Dynamic Airspace Re-configuration for Tactical Drone Mission Changes

Abstract

Dynamic Airspace Re-configuration (DAR) has been identified within the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) Programme as one of the enablers for a more efficient and dynamic use of airspace volumes that are shared between unmanned and manned traffic domains. Within the ENSURE project of the SESAR 3 Industrial Research Programme, the Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR) investigated different use cases for state actors, such as the Royal Navy, who intend to make use of airspace volumes in close vicinity of the approach operations of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol for carrying out various sovereign tasks, e.g. for asset protection, emergency services and disaster relief operations. DAR procedures and software tooling for airspace managers and air traffic controllers were validated in human-in-the-loop real-time simulations on the NLR ATC Research Simulator (NARSIM). Results of human performance testing provide confidence that only minor refinements are needed before flight tests are carried out.