SESAR 3 FCA

It's done! 17 days of extensive testing are behind us. 10 controllers and three supervisors from Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise made this extensive validation campaign possible. Dmytro Avramenko, Viktor Didur, Serhii Dovhaniuk, Vitalii Galyko, Vadym Ivkov, Yevhenii Korkots, Roman Kulish, Dmytro Kyrpatyi, Oleksandr Lavrynenko, Vitalii Marchenko, Vasyl Novakovskyi, Andrii Startsev, Dmytro Tereshchenko 30 training runs, 32 validation runs and countless minutes of debriefing are in the bag. More than 150 questionnaires and just as many recordings of the ISA tool are waiting to be analyzed. We would also like to thank the pseudo-pilots for their hard work during the test runs: Tim Dreyzehner, Tobias Finck, Finn Gandras, Stephanie Hobein, Robert H., Bernd Korn Tim Laudien, Helge Lenz, Lorenz Losensky, Isabel C. Metz, Thorsten Mühlhausen, Lennard Nöhren, Oliver Pohling, Fabian Paul, Gunnar Schwoch, Anna Simon, Annette Temme, Lukas Tyburzy Special thanks also to Christiane Edinger and Sebastian Tittel, who have been giving everything for months to realize the traffic scenarios, the radar HMI, the tools and all other components of the simulation. To Ana Martins, for the intensive support from a human performance point of view right from the beginning and to Amina Fock and Birte Thomas-Friedrich for every conceivable support before and during the validaiton. The final thanks go to the one who always kept everything together as Exercise Lead: Mara Weber The pictures below summarize the highlights of the validation campaign. Take a look at it. And what happens next? In the coming weeks and months, the collected data will be analyzed in order to be able to make statements about human performance, safety and performance. All these data will be included in the final validation report, which will be publicly available once it has been published in the first half of 2026.   #SESAR3FCA #fca #Aviation #AirTrafficControl #AirTrafficManagement #HorizonEU #SESAR3JU #SESARJU #DigitalEuropeanSky #cineau #EU #EuropeanCommission #Innovation #ValidationExercise #ATC #ATM #Safety #HumanFactors #EXE001 #DLR #UkSATSE Deutsches Zentrum für Luft-und Raumfahrt e.V. DLR-Institut für Flugführung Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise SESAR Joint Undertaking

Welcome at DLR! Welcome to the Open Day! Today we concluded the validation campaign of the joint SESAR 3 FCA exercise of Deutsches Zentrum für Luft-und Raumfahrt e.V. & Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise with an Open Day. The participants not only received a lot of information about the SESAR 3 FCA project, the solution and the exercise. The upcoming second exercise by ENAIRE, CRIDA A.I.E., Indra and INECO was also presented and the ATCO Support and Traffic rules were discussed with all attendees. Two hands-on simulations allowed the participants to slip into the role of an FCA ATCO and experience the concept first-hand. In a concluding discussion chaired by Mara Weber our experts Bernd Korn, Ana Martins, Predrag Terzioski and Dmytro Tereshchenko demonstrated the advantages of Flight Centric ATC and discussed them extensively with the attendees. A big thank you to all participants of the Open Day for their attendance and all the constructive discussions about FCA: Achim Scheumeister, Quintain McEnteggart, Nil Agacdiken, Philippe Uséo, Premysl Volf, Lukáš Koranda, Max Bezzina, Mayte Cano, Ana Vidaller Guillen, Gabor Hajdufi, Predrag Terzioski, Elke Groeneveld, Tereza Pilmannova, Björn Baas, Blai Izquierdo Falces and Andrei Kvashnin   #SESAR3FCA #fca #Aviation #AirTrafficControl #AirTrafficManagement #HorizonEU #SESAR3JU #SESARJU #DigitalEuropeanSky #cineau #EU #EuropeanCommission #Innovation #ValidationExercise #ATC #ATM #Safety #HumanFactors #EXE001 #DLR #UkSATSE Deutsches Zentrum für Luft-und Raumfahrt e.V. DLR-Institut für Flugführung Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise SESAR Joint Undertaking

