The INVIRCAT project (Investigate IFR RPAS control in airports and TMA) aims to provide a means for a safe and efficient integration of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) into the existing air traffic control (ATC) procedures and infrastructures within terminal manoeuvring areas (TMA) under instrument flight rules (IFR). The main goals of the INVIRCAT project are the creation of a concept of operations (CONOPS) for RPAS in the TMA of airports, its assessment through simulations, and the drafting of a set of recommendations for rule-makers and standardisation bodies.
In INVIRCAT, a concept of operations will be elaborated for the full accommodation of RPAS in TMA environments. This CONOPS will serve as a basis for implementing a simulation infrastructure to enable a full simulated IFR RPAS flight from one airport to another including all phases of flight. Based on the results of these human-in-the-loop simulations and the validation of the CONOPS, a set of high-level operational and technical requirements will be defined, and recommendations will be derived from the results.
INVIRCAT Real-Time Human-In-The-Loop full-process validation
To meet the objectives, the INVIRCAT consortium is comprised of a balanced group of seven research agencies from five European countries. A close collaboration with the related projects URClearED (addressing the definition of Remain Well Clear-requirements) and SAFELAND (contingency procedures in the case of pilot incapacitation for single-pilot operations) will be established in order to feed their results into the concept of INVIRCAT. An advisory board will be set up to gain insight into industry standards and to validate the overall approach of the project.
DLR’s Institute of Flight Guidance is providing its Air Traffic Validation Center to support INVIRCAT’s developments with comprehensive experimentation. A core element of the project will be the research ground control station U-Fly, which is being used in several projects to enable coordinated mission planning and operation of different airborne services in crisis management. In addition, DLR will be the coordinator of this project.
This project has received funding from the SESAR Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No 893375. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the SESAR JU members other than the Union.
German Aerospace Center (DLR), Germany (Coordinator) Italian Aerospace Research Centre (CIRA), Italy Deep Blue, Italy EUROCONTROL, Belgium Ingenieria De Sistemas Para La Defensa De España (ISDEFE), Spain Institute For Sustainable Society And Innovation (ISSNOVA), Italy Stichting Nationaal Lucht- en Ruimtevaartlaboratorium (NLR), The Netherlands