PAGE CONTENTS
Objectives
The overall objective of the HEO for ATM Study is the analysis of satellite communications system options focused on the provisioning of Air Traffic Communication services (ATS/AOC) dedicated mainly to helicopter and small aircraft traffic on the north and polar routes for the following flight categories:
- Scheduled Flights
- Non Scheduled flights
The study aims at defining a reference system architecture and preliminary system design, in order to accomplish the requirements pertaining to the HEO S-ATM Communication service over the polar area (including north of ECAC) and define the reference system configuration for the Business Case activities. The project established a permanent link with the activities carried out in the frame of ESA IRIS project mainly concerning the communication protocol design.
HEO for ATM Study Work Activity is divided in two themes: System Definition and Business Analysis.
A coverage analysis was performed comparing the performance achievable between Molnyia and Tundra Constellation options.
The Study also includes the Integration between the GEO System and HEO System, referring to the current IRIS project in order to harmonise the relevant Interfaces from the functional and operating points of view.
The Project will carry out a business case for the provision of services in order to propose a solution which best meets the user requirements.
Challenges
The HEO satellite system will be designed to respond to the challenging requirements imposed by the provision of safety of life service over the polar region and North of Europe, supporting the Geo system in the overlapping coverage area. At the same time the system shall provide a highly reliable communication service minimizing the cost of the AES (Aeronautical Earth Station) equipment for both operational procedures and service provision.
Plan
The Project Milestones are the following:
| KOM (Kick-Off Meeting) | T0 |
| PM 1 – First Progress meeting | T0+1.5 months |
| PM 2 – Second Progress Meeting | T0+3.5 months |
| FP – Final presentation | T0+7 months |
Current Status
The PM 2 has been performed.
HEO for ATM System definition activity has been completed.
The Business Case analysis with the Roadmap is currently ongoing.
The following results have been reached:
- User Requirements were identified,
- Channel Propagation model was delivered,
- A HEO satellite system has been defined comprising Ground and Space Segment and User terminal architecture,
- Different payloads sizing have been proposed based on different carrier allocation proposed by ESA according to the User requirements identification.,
- The Ground control Segment architecture has been proposed,
- A service Provision model was defined.