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FALCO (SESAR 2020 PJ33-W3)

The SESAR industrial research project FALCO (Flexible ATCO Endorsement and LDACS Complements) is investigating solutions for making air traffic management and the deployment of air traffic controllers more flexible, efficient and responsive to changing traffic demand and conditions. The project will also trial LDACS, a technology offering spectrum-efficient data link connectivity and digital voice communications.

Funded within the framework of Horizon 2020, FALCO (PJ.33) will work on two solutions aimed at increasing the efficiency of air traffic management:

• Building on previous research (e.g. PROSA - PJ.10), the project will investigate ways of deploying air traffic controllers more flexibly to specific portions of airspace, sectors and working positions, when and where needed. This would mean that air traffic controllers could potentially cover larger portions of airspace or take over service provision in case of outages at neighbouring air traffic control sectors. In doing so, ATC service provision would become more resilient and responsive to unexpected events, changes in traffic demand or staff shortages. This would lead to knock-on benefits in terms of cost efficiency and capacity.
• Based on the findings on an L-band digital aeronautical communication system (LDACS) that were reached in previous SESAR projects (PJ.14 and PJ.14-W2), FALCO will also test LDACS under real conditions with flight trials.  LDACS offers a viable and more spectrum-efficient alternative to existing analogue radio communications; it is also an important enabler for the roll-out of dynamic airspace configuration, flight-centric ATC and virtual centres – critical solutions for making air traffic management more scalable and sustainable in the long run.

The FALCO project has a duration of two years and is led by the DLR Institute of Flight Guidance. Apart from the project management activities, the Institute will elaborate the overall concept, which is then further detailed to enable the development of controller-assistance tools. These tools will be tailored to the purpose of reducing the need for local training on a sector. In the following, these tools will be tested in the Institute’s simulators. Further, it will conduct several studies regarding a new and completely different display concept, as well as finding a solution for the competence maintenance and endorsement problem of flight-centric ATC.

This project has received funding from the SESAR Joint Undertaking under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101017479.