ENRI Int. Workshop on ATM/CNS. Tokyo, Japan. (EIWAC 2010)[EN­114] INTRODUCTION TO THE SESAR WP­E RESEARCHNETWORK: HALA! (HIGHER AUTOMATION LEVELS IN ATM)
(EIWAC 2010)
F. Sáez*, +E. García*, D. Schaefer***Air Navigation Department
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM)
Madrid, Spain
franciscojavier.saez@upm.es
eduardo.garcia.gonzalez@upm.es** EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre
Brétigny, France
dirk.schaefer@eurocontrol.int
Abstract: HALA! (Higher Automation Levels in Automation) is a SESAR WP-E Research Network inspired andunderpinned by the highest principles of collaboration, transparency and innovation for the effective application of
automation of the ATM processes. HALA! is ready to support and complement SESAR R&D activities in Automation,
providing a Scientific Collaborative Platform through the participation by the most relevant world class universities, R&D
centers and industry in ATM.
Keywords: automation, long-term research, network

1. PROLOGUE

2. INTRODUCTION

In the last years our knowledge has rapidly increased
allowing us to focus our research resources to very
specific areas. As a consequence we know far more about
specifics and less about everything. Good examples ofthis trend are the Navigation and Airspace Management
domains. Future ATM tools and technology may provide
the users with all the required information about any
flight at any moment, but how do we turn all that
information into knowledge? How do we achieve it in an
effective way? Automation of this process will be a major
goal impacting on all research fields. An effective
management of our knowledge is actually a basic
requirement to go on developing but …can theknowledge really be automated? And is it worth it?

In order to bring the expected benefits and to ensure that
there are no delays in the implementation of SESAR(Single European Sky ATM Research), researchresources need to be applied to the exploration of novel,
unconventional and high risk areas, involving newtechnologies, concepts or ideas. However, the need todeliver a system on-time and on-budget, constrains thepossibility of the SESAR projects to invest in high-risk,
novel or unconventional areas. The SESAR WP-E
Research Networks will foster the application of existing
methodologies and techniques in new ways, potentiallyapplying scientific disciplines that have not previously
been brought to bear in air traffic domains. HALA! will
provide a flexible environment in which ideas on
Automation in Air Traffic Management (ATM) will flowusing a common approach and removing most of theconstraints on the research carried out in SESAR.

In HALA! We believe that effective automation cancreate a step change and thereby enabling us to achieveeven more ambitious goals beyond those encapsulated by
SESAR.

The organizations participating in HALA! cover all theknowledge areas related to automation and their experts
collaborate actively with SESAR. As Innovation is a main
objective of HALA!, Doctoral (PhD) level research,
involving the participation of leading universities incollaboration with each other, and the ATM industry, arethe heart of HALA! In addition to the traditional
university supervision, PhD researchers are guided byorganizations that represent the ATM industry in orderthat the knowledge that is developed can be most

HALA! (Higher Automation Levels in Automation) is a
Research Network which was initiated in September 2010,
inspired and underpinned by effective collaboration,
innovation, transparency, flexibility and efficiency as
required to successfully deliver the objectives of SESAR
WP-E. The main human resource is knowledge and its
efficient use lies on automation.
HALA! means in Spanish “Go on! Get moving!”

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F. Sáez, E. García, D. Schaefer•

efficiently translated into effective tools. Finally the
HALA! participants have a long proven experience on
collaborating in complex projects and provide HALA!
with the necessary skills and experience to achieve thechallenge of automation.
Gather research andinnovation in automationin ATM under a common
research network

HALA! has adopted these principles and will push themforward to ensure both coherence with the SESAR
programme, and at the same time favor innovation.

Better exploit the
research potential.

4. WP-E: THE NEED FOR INNOVATIVE AND
LONG-TERM RESEARCH

Promote theBest Research in
Automation in ATM
Offer better framework
conditions for ATM
research

The scope of Workpackage E may broadly be stated as“covering ATM / CNS and related aeronautics research
activities not currently addressed by the other work
packages of the SESAR work programme” (WP-E
Thematic Programme).

