CATS

CATS: EU-funded project to improve flights punctuality

The EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre together with Frequentis (Consortium coordinator), SkySoft-ATM, AirFrance Consulting, the Italian Air Navigation Service Provider ENAV, Zurich Airport (UNIQUE), the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Leiden International Institute of Air and Space Law (IIASL) and Trieste University are working together to design and validate proposals to manage Air Traffic Management (ATM) by means of mutually agreed objectives.

The project, known as CATS - the Contract-Based Air Transportation System, was launched on 6th November in Vienna by the European Community. This project is co-funded by the European Community within the 6th Framework Programme.

CATS' main objective is to propose solutions to cope with traffic growth and to improve the efficiency of the European air transportation system. It is based on an innovative operational concept, the Contract of Objectives. The Contract of Objectives will provide well-defined objectives for each actor involved in a flight (air traffic controllers, aircrews, airports, airlines, air navigation service providers) and through the Contract of Objectives, a guarantee of results such as respect of punctuality is offered to the airspace users. These objectives represent the commitment from each actor to deliver a particular aircraft inside temporal and spatial intervals. Agreement over the Contract of Objectives is reached through a Collaborative Decision Making process (CDM) process, allowing for the right balance between productivity and safety.

The aim of the CATS project is to assess by experimental & operational validation the Contract of Objectives concept.

Defining the interfaces between various actors and operators:

• Air Traffic Controllers (ATCO) in the airborne cycle
• ATCO and aircrew in the airborne cycle
• Airport, airline and Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP) during the renegotiation process, in case of one contract of objectives is not fulfil
• Assess the operational acceptability and the technical feasibility, through Human In the Loop experiments
• Evaluation of the impact of this contract in terms of Human Factor issues, safety and operators' workload
• Evaluation of the benefits and the legal implications

The project is relevant to SESAR and proper co-ordination mechanisms have been established between the project and SESAR Program.

The next and last simulation” HIL 3 "(Human In the Loop), will be held from 14 to 18 June 2010, at the laboratories of Skyguide in Geneva. ENAV also in this experiment will provide the operational staff with 4 ATCOs (Massimo Iannuli and Teodoro Vitale from Brindisi ACC; Marco Laurenti and Leonardo Russo from Roma ACC).

Watch the "CATS Project Film"   Part1   Part2   Part3

www.cats-fp6.aero

www.eurocontrol.int/eec/cats