European Sky Multilink ATN

ongoing

The ESMA Digital Sky Demonstrator (DSD) project addresses the need to increase the level of automation in Air Traffic Management (ATM). It aims to present the operation of a multilink communications infrastructure, with a focus on datalink using satellite communication (SATCOM Datalink) alongside VHF Data Link (VDL) Mode 2. The future multilink communications infrastructure is key in creating higher levels of automation for ATM given the higher bandwidth and security requirements of the services. Infrastructure will play a key role in supporting the capacity constraints foreseen by the current VDL Mode 2 infrastructure. SATCOM is an key component of aeronautical communications. In the future, SATCOM is expected to be important for the continental airspace and become an integral part in the Future Communications Infrastructure (FCI). Evolving satellite constellations provide new SATCOM systems offering new capabilities to meet the current and future aviation communication needs. The European Space Agency (ESA) launched the IRIS Programme in 2007 to develop and validate a SATCOM datalink system which should be part of the FCI for the European ATM system. The IRIS programme has supported the definition, development and the implementation of the Iris SATCOM solution for ATN communications, ready for deployment in 2023. This project aims to demonstrate the successful integration of IRIS datalink into live operations, with a focus on demonstrating a seamless and automatic switch between IRIS and VDL Mode 2. The activity will take place over all Europe (Iris is a Sarellite based service running on the enhanced Inmarsat SwiftBroadband Safety (SB-S) infrastructure and provides has coverage across the whole of Europe and worldwide). The project brings together stakeholders from across the ATM value chain: ANSPs, Communications Service Providers, Airlines, Aircraft manufacturers and the Network Manager to test the integration of this service. The demonstration will focus on long-term data collection in an operational multilink environment to make sure that both links are properly connected and provide full confidence to ANSPs and Airspace Users that the technology and multilink concept works as envisaged.