Inmarsat heads European air traffic consortium

Inmarsat has won a European Space Agency (ESA) contract to improve European air traffic management (ATM) with new-generation, satellite-based data link communications. It will also head up a consortium of international aviation companies to reform congested airspace.

Current traffic management is based on 1950s technologies; however, the Iris Service Evolution program will lead Europe away from terrestrial to advanced satellite-based data link communications, enabling flight plans to be updated continuously — even while aircraft are en route to their destination.

Inmarsat said this will significantly optimise airspace and airport capacity, in addition to overall reductions in flight times, fuel burn and CO₂ emissions.

Under Iris, Inmarsat will work with over 30 aviation and space companies, including Airbus, Boeing, NATS and Thales Alenia Space, to develop a technical, commercial and operational roadmap for Europe’s long-term air traffic communications needs.

The absence of a unified control system in European airspace adds around €5 billion a year of unnecessary congestion and costs, inflating airline ticket prices.

“Air traffic management is under great pressure and there is no doubt that the digitalisation of cockpit communication is a vital building block of the future, opening the door for airlines to truly benefit from enhanced data utilisation,” said Leo Mondale, president of Inmarsat Aviation.

“Iris will mark a new era of communication in the aviation industry and places Europe at the forefront of ATM innovation.”

Iris builds on the Iris Precursor contract awarded to Inmarsat by ESA in November 2014. Under this, an initial set of services was developed which address the aviation industry’s short- to medium-term ATM needs and are supported by Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband Safety (SB-S) satcom system, an evolution of its existing high-capacity L-band SwiftBroadband system.

On 23 February this year, Iris Precursor set off its first test flight between Toulouse and the Baleares Islands, passing above Madrid. The flight successfully performed initial 4D (i4D) flight path control and Controller Pilot Data Link Communication (CPDLC) exchanges with Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC), as well as tested the handover between Inmarsat satellite spot beams. 

Iris Precursor is expected to support CPDLC and i4D flight path control by 2018, with the exchange of information coming directly from avionic systems. In the longer term, Iris will evolve to support Full 4D and operate in a highly secure multilink environment with future terrestrial data links, enabling more efficient traffic management by synchronising trajectories between air and ground.

Inmarsat said the Iris Service Evolution program will initially focus on Europe, but the services will also benefit ATM operations in North America, the Asia-Pacific and other regions around the world where the growth of air traffic is placing a strain on ground-based networks. 

Fast facts

• A 50% increase in the number of flights in European skies is expected over the next 10 to 20 years.

• 800 million passengers are estimated to pass through Europe’s more than 440 airports every year.

• 42 km is the average distance aircraft fly longer than necessary in Europe due to fragmentation of airspace.

For more information, go to www.inmarsat.com.