Getting Closer to the ATM Digitalization Through the Future Digital Communication Infrastructure

The FCDI project primarily focuses on defining and developing advanced communication technologies to support and manage operational services, fostering smarter and more sustainable aviation. The project is part of the SESAR programme with the aim to deliver the Digital European Sky. It is funded by the SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No. 101114729. Taking as input the work done by the I-CNSS project from SESAR2020, FCDI enhances the cost efficiency of communication infrastructure by promoting the broader use of public networks. This approach supports the scalability and sustainability of communication systems through an expanded usable spectrum and integration with existing public infrastructures. Furthermore, FCDI will enable global interoperability of communication infrastructure, facilitating the adoption of alternative communication protocols and addressing specific technical, commercial, and regulatory requirements. The performance requirements for communication systems are becoming increasingly complex, requiring integrated air and ground solutions sharing infrastructure, wherever feasible, with a unified operational concept. To achieve this, research efforts will focus on fully implementing concepts like infrastructure-as-a-service, enabling the complete separation of service delivery (including infrastructure and information services) from the physical location of the infrastructure, as defined in the European ATM Master Plan's target architecture. This paper will outline the key project activities, organized into four distinct solutions, with particular emphasis on the development of Future Communication Infrastructure Data Links (LDACS). The new generation of datalinks are designed to provide secure, high-throughput communication capabilities and voice services, along with embedded navigation functionality. LDACS technology can provide efficient, secure, and highbandwidth communication capability, with embedded navigation capability standardized by ICAO, and is designed to be compatible with legacy technologies in L-Band, both civil and military.