Egis selected by EUROCONTROL to provide support to CASCADE safety-related activities

The EUROCONTROL CASCADE programme is aimed at planning and co-ordinating the European implementation of ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast). This technique relies on aircraft automatically broadcasting their identity, position and other aircraft information to enhance flight safety and efficiency.

The CASCADE programme covers a number of ADS-B ground and airborne surveillance applications which are now on the path towards implementation. For each proposed application, it must be demonstrated that it has the potential to be acceptably safe before the implementation phase. It is the purpose of the EUROCONTROL Preliminary Safety Case (PSC) to demonstrate the safety of each application in a typical operational environment, mainly based on safety studies focusing on risk assessment and mitigation.

This is a way to offer a common and uniform safety framework to facilitate the development at a later stage of full local safety cases across the ECAC area.

Therefore, it is primordial that the PSCs be officially reviewed by the Safety Regulation Committee (SRC), which responsibility encompasses the development and uniform implementation of harmonised safety regulatory objectives and requirements for the European Air Traffic Management (ATM).

In the frame of this programme, EUROCONTROL selected Egis to provide support to these CASCADE safety-related activities. An Egis Avia-led team will provide assistance during the review cycles performed with the SRC for each CASCADE application:

• ground-surveillance applications in radar areas (RAD) or on the airport surface (APT)
• and airborne surveillance applications for in-trail procedure (ITP), for visual separation on approach (VSA), for airborne traffic situational awareness (AIRB) and for traffic situational awareness on the surface (SURF).

Egis has already supported EUROCONTROL for the development of a first PSC for the ground-surveillance applications in non-radar areas (NRA) which had a positive SRC review in early 2009.

In a wider scope, Egis has been involved in many projects of the CASCADE programme over the recent years, especially in contributing to the development of Safety, Performance and Interoperability standard material for the ADS-B applications in the frame of the “ADS-B Requirements Focus Group” (RFG) operated as a joint EUROCAE and RTCA activity.

Through this new contract, EUROCONTROL is reaffirming its confidence in Egis in participating to the harmonisation, international standardisation and efficiency of implementation of ADS-B applications for all stakeholders across Europe.