Create closer integrationand organisation of theresearch and technology
arenas.

Although the SESAR ATM Master Plan itself“constitutes the basis for establishing the SESAR Joint
Undertaking's work programme and the development
phase of the SESAR project” (EC COM(2008) 750); its
coverage is not exhaustive. It has been broadly
recognized that more R&D effort is required to prove that
all aspects of the Target Concept can deliver the expected
benefits and resolve the identified open items. There areissues requiring research and innovation which are notcurrently covered by the programmed SESAR activities.
In particular there is a need and also an opportunity forcomplementary innovative and long-term research.

Figure 1. HALA! Organizations Distribution

3. SESAR AUTOMATION STRATEGYThe SESAR capacity and safety objectives are to beachieved by a significant enhancement of integrated
automation support with the Human operators remaining
at the core of the system. To ensure overall performanceof the net-centric and information-shared ATM network,
the following widely recognized high-level automation
principles will guide the development:•

Automate only to improve overall system and humanperformance, and not just because the technology isavailable;•

The overall impact of automation and allocation offunctions shall be systematically determined before
implementation, to avoid unintended results such asadditional complexity, loss of appropriate situationalawareness, too high or too low workload or potential
for error;•

A balance shall be obtained between the efficiency
created by automation and the need for the human tobe able to recover from non-nominal and/or degradedmode of operations (automation failure strategy);•

Place the human in command. The human shall be
the automation manager and not the automation
monitor, i.e. automation shall assist humans to carryout their tasks safely, efficiently and effectively;•

Automation should be error resistant and error
tolerant;•

Involve users from the system design phase to ensure
improvement of overall system performance and tofoster trust and confidence by the human in theautomation.

Maximize overall system performance throughincreasing the utility of tools while mitigating humanerrors..

This additional research will include research into
concepts for implementation beyond the nominal SESAR
timeframe of 2020 and also complementary research andbeneficial innovation to the current SESAR working
programme•Long-term research needed for addressing
applications to become operational beyond thecurrent SESAR 2020 timeframe. In this respect work
may build on the concept and may be somewhat
more detached and futuristic.

•

Innovation needed for identifying and investigating
topics that might bring new approaches and solutions,or needed to identify and propose research activities
not currently planned within the ‘mainstream’
SESAR development work packages.

In particular HALA! Research Network will explore
unconventional and traditional ATM areas alike,involving new technologies and concepts around thetheme “Towards higher levels of automation”.
5. THE RESEARCH THEMESSESAR is a global (end-to-end) project involving thewhole air transport system. Navigation, ATM and airports
will work as part of the same network towards the future.
SESAR materializes the needed increases in capacity and206

ENRI Int. Workshop on ATM/CNS. Tokyo, Japan. (EIWAC 2010)
the development of innovative techniques andtechnologies involving most relevant scientific fields. To
achieve these goals four thematic research areas havebeen defined to provide focus to research in WP-E:

implications, especially those derived from the new roles
and responsibilities of pilots and ATCos in ATM imposedby higher levels of automation. In addition, automation isoften based on new modes of sharing sensitive
information, which must be protected. The need to protect
sensitive data is an issue that cuts across all aspects ofATM’s activities.

1. Towards Higher Levels of Automation in ATM;(HALA!)
2. Mastering Complex Systems Safely;

5.2 Mastering complex system safely

3. Economics and Performance.

This research theme focuses on air traffic management asa system of systems, with the objective of characterizing
the sources and consequences of its complexity andemergent properties, especially those related to safety.
This will provide valuable insight into the system-wide
impacts of change that are today not well mastered.
Using this new ‘science’, complex phenomena in thefields of economics, social sciences, and biology andcommunication technologies have been tackled
successfully over the last decade or so. The complexity of
the air traffic management system, and of the interactionsof its subsystems, is undeniable, so the ambition of thistheme is to explore the potential of applying these rapidly
maturing mathematical analyses and modeling tools to the
ATM domain.

