompasses the whole surveillance system, including all the different current surveillance technologies, whereas the initial EUROCONTROL Radar Surveillance Standard focuses on radar systems.
This specification lays down performance requirements for air traffic management (ATM) surveillance systems when they support 3-NM and 5-NM horizontal separation applications. It can be used by civil and military air navigation service providers to define the minimum performance which their surveillance systems must provide, as required by European Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1207/2011 of 22 November 2011. This Specification also defines how the associated conformity assessment must be performed. Currently the next version of the ESASSP is being produced.
In view of the security and safety requirements described in our specification, the need for a minimum layer of independent, or non-cooperative surveillance systems is again being considered by the civil air traffic management (ATM) authorities. In this connection, the sharing of civil and military surveillance data could potentially enable security and safety requirements to be met.
Our specification superseeds our radar surveillance standard, which identified that the radar coverage needs to support both terminal and en-route air traffic services must be double SSR coverage for en-route airspace, or double SSR coverage and single PSR cover for major terminal areas.