EALU-AER: Enhanced Automation for U-Space/ATM Integration

Abstract EALU-AER is a proposed scalable U-Space ecosystem technology infrastructure integration and demonstration project to establish Ireland’s first Digital Sky Demonstrator (DSD), enabling the smooth transition towards smart cities and is centered at Future Mobility Campus Ireland’s (FMCI) recently established vertiport site, in the vicinity of Shannon Airport, Ireland, therefore inside controlled airspace. The project focusses on deploying a reliable infrastructure, catering U1 and U2 services with higher levels of performance, refinement, and integration to enhanced levels of automated interface with the ATM/ATC, aiming to drive and support U-space regulations and standards development along with global interoperability between Uspace and ATM in a cross-border dimension. This allows for a safe and co-operative integration of zero-emission drones into the airspace that will perform different Urban Air Mobility (UAM) missions. The infrastructure will be facilitated by a mature USpace Services Provider (USSP) platform (WebUAS), a backhaul network for secure data exchange within the ecosystem (ARINC Ground Network (AGN)), Command and Non-payload Communication (CNPC) ground solution (CNPC 5000) and advanced three-dimensional ground surveillance RADAR. The project builds on the reliable integration of these technologies, to provide an autonomous, connected, and collaborative ecosystem ready for U3 and U4 services provision. In this paper, we build the case for the need of such efforts, provide a deep dive into the solution structure the project proposes and describe the operations planned, to validate the system architecture and infrastructure put in place for the same.