4. Legal Aspects of Paradigm Shift;
Research Networks will gradually be set up around eachof the four research areas; the first two Research
Networks have recently been established•

HALA! covering ‘Towards higher levels of
automation in ATM’ and•ComplexWorld focusing on ‘Mastering complex
systems safely

A call for network proposals concerning the theme‘Economic and Performance’ is open at the time ofwriting this article.
5.1 Toward higher levels of automation
This research theme covers legal issues that may
accompany paradigm shift in the future ATM context.
This includes aspects such as certification, liability,competition and intellectual property rights, at levels
ranging from institutional down to detailed operations.
Emphasis will be on the changes brought by future ATM
paradigms, including the system as currently proposed by
SESAR.

5.3 Economic and performanceThis research theme is concerned with long-term
economic and performance issues associated with the
ATM system as foreseen in the SESAR concept andbeyond. It is expected both to apply traditional methods
and to develop innovative approaches. In particular it will
examine how economic factors and performancerequirements drive new developments in the ATM system.

The ATM system has evolved at a remarkably slow pace
and today is still based on paradigms and technology thathave not fundamentally changed for decades. There areundoubtedly a number of valid reasons for this, but
significant progress in ATM will not be possible without
a much bolder vision that, in particular, allows
significantly increased levels of automation.
The Research Network “Towards Higher Levels ofAutomation in ATM” is probably the network mostconnected to the other three research themes of the firstcall for WP-E Research Networks in the framework of the
SESAR Work Programme.

The evolution of the ATM system as foreseen in SESAR
will lead to significant changes that will impact economic
and performance issues. Studies by the PRU [PRU] andothers have produced detailed work that provides
significant insights into the true costs and performance ofthe current system. This theme seeks to build on thistraditional analysis with new approaches that can
influence the future.
The deficiencies and problems inherent in the complex
world of ATM have been known for a long time and are
well documented. The situation however is one in whichchange is slow and innovation limited. There is a need toinvestigate alternatives to the ’business as usual’ and how
to implement them considering economic andtechnological aspects of the system, as well as cost andbenefit issues and the possibilities for new businessmodels. Participants in this research theme are expected
to stimulate debate and research proposals on alternative
ways of meeting the longer term challenges.

Firstly, Automation is strongly related to complexity andsafety. One of the objectives of process automation is toimprove the safety of ATM operations. As the role of thehuman in ATM provides too many opportunities for error,
process automation should be designed to decrease therisk of accidents caused by human error. However, recent
incidents/accidents statistics have shown that while theeffect of human error largely remained constant, newproblems involving automation complexity are increasing.
Furthermore, automation has very important legal

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F. Sáez, E. García, D. Schaefer
order to achieve a fair trade-off between the business
preferences of the individual users and the constraints thatneed to be in force. The implementation of TBO will
require the human actors in the ATM system to rely on
advanced decision-support tools (DSTs) that will assist
them in the execution of Trajectory Management (TM).
TM is the process at the core of TBO by which theBusiness/Mission Trajectory of the aircraft is established,agreed, updated and revised through CDM processes
involving aircraft operator, ATM service providers andAirports (where applicable), except in time-criticalsituations when only flight crew and controller are
involved. HALA! will both envisage and discuss theinnovative improvement of DST for the controllers aswell as the aspect of full automation of parts of the ATM
system (e.g. particular en-route sectors).

5.4 Legal aspects of paradigm shift
This research theme covers legal issues that may
accompany paradigm shift in the future ATM context.
This includes aspects such as certification, liability,competition and intellectual property rights, at levels
ranging from institutional down to detailed operations.
Emphasis will be on the changes brought by future ATM
paradigms, including the system as currently proposed by
SESAR.
These networks are founded on the spirit of cooperation.
Network research activities are designed to support
SESAR on its development process. The complex andautomated scenario designed by SESAR will require theknowledge and experience to link navigation witheconomic and legal fields. The four research networks areready to provide expertise and specialized knowledge
beyond 2020. Even though at this moment is difficult toestablish formal connections with the other Research
Networks, HALA! envisions full coordination with theother three Research Networks.

