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Report on operations

Sesar and research and development activities

Sesar, the European research and development program, is an initiative launched
by the European Commission to provide the Single Sky program the innovative
technological elements that enable the implementation of a new, modern air traffic
management system that is efficient and capable of guaranteeing the development
of air transport on a safe basis while respecting the environment.
In 2015, as in previous years, ENAV played a leading role in the program, carrying
out various pre-operational experimentation activities in an airport environment
as well as in relation to overflight and approach air space. ENAV co-ordinates the
preparation and integration of the validation platforms for all of Sesar’s activities,
and is involved in 85 projects leading 15 of them. Also participating in the program
are the subsidiaries Techno Sky and the SICTA Consortium, IDS (the Italian company),
and since 2011 the LVNL Consortium, consisting of Dutch Service Provider LVNL and
the NRL Research Centre as an Associated Partner.
Having reached the apex of its production, the Sesar program has now entered its
concluding phase which should be completed by the end of 2016. Some projects
have started to round up activities and consequently release resources that will
therefore be involved in the Sesar2020 program, the natural extension of the Sesar
program that will run from 2016 to -2024.
Moreover Enav conducted various demonstration projects in the context of the Sesar
program, among which:
• The ATC Full Datalink (AFD) that enabled the creation of an operational scenario for

conducting a certain number of commercial flights in European air space without
voice radio communication between controllers and pilots for all the phases of
flight between take-off and landing. In short, all contacts for data exchange and
instructions for conducting the flight in the controlled air space take place via the
datalink (CPDLC/Controller Pilot Data Link Communication). The purpose was to
demonstrate the ATM system’s technical capability to evolve toward the future
SESAR operational concept, in which ground and on-board systems exchange data
without the controllers and flight crew necessarily making contact via radio;
• We-Free in relation to experimental activity for connections with direct routes
between Italian and French cities on weekends. Results generated a significant
interest from the airline companies for the potential saving from the possibility of
using direct routes on weekends which was estimated to be about 600 tonnes of
fuel and 2000 tonnes of CO2 per year;
• MeDALE (Mediterranean Detect & Avoid Live Exercise)aimed at demonstrating the
possibility for remotely piloted aircraft to interact with normal air traffic, thereby
occupying non-segregated air space.
• The Racoon project aimed at demonstrating the benefits of providing assistance
services to airport traffic remotely. The project intends to demonstrate, in real
operating conditions represented by Milan Linate and Milan Malpensa airports,
the technical and operational feasibility of the Remote Tower concept and how
the combination of such concept with GNSS Approach Procedures with vertical
guidance can generate significant performance benefits, maintaining a high level
of ATC services to users with sustainable costs.

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