EU and US reach accord on datalink

A recent ‘differing of requirements’ for datalink standardisation has now been resolved between Europe and the United States.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the SESAR Joint Undertaking (SJU) had each developed ATM modernisation roadmaps which require the integration of new datalink services.

However, while the two modernisation programmes have many similarities, they did not completely align in terms of scope and timing.

Each side of the Atlantic had identified certain priorities for the upcoming datalink standard by EUROCAE and RTCA. For the FAA, it was important include certain services in the standard: Dynamic Required Navigation Performance (RNP), Advanced Flight Interval Management and the uplink of Air Traffic Control (ATC) winds, which would have resulted in a delay of the standards publication date.

“However, this delay would have posed difficulties for the airframe manufacturers, who are aiming to industrialise solutions in relation to SESAR deployment, and before SESAR’s 2018 target (e.g. initial 4D trajectory exchange) as set out in the European ATM Master Plan,” said SESAR JU in its latest newsletter.

To avoid such differences, in 2011, a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) was signed between the between NextGen and SESAR, to ensure alignment and global interoperability. One of the five coordination areas of the MoC, which concerns coordination of datalink services, recognised the differing needs and set out to define a mutually acceptable solution.

In addition, in June 2013, the SJU, in partnership with the EU Delegation to the United States, held a one-day conference in Washington DC which prompted discussions on global interoperability in the context of future datalink services.

Following these constructive discussions, a joint position for datalink standardisation was agreed. The joint position recommended that EUROCAE and RTCA issue an initial publication of the standard as per its original timescale and scope. Meanwhile, the work to develop the new applications will continue so that once they are mature enough, a second version of the standard can be published to include them.

SESAR chiefs said this approach is fully consistent with a joint Boeing/Airbus position paper presented to the joint EUROCAE/RTCA group earlier this year.

“Based on this successful outcome and other recent similar successful outcomes, such as with the recently published RPAS roadmap, the FAA and SESAR are exploring further ways to ensure a united front on the standardisation of several ATM aspects,” stated SESAR.

http://www.airtrafficmanagement.net/2013/10/eu-and-us-reach-accord-on-datalink/