TM controls the adjustment of the Business/Mission
Trajectories of individual aircraft within a flow to provide
efficiency (in view of time and fuel costs for the airspace
users as well as environmental sustainability), manage
complexity and ensure adherence to safety criteria byresolving potential conflict situations. TM will be enabled
by information exchange through SWIM (System-Wide
Information Management) and will be implemented as arolling process from the planning phase through to the
execution phase. Major challenge in this context arises
from the massive amount of data that has to be consideredby an integrated optimization function consisting of thementioned criteria and others. Automated systems may
have to be developed in an incremental way. HALA! willcontribute with innovative ideas to stepwise increase thenumber of optimizations criteria to be considered within
the according automated processes without neglecting theprinciple of transparency and equity.

6. HALA! RESEARCH NETWORKThe SESAR Concept of Operations requires a paradigm
shift from a fragmented system with only few strategicplanning functions and heavily reliant on tacticalcontroller intervention to an integrated one based oncollaborative strategic management of Business/Mission
Trajectories. In the future European ATM system to bebrought about by SESAR, the Business/Mission trajectory
becomes the centerpiece of a new set of operatingprocedures collectively referred to as Trajectory-BasedOperations (TBO). While some of the enablers to
implement TBO (e.g. better data sharing through SWIM,
improved ground based trajectory prediction) seems to befeasible within the SESAR timeframe until 2020, further
steps are desired to achieve the maximum benefit oftrajectories close to the optimum as aspired by theairspace users and with regard to social needs (such asenvironmental sustainability). The HALA! Research
Network aims to contribute to these activities by both
discussing the current developments in the framework of
SESAR in view of short- and medium-term
recommendations for improvements as well as an “out ofthe-box” thinking to add innovative ideas on a long-termbasis.

Those future DSTs tools that will participate in the TM
activities must rely on Trajectory Predictors (TPs) thatcan generate reliable trajectories that fulfill therequirements of the specific client application they serve.
In principle, different applications will demand different
capabilities from their underlying TPs. Therefore, thefuture (fully) automated ATM system will require highlevels of integration and synchronization among all thedifferent TP users, which can range from sophisticated
DSTs for arrival management, flight planning or conflict
detection and resolution to Unmanned Aircraft Systems(UAS) for cargo applications. The seamless integration of
the different ATM users and providers beyond SESAR
deployment phase (2020) will require a deep
understanding of the fundamentals of trajectory
prediction and management (in particular the principles
and cost functions of flight planning and execution), thedesign of sophisticated DSTs tools for future
requirements, new users and for higher levels of
automation, a paradigm shift in the approach to ATM

Thereby is understood and also key aspect of the network
activities that TBO promote the involvement of Flight
Operations Centers (FOCs), ATM service providers andthe aircraft in the management of air traffic throughCollaborative Decision-Making (CDM) processes, in

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ENRI Int. Workshop on ATM/CNS. Tokyo, Japan. (EIWAC 2010)services and the development of new operational concepts
and automations to accommodate new airspace users,
such as UASs. HALA! will approach these challenges by
the elaboration and discussion of sound methodologies inorder to enable the assessment of SESAR developmentswith particular view onto the compliance with the set
requirements of the different stakeholders in the ATM
system.

integration and intensive use of Advanced DSTs for the
deployment of the appropriate ATM services.
7.5 Objective 5: UAS in Controlled Airspace
This objective consists of defining, prototyping andvalidating a futuristic operational concept that considers
the integration of UAS in a managed airspace under TBO.
Operating within such airspace will most likely imply
certain surveillance, communications and trajectorysynchronization requirements to be fulfilled by theaircraft (both manned and unmanned), as well as certain
required ATC automation capabilities (for example, toconduct centralized de-confliction). The UASs would beequipped with simulated Sense and Avoid capabilities
that may or may not be based on the surveillance andtrajectory exchange mechanisms required for operating
within TBO airspace. The research in this field will takein consideration the research done in Advanced DSTs andATM services conducted before.

