ATM Modernization

Eurocontrol’s Database Can Help Prep for PBN Deployment

By S.L. Fuller | October 17, 2017
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Eurocontrol said that its communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) dashboard already has 244 users. Since its public release in April, it has gained 84 air navigation service providers, 12 airports, 17 operators and 19 authorities.

The dashboard provides reports and statistics on flights and aircraft with certain declared capabilities, Eurocontrol said. It analyzes the CNS and performance-based navigation (PBN) information in the ICAO flight plans submitted to the network manager. Eurocontrol said that the dashboard may not always be accurate and complete, but it can be a source of useful information for the monitoring of fleet capabilities and preparation of PBN deployment plans. And because the dashboard interfaces with Eurocontrol’s aircraft fleet database, Prisme Fleet 2, it can generate both aircraft and flight reports.

With the dashboard, users can see the number of flights or aircraft with a particular CNS capability, including global navigation satellite system, without having in-depth knowledge of the databases’ structure or advanced software skills for querying the databases, Eurocontrol said. It can also provide an aggregated view of traffic characteristics.

The dashboard is available through the Eurocontrol OneSky Online extranet. It will also become accessible through the ePBN Portal, which is currently under development.

By the end of 2017, the dashboard could be integrated with new features. This could include periodic automatic reports, extra filters (country of registration and user segmentation) and additional statistics for air navigation service providers and airports. Future releases would also have improvements in the quality of the data by correlating it with sources of information other than flight plans.

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