Today the second group of controllers completed the joint SESAR 3 FCA exercise of German Aerospace Center (DLR) & Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise. We would like to thank the controllers of this second group for their hard work and commitment during the exercise: Dmytro Tereshchenko Vitalii Marchenko Yevhenii Korkots Vadym Ivkov Viktor Didur Vasyl Novakovskyi Dmytro Kyrpatyi In spring, we will launch two new campaigns on our SESAR 3 FCA LinkedIn channel, where we want to tell you more about the controllers participating in the validation campaign, as well as give each controller the opportunity to share their perspective on the concept. Follow us and be one of the first to get this exclusive insight.   #SESAR3FCA #fca #Aviation #AirTrafficControl #AirTrafficManagement #HorizonEU #SESAR3JU #SESARJU #DigitalEuropeanSky #cineau #EU #EuropeanCommission #Innovation #ValidationExercise #ATC #ATM #Safety #HumanFactors #EXE001 #DLR #UkSATSE German Aerospace Center (DLR) DLR-Institut für Flugführung Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise SESAR Joint Undertaking

Is the Flight Centric ATC concept manageable if the Conflict Resolution System fails? This is precisely the question that is analyzed in the CR Failure Scenario. Here, a failure of the conflict resolution system, which is part of the CD&R tool, is simulated. At a predefined point in time during the simulation run, the entire system fails at all air traffic controller workstations. This means that the controllers no longer receive any suggestions for possible avoidance manoeuvres for aircraft in conflict. Instead, they have to find a solution to the conflict themselves by using other available tools such as probing and filtering. The short-term conflict warning is not affected by this and continues to run without restrictions. The corresponding validation scenario runs have shown that the concept is manageable for the controllers even in the event of such a failure, although the controllers' workload increases due to the additional tasks required for conflict resolution.    #SESAR3FCA #fca #Aviation #AirTrafficControl #AirTrafficManagement #HorizonEU #SESAR3JU #SESARJU #DigitalEuropeanSky #cineau #EU #EuropeanCommission #Innovation #ValidationExercise #ATC #ATM #Safety #HumanFactors #EXE001 #DLR #UkSATSE German Aerospace Center (DLR) DLR-Institut für Flugführung Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise SESAR Joint Undertaking

Communication failure in FCA and what now? Today the controllers are validating another abnormal scenario. In the simulated event of a communication failure the radiotelephony of two individual aircraft are affected. The pseudo-pilots of this scenario advise these by setting the transponder of the affected aircraft to 7600. Both communication failures occur one after the other at different controller workstations. The aim of the scenario is to analyze the effects of such an incident, in particular on the workload of the controllers, and to validate the procedures envisaged for such a case. Initial discussions with the affected controllers show that such a failure does not have a significant impact on their work. #SESAR3FCA #fca #Aviation #AirTrafficControl #AirTrafficManagement #HorizonEU #SESAR3JU #SESARJU #DigitalEuropeanSky #cineau #EU #EuropeanCommission #Innovation #ValidationExercise #ATC #ATM #Safety #HumanFactors #EXE001 #DLR #UkSATSE German Aerospace Center (DLR) DLR-Institut für Flugführung Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise SESAR Joint Undertaking

Who is actually sitting at the opposite end of the radio communication link in our German Aerospace Center (DLR)/Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise real-time simulation? 𝗣𝘀𝗲𝘂𝗱𝗼-𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁𝘀. Pseudo-pilots fulfil various tasks during the validation runs. They communicate with the controllers via radiotelephony, confirm Controller-Pilot Data Link Communication (CPDLC) requests and insert all the controller's instructions into the system via their pseudo-pilot HMI. The main difference to a real pilot is that a pseudo-pilot is responsible for several aircraft at the same time. This means that there is a 1-to-1 connection between controller and pseudo-pilot. In other words, all aircraft under the control of a particular controller are assigned to the corresponding pseudo-pilot. During the 17-day validation campaign, a total of 20 different pseudo-pilots will take part in the trials. All pseudo-pilots are employees of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) - DLR-Institut für Flugführung and are well trained in the interface as well as in the radio communication rules and the NATO alphabet. #SESAR3FCA #fca #Aviation #AirTrafficControl #AirTrafficManagement #HorizonEU #SESAR3JU #SESARJU #DigitalEuropeanSky #cineau #EU #EuropeanCommission #Innovation #ValidationExercise #ATC #ATM #Safety #HumanFactors #EXE001 #DLR #UkSATSE #PesudoPilot #HMI German Aerospace Center (DLR) - DLR-Institut für Flugführung Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise SESAR Joint Undertaking

