The 4-Flight project progresses by leaps and bounds across 2012

The DSNA (direction des services de la navigation aérienne) the French air navigation service provider and Thales, world leader in air traffic management (ATM) solutions, are proud to announce their partnership to deliver the 4-Flight project continues its march to completion, having achieved a key 2012 milestone.

4-Flight is scheduled to be produced through the implementation of three “Building Blocks”; Initial, Intermediate and Operational. The Initial Build Block consists in gathering the main components together, whilst the intermediate Build Block consists in implementing the architecture and developing most of the functions, then finally the Operation Block is the final Build for Operational Use.

The Initial Build Block has been successfully demonstrated in November 2012, only 13 months after the initial signing of the contract. This extremely short timespan to demonstrate the effectiveness of the project, is testament to the hard work and commitment by both Thales and the DSNA. The intermediate Build Block will be delivered in 2014, in the two test-bed centres, ACC East (Reims) and ACC South-East (Aix-en-Provence). These centres will pave the way for the first operational step in these two centres, to be delivered by winter 2016-2017.

The demonstration yielded some interesting results:

• The new Flight Data Processing system, Coflight (Franco-Italian co-development with SELEX ES for DSNA, ENAV and skyguide ANSPs), is integrated with the new TopSky-ATC Controller HMI generation.
• Coflight is the new flight data processing system able to cope with the highest European Requirement Standards solution designed to meet SESAR objectives, offering scalability and reliability
• In addition, it includes a core prototype system developed to support workshops and experiments with ATCOs in order to get feedback on the next Build specifications for HMI interface for 4-Flight

Patricia Davriu TITLE Thales ATM commented; “The relationship between Thales and the DSNA manages the most complex and congested traffic in Europe with 2.9 million flights per year, making the 4-Flight an essential project for future proofing European air traffic. The project will bring a performing, scalable system, paving the way to SESAR implementation. This is also the first time that Coflight is integrated into a complete European system and we are delighted at this achievement and look forward to the continuing success of this project in 2013.”