Global partners deliver digitised and connected aviation

Aviation is going digital as demonstrated by SESAR and more than 40 organisations from around the globe. Together they showed are how seamless and connected aviation information exchange is possible across world regions, thanks to the system-wide information management (SWIM) framework. Organised by the SESAR Joint Undertaking (SESAR JU) and hosted by ENAV, the global demonstration conducted live demos and showcased examples of SWIM business solutions already in operation and the benefits they are delivering.

Better and more accurate information data exchange is critical for delivering high performing air traffic management and aviation worldwide. SWIM is a key enabler in this endeavour, establishing the framework to allow seamless digital information sharing between the right stakeholders at the right time, no matter where they are located in the world. SESAR and other world regions are developing their respective SWIM frameworks in accordance with the SWIM ICAO Concept Manual, which ensures that regional SWIM solutions are globally interoperable.
 
Taking place on 8 and 9 June in ENAV’s Prototype Systems Center Rome ACC, the SESAR SWIM Global Demonstration brought together more than 150 visitors to see first-hand more than 40 organisations from across world regions, besides many partners from all across Europe, including United States, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Mongolia and Brazil.  During a series of joint interoperability demos, these partners showed the technical feasibility of connecting different local implementations of SWIM, exchanging information in areas such as aeronautical, meteorological, and flight and network information through globally common SWIM standards.
 
A series of panel discussions as well as a showcase of SWIM business solutions already in operation, illustrated the benefits that SWIM is delivering to ATM and aviation in terms of increased digitisation and connectivity between systems, improved ATM operations and increased cost-effectiveness. In Europe, steps are being taken to deploy initial SWIM (iSWIM) across Europe by 2025. Its deployment will see the provision of digital information services for flight planning, weather updates, traffic flow, surveillance, among other areas. These digital services will increase the accuracy, speed and delivery of information, thereby improving the connectivity and performance of aviation worldwide.
 
“The 2016 SESAR SWIM Global Demo shows that system-wide information management (SWIM) is no longer a concept on paper, but is progressively becoming a reality that will propel aviation into a new era of global connectivity. Thanks to the global cooperation demonstrated through this event as well as those organised with the framework of ICAO and the FAA, we can together deliver the performance necessary to meet the growing demand for air transport from a worldwide perspective,” said Florian Guillermet, Executive Director, SESAR Joint Undertaking.

“I would like to commend both the SESAR Joint Undertaking and the Federal Aviation Administration for organising these significant aviation initiatives. This SESAR demonstration and showcase builds on common industry standards designed to allow for seamless coordination across FIR, state and regional boundaries as well as enhanced system interoperability. These efforts are necessary for aviation optimisation as they show the potential benefit of ICAO’s ASBUs, offer lessons learned to support ICAO member states, and reinforce the fact that technologies such as SWIM have arrived and are already accessible to all states and the aviation industry,” said  Stephen Creamer, Director, Air Navigation Bureau, ICAO
 
 “Aviation experts forecast that global passengers will exceed 7 billion in the year 2034.   In order to optimise for such volume, we will rely heavily on information exchange and coordination across our borders.  The Global SWIM Demonstration and the FAA Mini Global Demonstration showcase ICAO’s strategic vision of a globally-connected, seamless air traffic management system. I laud our colleagues in the SESAR Joint Undertaking for their role in successfully demonstrating harmonized information exchange and technical interoperability.  This is a major milestone that we all take pride in,” said James T. Eck, Assistant Administrator for NextGen, Federal Aviation Administration
 
“Today SESAR represents a full lifecycle, from definition and development to now deployment. Bridging these phases is key to avoid silos between the lifecycle phases and these demonstrations are perfect examples how we can ensure that the right conditions are met to allow stakeholders to implement and deploy SESAR. This event clearly demonstrates the value of SWIM not only as a key enabler but too a large extent also the basis for enabling operational improvements for today but also for the coming years,” said Massimo Garbini, Managing Director, SESAR Deployment Manager.