On 25 May 2018, the validation for SESAR 2020 project PJ01 – EAMAN was successfully finished.
The SESAR Enhanced Arrival and Departures research project (EAD) address the development of concepts, tools and procedures to increase the capacity of extended TMAs (E-TMAs) to meet forecast traffic growth in a safe, cost-effective and environmentally sustainable manner. This will be achieved by taking advantage of the latest technological developments from both an airborne and a ground-system prospective and through secure sharing of data. The project will focus on operational improvements to the flow of arriving and departing traffic within the E-TMA that aim to increase airspace capacity and cost efficiency, improve safety and predictability and provide greater fuel efficiency and environmental sustainability.
The SESAR PJ01 team was put together by COOPANS and SESAR partners; Thales, Airbus, LFV, Naviair, Austro Control, Croatia Control and FPZ (Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, University of Zagreb). After the first validation, some conclusions were drawn by the team. Implementation of Controlled Time of Arrival (CTA) with Arrival Manager (AMAN) in the artificial airspace resulted in about the same amount of workload as if Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs) would have used standard procedures. However, using features of Time to lose/Time to gain (TTL/TTG), generated a significant increase in workload but negotiable, considering the use of Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) some believe that it could decrease the workload. For further stages of the project, ATCOs have pointed out the need for more flexible sectorization when using TTL/TTG, corporation of AMANs for crossing traffic and reduction of airspace and traffic complexity.