7. RESEARCH TOPICS
The main research teams of HALA! will be described indepth in the White Paper document of the Research
Network. The following sections summarize the initialresearch areas of HALA!:
7.1 Objective 1: 4D trajectory Management
This objective consists of defining, prototyping andvalidating a common Trajectory Management andPrediction framework that covers the entire
Business/Mission Trajectory lifecycle and takes into
account all stakeholders involved (FOC, aircraft, ATM
service providers, airports). This common TrajectoryManagement framework would need to be defined inclose coordination with at least the SESAR Work
Packages and should cover the transition path from therequirements imposed by SESAR to a full automated
ATM system.

8. DESCRIPTION OF THE CO-COORDINATOR,MEMBERS AND PARTICIPANTS
HALA! Research Network is currently compound of
thirteen Members1 and near fifty Participants2 spread overall Europe. In fact, HALA! Partners belong to seventeen
different countries giving the Research Network total
geographic coverage and wide Research andDevelopment Capability. This way, most important
Countries in the Automation, Communications and
ATM/CNS fields are taking part in the Research Network.

7.2 Objective 2: New Roles Assignment
Capacity increase required by future air transport needs
can not only be provide by the reduction in controller
work load. New roles for managing aircraft trajectories,
separation provision and trajectory de-confliction needs
to be articulated.

HALA! is willing to accept new participants from all over
the world, which can take full advantage of the benefits of
the Research Network.

Identification and definition of new roles in the aircraft
trajectories management is one of the clues for an
efficient future ATM. Nevertheless, those new roles aretoday a matter of conceptual proposals.

There are three different kinds of organizations:

7.3 Objective 3: Advances Decision Support Tools
This objective consists of defining, prototyping andvalidating advanced Decision Support Tools (DST) for
airborne and ground systems that could support all thelevels of automation envisaged in SESAR WP-E. These
Advanced DSTs will need to rely in sophisticatedtrajectory-based applications that will make intensive useof the research done in Trajectory Prediction andManagement within the Research Network

R&D Centers: They will provide means to carryout the research activities as well as expertise in theseveral fields of study.

Universities: They are a key part of the Network,
they will supply new PhD holders, and a variety and awealth source of knowledge.

Companies: They are the link with the industry
and will provide information to the network about the realneeds of the aeronautical community.
All of them are extremely important for getting a strong
structure of the Network and crucial for boosting research

7.4 Objective 4: Network Centric ATM Services
This objective consists of defining, prototyping andvalidating a new operational concept in where different
ATM services are centralized. This approach would
permit a high level of maintainability and reliability of thedifferent ATM services that the different ATM users
would require. This operational concept will require the209

1Members are defined as those legal entities who formally
acceded to the Contract and have the responsibility to manage
the Network

2

Participants are interested entities willing to share theirknowledge and expertise about the theme studied by the
Research Network

F. Sáez, E. García, D. Schaefer
activities and creating new knowledge in Automation
Field. Figure 2 shows the proportion by type of theresearch Network. Nearly fifty percent of the partners are
Universities giving the HALA! Research Network a highlevel of Research capability also holds by the R&D
Centers (20%). The Majority of the Participants andMembers are explicitly engaged to R&D (Universities
and R&D Centers) but a thirty one percent of Companies
give the consortium a complete representation of theEuropean ATM Industry.

The Science Collaborative Platform provides an optimal
flow and use of the information. The main goal is
supporting the Automation Research Network with
communication and collaborative as well as Data storage
tools for the involved stakeholders (Members,
Participants, EUROCONTROL and SESAR JU) in anorderly and accessible way.
The
Platform
enables
Members,
Participants,
EUROCONTROL and SESAR JU to interact in a cyclic,
collaborative process which will lead to the elaboration ofknowledge for and from workshops, white papers andother activities performed within the Research Network.
The outputs may become into inputs feeding again theplatform by fostering new collaborative activities orcreating new dissemination materials. This way,knowledge and expertise relevant to ATM Automation
will be progressively built.

