Digital flight rules

To significantly advance the following development priority:

• FR-2 Digital flight rules.

The following aspects are in scope:

• Evolution of ICAO Annex II (Rules of the Air):

This concept builds on previous SESAR research for the integration of IFR RPAS integration in airspace A-G, where the ICAO Annex II responsibility to exercise on-board vigilance to avoid collisions is fulfilled by using CDTI traffic information instead of the traditional out-the-window vigilance used by crewed aircraft. The objective is to analyse how previous research performed in SESAR 2020 PJ.13, PJ.13-W2 and ongoing project IRINA and provide foundational conceptual work to support the development and validation of a new flight rules concept (“digital flight rules”) to complement VFR and IFR, to be applied in environments where all aircraft are equipped with cooperative surveillance.

The new rules should be applicable to certified aircraft, crewed or uncrewed, as a complement IFR and VFR to allow the use a certified on-board system to perform:

• The equivalent of the out-the-window vigilance required for all aircraft by Annex II, similar to what has been proposed by previous SESAR research for IFR RPAS, but now applicable to equipped crewed and uncrewed aircraft, VFR or IFR.
• The manoeuvres required to remain well clear as per the right-of-way rules in Annex II that IFR and VFR pilots do in current operations when flying in an airspace where ATC does not provide a separation (i.e., in airspace C to G for VFR aircraft and airspace F and G for IFR aircraft)^[1].

It is anticipated that digital flight rules will initially be applied only in a cooperative environment; the research should perform an initial analysis on whether in some cases on-board sensors for the detection of non-cooperative traffic may be required to support the safety case (e.g., this might be a requirement for uncrewed aircraft).

Digital flight rules should be compatible with both VFR and IFR and should provide support to crews that need to manoeuvre in accordance with the Annex II right-of-way rules (e.g., with a remain-well-clear system providing guidance for horizontal manoeuvring as per ED-271). Aircraft flying with digital flight rules would not have to maintain visual meteorological conditions (e.g., minimum visibility, distance from clouds, etc.). The research should describe the full operational concept and analyse how ICAO Annex II (rules of the air) and annex XI (ATS services, including flight planning aspects and appendix 4 – airspace classification) would need to evolve to allow this new concept. The research should also perform an initial assessment of the human performance aspects for both on-board pilots and remote pilots.

• Evolution of the overall ICAO framework to support a highly automated ATM environment

The objective is to analyse the potential need for evolution other ICAO Annexes and documents (e.g., Annex 11 (Air Traffic Services), PANS OPS (doc. 8168), PANS ATM (Doc. 4444), Manual on ATCO competency-based training and assessment (Doc 10056), airworthiness and certification material, Annex 10 “aeronautical communications”, ICAO doc. 9771 "Manual on Collaborative Air Traffic Flow Management”, etc.) to allow the implementation of the highly automated vision put forward by the European ATM Master Plan at a global level. The research should consider the potential impact of the evolution of the role of the human operator in the ATM system required to achieve the MP vision. Analysing the changes to the ICAO documentation that might be required to cover the possibility that the functions that are allocated to the controller in the current text be performed by a certified ATC ground system instead of by the human operator, considering, for example CPDLC being handled on the ground side by the ATC system instead of the human operator, automatic delivery of ATC clearances by the ATC ground system without prior validation by a human operator, the move from voice to CPDLC as primary means of communication, etc.

[1] Note that in airspace D and E, IFR aircraft must follow their IFR ATC clearance, which provides separation from all aircraft (VFR or IFR) in class A-C, and from IFR aircraft in class D and E. In airspace D and E, VFR aircraft are not subject to ATC clearance, while IFR aircraft are subject to ATC clearance and the clearance provides separation from other IFR aircraft but not with VFR aircraft.