It's a new week and a new beginning of the SESAR 3 FCA validation campaign. Starting today, the second group of controllers from Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise will take part in the validation trials, testing the Flight Centric ATC concept in the Ukrainian airspace. We are pleased to welcome Dmytro Tereshchenko, Vitalii Marchenko, Yevhenii Korkots, Vadym Ivkov, Viktor Didur, Vasyl Novakovskyi and Dmytro Kyrpatyi in Braunschweig. Over the next eight days, the controllers will undergo the same validation runs as their colleagues. This will allow us to increase the sample size and make more valid statements about the concept. Finally, they will also accompany us on the Open Day of the validation campaign and present their views on the concept to our visitors. We are looking forward to exciting days and will continue to report on the validation campaign here on our SESAR 3 FCA LinkedIn channel. #SESAR3FCA #fca #Aviation #AirTrafficControl #AirTrafficManagement #HorizonEU #SESAR3JU #SESARJU #DigitalEuropeanSky #cineau #EU #EuropeanCommission #Innovation #ValidationExercise #ATC #ATM #Safety #HumanFactors #EXE001 #DLR #UkSATSE German Aerospace Center (DLR) - DLR-Institut für Flugführung Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise SESAR Joint Undertaking

Today marks the end of the first part of our validation campaign of Flight Centric ATC in the Ukrainian airspace. Over the past eight days, the controllers have undergone three days of extensive training on the concept, the dedicated tools and the radar controller interface. During the five days of validation, in which normal, abnormal and degraded-mode scenarios were analyzed, the controllers performed 16 runs to thoroughly evaluate the concept. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) team of the SESAR 3 FCA project would like to take this opportunity to thank the Ukrainian controllers: Vitalii Galyko Oleksandr Lavrynenko Roman Kulish Andrii Startsev Serhii Dovhaniuk Dmytro Avramenko Dmytro Tereshchenko Thank you for your participation in this exercise, for your constructive feedback and for making these eight days happen. We would also like to thank Integra Consult A/S safety and human performance experts Jelena Djokic, Ella Pinska-Chauvin & Simona Blašková and ATM expert Predrag Terzioski from EUROCONTROL for their visit over the past three days. #SESAR3FCA #fca #Aviation #AirTrafficControl #AirTrafficManagement #HorizonEU #SESAR3JU #SESARJU #DigitalEuropeanSky #cineau #EU #EuropeanCommission #Innovation #ValidationExercise #ATC #ATM #Safety #HumanFactors #EXE001 #DLR #UkSATSE German Aerospace Center (DLR) - DLR-Institut für Flugführung Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise SESAR Joint Undertaking

What actually happens in the event of a Thunderstorm? Our air traffic controllers are simulating precisely this scenario today as part of the real-time simulation of Ukrainian airspace. In the developed Thunderstorm scenario, a total of six weather cells with a diagonal cell size between approx. 33 NM and 64 NM are distributed across Ukrainian airspace. All weather cells persist over the entire period of the validation scenario and move in a south-easterly direction at speeds between 15 kts and 60 kts over the course of the scenario. In contrast to the conventional sectorised airspace, FCA offers two key advantages: 💠 It is not necessary to close individual sectors, which would result in individual controllers becoming temporarily inactive. 💠 The additional workload caused by navigating around the Thunderstorm cells is distributed evenly among several controllers. The specific impact of these effects is subject of today's analysis. #SESAR3FCA #fca #Aviation #AirTrafficControl #AirTrafficManagement #HorizonEU #SESAR3JU #SESARJU #DigitalEuropeanSky #cineau #EU #EuropeanCommission #Innovation #ValidationExercise #ATC #ATM #Safety #HumanFactors #EXE001 #DLR #UkSATSE German Aerospace Center (DLR) - DLR-Institut für Flugführung Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise SESAR Joint Undertaking

It's half-time for Group 1 and two of the five validation days are almost over. The last validation run of the week is currently underway. But what exactly awaits the controllers during these five validation days? In seven different scenarios, the controllers are confronted with normal traffic scenarios, abnormal situations such as thunderstorms and degraded mode scenarios, such as the failure of individual controller support tools. Depending on the type of scenario, each run lasts between 35 and 65 minutes. During the runs, the workload of each controller is determined using the so-called Instantaneous Self Assessment (#ISA) tool, with which each controller independently rates his/her own workload at 2-minute intervals. After each of these scenarios, the controllers have to complete a questionnaire and an extensive debriefing is carried out to obtain additional information from the controllers, accompanied by human performance experts. Detailed insights into the individual abnormal and degraded-mode scenarios will be presented as soon as the controllers have completed them.   #SESAR3FCA #fca #Aviation #AirTrafficControl #AirTrafficManagement #HorizonEU #SESAR3JU #DigitalEuropeanSky #cineau #EU #EuropeanCommission #Innovation #ValidationExercise #ATC #ATM #Safety #HumanFactors #EXE001 #DLR #UkSATSE Deutsches Zentrum für Luft-und Raumfahrt e.V. - DLR-Institut für Flugführung Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise SESAR Joint Undertaking