Skyguide, together with SkySoft-ATM and Indra, successfully demonstrated an external conflict detection (CD) service during the VITACY Open Day held on 12 November at Skyguide’s facilities. VITACY, a follow-up to previous SESAR Joint Undertaking (SESAR JU) research and development initiatives on service-oriented architecture (SOA) in air traffic management (ATM), is the first project to implement and validate four key ATM services: conflict detection (CD), arrival manager (AMAN), departure manager (DMAN), and time-based separation (TBS).

Currently, Europe’s air traffic management relies on country-specific systems, leading to inefficiencies, higher costs, and limited interoperability. The virtual centre concept addresses this by separating ATM data services—such as flight data, radar, and weather information—from physical control systems. The project introduces a "triangle architecture", which reorganises services traditionally provided by a single data service provider into specialised, function-focused systems for arrival management, time-based separation, and conflict detection. Additionally, it includes cyber-resilience tools to monitor and alert against potential threats.

In a recent demonstration, Exercise 3—conducted online in October—connected teams in Geneva and Madrid to test the conflict detection service on a distributed platform. Skyguide provided operational expertise, SkySoft-ATM delivered the augmented controller working position (A-CWP) and conflict module, and Indra supplied the simulator and flight data processing (FDP) system. Communication between the external conflict detection service, Indra’s ATM data service provider (ADSP), and SkySoft-ATM’s ATM service unit (ATSU) controller working position (CWP) relied on newly developed standard interfaces, demonstrating full interoperability.

Despite the service running across different sites, the performance experienced by air traffic controllers (ATCOs) was nearly identical to that of a similar service operating in a local legacy ADSP–ATSU configuration. The impact on key operational roles—including air traffic controllers, supervisors (SPVRs), and air traffic safety electronics personnel (ATSEPs)—was rigorously assessed using the SESAR human performance (HP) methodology, ensuring a thorough evaluation of operational and technical performance..

The VITACY Open Day gave attendees the opportunity to review the exercise results, discuss operational implications, and explore the next steps in service-oriented design in ATM. The validation of the external conflict detection service represents a key milestone in the virtualisation of ATM services under the Digital European Sky programme and highlights the fruitful collaboration between Skyguide, SkySoft-ATM and Indra in advancing Europe’s air traffic management capabilities.

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