The SESAR 3 JU has identified the following innovative research elements that could be used to meet the challenge described above and achieve the expected outcomes.

• Increased automation in core En-Route/TMA ATC functions. The objective of this research element is to develop core functions of en-route/TMA ATC centres aiming at automation levels 4 / 5 (as per the ATM Master Plan).
• Sector-less ATM. This research element aims at developing a sector-less concept, which considers all the entire upper airspace of the ECAC states as one single airspace and therefore, foresees the elimination of existing country boundaries and all sector boundaries within them.
• Evolution of flight-rule concepts, separation management service concepts and airspace classification. Research should cover, individually and collectively, the role of the separator and the mode of separation provision; the need for and possible updates to or renewal of the airspace classification system; the definition and potential renewal of flight rules for manned and unmanned aircraft systems; and a potential review/qualification of the need for visual flight rules (VFR) flights to remain in visual meteorological conditions, including the need to remain clear of cloud, given the existence of advanced electronic systems that replace and/or augment the performance of the human eye.
• Use of advanced meteorological information and capabilities – This research covers the needs to:
  • incorporate ensemble weather information into decision support tools that can be adapted for different ATM stakeholders;
  • produce very high-resolution, very short-range weather forecasts using numerical weather prediction models and observational data assimilation;
  • share very short-range weather forecasts based on Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay and observational data assimilation (e.g., predicted wind, wind shear) during the approach and landing phases, Mode-S EHS, new possibilities emerging form ADS-C, etc.

• Ionosphere gradients monitoring and Space Weather Forecast. This element covers monitoring and forecasting of ionospheric conditions to enhance GNSS positioning and improve the availability of augmentation systems (GBAS, SBAS) used in aviation.
• Traffic allocation to arbitrary flight levels. This research aims at enabling aircraft to fly at any arbitrary flight level, as optimised by aircraft performance, weight and atmospheric conditions. Even/odd cruise level assignment should be based on traffic supply, rather than on the semi-circular rule (also known as the hemispheric rule).
• Evolution of separation minima. The scope of the research includes investigating advanced modes of separation (e.g. dynamic separation) based on predictive modelling and ML techniques and enabled by further automation and improved connectivity.
• Adaptation of ground and airborne safety nets to new separation modes. This element covers advanced separation management that will require close conformance monitoring of the negotiated and authorised flight trajectories throughout the execution phase, so that operations are not disturbed by unnecessary resolution advisories, in particular if lower separation minima are introduced/considered.
• Space-based multilateration.
• Use of dedicated 5G network for complex low altitude operations. Research addresses the potential use of a dedicated 5G network customized for complex low altitude operations (e.g., airports and their terminal areas, vertiports, logistic hubs, highly populated urban areas) supporting CNS requirements of safety critical applications. The potential solutions may be applicable to U-space, airports, vertiports, uncontrolled & controlled airspace with complex UAS and UAM operations.
• Potential use cases and applications of LDACS for other airspace users (e.g., GA, U-space, Innovative Air Mobility). The objective is to research the potential application of LDACS datalink / voice infrastructure (delivered at TRL6 for schedule / business aircraft in industrial research) focused on other airspace users e.g., GA, U-space, etc.
• Alternate surveillance (A-SUR). Alternate surveillance builds on the idea that the position known by an aircraft through whatever means (e.g., GNSS, DME, VOR, NDB, INS, LDACS A-PNT, etc.) can be downlinked through whatever datalink is available (e.g., SATCOM, LDACS, VDLM2, Hyperconnected 4G/5G/LTE, Mode S, ADS-B, etc.) to be used as back up for surveillance.

Technical enablers, expected performances and architectures to include this data in the surveillance chain should be analysed. In addition, cost analysis for different alternatives for A-SUR should be part of the research (R&I need: enabling the deployment of a performance-based CNS service offer).

• Trajectory advisories. Research aims at developing automated applications that could provide trajectory advice (including uncertainty considerations and improved weather forecasts) to ATCOs either for human confirmation or for automatic implementation.
• Innovative applications for improving traffic synchronization. Research aims at developing innovative applications for queue management in ATM, thus optimising airport and TMA throughput and reducing the environmental impact of ATM.
• Automated provision of optimised trajectories during airport ground operations for all aircraft, vehicle drivers and tugs. This research addresses different optimization criteria e.g., delays, environmental impact, etc. for all aircraft, vehicle drivers and tugs during airport ground operations. The proposed solution should aim at providing optimised trajectories before the execution of taxiing operations, monitoring the executing of these operations, and re-planning when deviations from the initial plans are detected.
• Improved aircraft protection on the airport surface. Research focuses on the development of advanced capabilities to support the flight crew to protect the airframe and decrease collision risk with nearby mobiles or fixed obstacles when moving on the airport surface (e.g., thanks to radar system generating alerts when the aircraft is getting close to mobiles/obstacles).
• AOP and performance monitoring for a group of airports. Research address the development of a single AOP to address the needs of a group of airports with similar operational needs that are too small to have their own AOP.
• ATCO stress and fatigue risk assessment and ATCO resilience. An increased level of ATCO productivity will make it possible to manage traffic growth with the current level of resources, thus improving cost efficiency. However, stress and fatigue are physiological responses that have negative effect on ATCO performance and hence on safety. Research on solutions to predict and monitor these negative effects not only in actual environments, but also in future highly automated environments are crucial to identify corrective measures such as adaptive automation.