Companies(24%)
Research
Centres(20%)

Universities(56%)

Scientific Collaborative Platform Process is shown in
Figure 3. The figure presents the main actors involved in
the process (Members, Participants, EUROCONTROLand SESAR JU); inputs and outputs; and three blocks
representing the services provided by the platform
Dissemination tools, Pollenizer Data and Collaborative
tools.

Figure 2. HALA! Organizations Distribution

Four of the Participants: Indra, Thales, Airbus andHoneywell are Members of SESAR JU giving the
Research Network the necessary awareness of SESAR
state and needs and enabling the coordination between
SESAR and HALA! activities.
HALA! is coordinated by the Air Navigation Researchand Development Group (GINA) of the Universidad
Politécnica of Madrid (UPM).
GINA-UPM is backed by some of the best European
Universities in ATM R&D: Imperial College London,
KTH, TU Braunschweig and TU Dresden.
The group of members is completed by:•

Research centers: CRIDA, IRIT, NLR. Some of themare participated by universities (CRIDA by UPM) or
collaborate with them (NLR collaborating with TU
Delft),•

Aeronautical companies: Boeing R&TE, Deep Blue,
EADS, and GMV SKY.

Figure 3 Scientific Collaborative Platform Process.

The result is a very competent team whose efforts are
aimed towards the research activities in Automation andthe collaboration with SESAR.

9.1 DISSEMINATION EVENTS
The main events of HALA! Network will be:•

9. SCIENTIFIC COLLABORATIVE PLATFORM
FOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
Pollenizer is a communication platform that has been
select to support the HALA! Research Network. It has
been selected to achieve the previously defined objectives
on the principles of transparency, collaboration andeffective use of resources, to facilitate growing together
towards a Higher Automation Level in ATM.

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Yearly conferences will complement the Pollenizer
internet-based interaction through vital (i.e. more
immediate and iterative hence much more effective)
personal contacts and exchanges. The goals of yearly
conferences are to disseminate information andexperience on automation research in ATM processes,
to contribute to education of a new generation of
PhDs students and researchers in the field of

ENRI Int. Workshop on ATM/CNS. Tokyo, Japan. (EIWAC 2010)
automation research and to future issues andstrategies for SESAR and beyond SESAR. Apartfrom being a specific forum of HALA! members andparticipants, yearly conferences will also constitute a
more general meeting place and discussion forum,
open for guests from, outside the network as well.
The first HALA’s conference will be held inBarcelona in May 2011.
•

HALA! network will organize a yearly joint
conference with all the networks of WP-E towards
the end of the year in order to cross-fertilize theresearch by feedback from respective disciplines andexplore overlapping areas. The goal of these joint
conferences is to present the progress of each
network. These events will also increase SESAR
spirit of cooperation. In 2010 a joint workshop with
ComplexWorld will be organized at the Innovative
Research Workshop and Exhibition (INO) at the
EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre.

The HALA! Network will also organize a 1-week
Summer school orientated towards PhD candidates andresearchers around a variety of automation topics ranging
from the technical to the human as well as the integration
between both and tailored towards the SESAR 2020
vision. The invitations will be sent to members,
participants and the broader ATM/industrial/academic
community.
The courses will be a unique opportunity to learn andshare experiences and knowledge with experts ofrecognized prestige in their area of activity.
The first year these courses will be organized by the UPM
as part of their summer courses that are held every July in
La Granja de San Ildefonso (Segovia).
10. REFERENCES[1] www.hala-sesar.net[2] http://www.sesarju.eu/programme/workpackages/wp
e[3] SESAR Definition Phase deliverable D3: The ATM
Target Concept[4] SESAR Definition Phase deliverable D4: The ATM
Deployment Sequence:[5] SESAR Definition Phase deliverable D5: The ATM
Master Plan:[6] SESAR Joint Undertaking Description of Work
The
above
documents
http://www.sesarju.eu/

areavailable

at[7] EU Lisbon strategy:
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/do
cs/pressdata/en/ec/00100-r1.en0.htm

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