Enabling digital air-ground connectivity for new airspace operations - Airspace World SESAR Walking Tour reports
Air–ground connectivity is a critical enabler of the future digital air traffic management system, supporting richer information exchange, more resilient communications and the integration of new types of airspace users, including operations in higher airspace. A key building block of the European ATM Master Plan, air–ground connectivity explored during the SESAR Walking Tour at Airspace World 2026, guided by Nil Agacdiken, SESAR Joint Undertaking.
From voice-based control to digital air–ground communications
A key step in the digital transformation of air traffic management is the move from traditional voice communications to more integrated, data-driven exchanges between pilots and controllers. Kicking off the tour, Fulya Aybek Çetek, Cem Çetek, Eskisehir Teknik Universitesi, and Sergun Özmen, Turkish Airlines from the ATMACA project presented an advanced air–ground communications concept based on a session-oriented communication and mobility management approach using future air traffic network and internet protocol suite (ATN/IPS) technologies.
The project demonstrated how future communications can support continuous digital interaction between pilots and controllers through integrated human–machine interfaces for tower, radar and cockpit environments. Real-time simulations showed how operational messages can be exchanged seamlessly across all actors in a unified digital communication environment, improving consistency and reducing reliance on voice-based coordination. The demonstration also highlighted validation work ranging from laboratory simulations to real-world trials, including flight testing on a commercial airline, illustrating the maturity of future digital communication concepts for air traffic services.
Flight-centric operations enabled by digital connectivity
As communications become more digital and continuous, attention is also shifting towards how connectivity can support new ways of organising air traffic control itself. At the AT-One stand, Mara Weber, DLR, Eva Puntero, ENAIRE and Přemysl Volf, AgentFly from the FCA project presented the flight-centric operations concept as an alternative to traditional sector-based control.
Instead of assigning controllers to fixed geographic sectors, the concept allocates responsibility based on aircraft, enabling more flexible workload distribution across airspace. Using an interactive radar-based human–machine interface, the demonstration showed a unified airspace environment where controllers manage flights dynamically, supported by real-time simulation.
The concept has been validated through two large-scale real-time simulation exercises conducted in Ukrainian and Spanish airspace, where performance was assessed under operationally realistic conditions. These validations demonstrated the feasibility of a flight-centric approach in terms of controller productivity, airspace capacity and flight efficiency, while maintaining acceptable levels of safety and human performance.
An interactive radar-based human–machine interface illustrated the operational concept in a unified airspace environment, allowing visitors to see how flights can be managed dynamically without fixed sector boundaries, supported by simulation environments replicating realistic traffic scenarios.
Preparing for higher and more complex airspace operations
As digital connectivity extends into higher airspace, new operational concepts are being developed to safely integrate emerging aircraft types, including high-altitude platforms, suborbital vehicles and future space operations. Offering a different perspective on this evolution, Ovidiu Dumitrache, EUROCONTROL and Lorenz Losensky, and Sven Kaltenhäuser, AT-ONE - DLR and NLR, and Alexander Seybold DFS, presented the ECHO 2 project and its work on enabling real-time monitoring and management of these new entrants into controlled airspace.
A prototype mission monitoring module and associated procedural package was presented for the integration of launch and re-entry operations into European airspace at network level, validated within the EUROCONTROL Network Manager environment. This was complemented by the Network Real-time Mission Monitoring (N-RMM) tool and interface, enabling real-time oversight of complex operations and supporting coordination across the ATM network.
- Results from real-time simulations (RTS) were also showcased, demonstrating dynamic airspace segregation through the use of a four-dimensional operating zone (4DOZ). One set of simulations focused on high-altitude platform systems (HAPS), evaluating operational feasibility and acceptance of the new 4D OZ concept in environments with different traffic densities and for HAPS transiting through, entering and exiting controlled airspace. The work addressed several operational and technical aspects, including procedures based on HAPS performance characteristics, weather impacts during take-off, climb and descent phases, network impacts on overall airspace capacity, communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) requirements such as ADS-B, Mode N and separation minima, requirements including lost command and control link scenarios. Meanwhile the other RTS addressed the integration of supersonic, hypersonic and suborbital operations. These exercises assessed how customised procedural packages can optimise airspace use while maintaining safety, including both nominal operations and emergency scenarios such as high-altitude vehicle break-up.
Supporting these concepts, an enhanced controller working position was demonstrated, enabling real-time trajectory management, visualisation of the 4DOZ, preliminary suborbital trajectory mapping and activation of supersonic corridors. The setup also included separation assistance and alerting functions tailored to the performance characteristics of high-altitude vehicles.
A further key element was the SWIM-based Digital NOTAM service, demonstrating interoperability with external airspace monitoring tools for danger area activation and emergency management.
Integrated higher airspace operations
The ECHO-2 project was also presented at the Leonardo stand by Simona Pierattelli, Leonardo, and Ramona Santarelli, ENAV, where the focus was on how a procedural package allowing air navigation service providers (ANSPs) to enable a progressive integration of supersonic, hypersonic and suborbital operations in the European ATM system, considering the characteristics of each type of operation.
The procedural package, validated in the operational environment of Grottaglie spaceport, takes into account the characteristics and performance of this novel class of aerospace vehicles, focusing on the integration in the controlled airspace. The solution also encompasses procedures for contingency and emergency management, considering potential trajectory deviation of supersonic and hypersonic aircraft, and catastrophic failure causing the explosion and falling debris of the suborbital vehicles.
More about
Read about capacity and demand planning in the European ATM Master Plan