Airspace World Today Archives - Page 5 of 9

The Future of Urban Air Mobility and Urban Airspace

The introduction of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft will create a new, exciting market for Urban Air Mobility (UAM). Very soon, we will see eVTOLs providing air taxi services for passengers and cargo in metropolitan areas around the world. UAM is expected to become a mainstream mode of transportation in certain locations as operations scale and mature.

Several airspace and Air Traffic Management (ATM) challenges must be addressed to support the introduction and growth of UAM in a globally harmonised way. Urban aircraft operations will increase in tempo, density, and complexity, with more flights and shorter turnaround times. It will be necessary to solve the unique ATM issues associated with battery-powered, piloted, passenger-carrying operations. In addition, ground infrastructure will evolve to accommodate this new environment, with multiple vertiports operated by different organisations serving multiple fleet operators.

While initially piloted, a diverse range of eVTOL aircraft will enter service over the next 10 to 15 years. UAM’s increased use of airspace will coincide with the rise of other users like Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) in urban skies. We will eventually transition to both piloted and uncrewed electric aircraft, integrating with existing airspace users and drones. Ultimately, the urban airspace will comprise a mix of piloted, remotely piloted, and autonomous aircraft of varying sizes, propulsion systems and payloads.

In some locations, existing airspace management and ATM approaches will be insufficient to handle future urban airspace demands. A more advanced approach is needed to safely scale operations, agnostic to the aircraft type, and ensure fair and equitable airspace access. The evolution of ATM in the urban environment must support existing and new airspace users, including piloted and uncrewed aircraft operations. New ATM services will likely incorporate UAS Traffic Management (UTM) concepts, tailored for urban airspace and all airspace users.

The first eVTOL UAM operations will follow Visual Flight Rules, with Instrument Flight Rule operations anticipated soon after. While an eVTOL can operate within the existing airspace and ATM framework without significant changes, introducing UAM-specific ATM services early is highly beneficial. They can support the launch of eVTOL operations and help prepare for scale, so planning must commence now for these types of services. Therefore, Eve is working on these solutions with a wide range of industry stakeholders and partners.

The complexity of integrating new urban airspace operations with existing aircraft requires more advanced ATM services compared to other airspace segments. Therefore, a specific concept focused on urban airspace is a crucial priority for the industry.

The implementation of Urban ATM concepts must be harmonised globally. Aircraft Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and operators will likely develop and operate aircraft in many different countries. Like traditional ATM, common global approaches will be needed to enable technology integration and ensure investment in UAM can be made effectively. UAM Ecosystem stakeholders will need a shared vision of how ATM will evolve to support UAM in the short, medium and long term.

Eve believes an agnostic approach to managing traffic is needed for operations to scale safely. The company advocates for an agnostic Urban ATM concept supporting fair and equitable airspace access through participation in standards bodies and industry associations and discussions with aviation authorities.

Tomorrow, we will introduce our work on Urban ATM as an approach to address the integration of all airspace users in the urban environment.

For more information, visit us at the Atech stand F22.

eveairmobility.com

About the author

Rob Weaver is the Urban ATM Global Business Development Lead for Eve Air Mobility, the Embraer backed start-up dedicated to accelerating the global UAM ecosystem. He also leads Entry Into Service planning for Eve’s eVTOL aircraft in Australia.

Rob has worked with Embraer-X and Eve on new ATM concepts to support UAM since 2018. Previously he was Executive General Manager Safety, Environment & Assurance at Airservices Australia, where he was a member of the Executive for six years. He has also worked for the UK’s Air Navigation Service Provider and holds a PhD in safety critical systems from the University of York.

CANSO welcomes two new members including its first Academia Member – Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

CANSO is delighted to welcome Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University as its newest Member and the very first organisation to join CANSO’s Academia and Research membership category.

The official welcoming of Embry-Riddle took place today (19 March), the first day of Airspace World – the world’s largest and most influential airspace and near-space management event.

CANSO’s Membership category for Academia and Research organisations targets organisations focused on fostering education, research, and knowledge dissemination in the aviation field and is aimed at those who specialise in matters related to aviation and air traffic management.

This strategic move of CANSO aims to foster collaboration between Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) and academia and research institutions. By joining CANSO, not-for-profit institutions dedicated to advancing air traffic management will have a platform to engage with industry stakeholders and contribute to impactful research initiatives.

“We are delighted to announce that Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has submitted the first application to join the Academia and Research Membership,” commented Eduardo Garcia, CANSO Senior Manager Future Skies. “This milestone achievement, celebrated today during Airspace World, signifies the beginning of an exciting journey towards fostering collaboration, innovation, and mutual growth,” he added.

“We are proud and thrilled to become the first academia member of CANSO,” said Clyde Rinkinen, Associate Professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (pictured above, right, with Simon Hocquard, Director General, CANSO). “We hope that our membership with CANSO will provide us the platform to facilitate independent research and training on aviation-related topics for CANSO members and workgroups. Moreover, we are looking forward to participating in discussions and exchanging knowledge to bridge the gap between academia and the air-traffic management industry,” he added.

Other CANSO membership benefits in this category include participation in CANSO groups, collaboration on research projects, potential involvement in postgraduate scholarship programmes, enhanced visibility within the ATM community, and opportunities to promote educational courses and study programmes.

In addition to extending a warm welcome to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, CANSO is delighted to announce the addition of NASA as an Associate member. This new partnership underscores CANSO’s commitment to fostering collaboration and innovation within the aviation industry. With NASA’s renowned expertise and groundbreaking research in aerospace exploration and technology, their participation as an Associate member will enrich the collective knowledge and drive forward-thinking initiatives aimed at advancing air traffic management and airspace operations globally. CANSO looks forward to the valuable contributions and insights that NASA will bring to the organisation’s collaborative efforts towards shaping the future of aviation.

Intelligent Approach now fully incorporated in Indra ATM Systems to increase capacity at high traffic volume airports

Indra’s ManagAir air traffic management system, one of the most widely used in control centres and airports around the world, now incorporates the NATS and Leidos developed Intelligent Approach system.

Intelligent Approach has been deployed at some of the world’s busiest airports to deliver additional tactical capacity, increase on time performance and reduce emissions per-flight.

In continuous operation at Heathrow since 2015, Intelligent Approach was deployed at Toronto Pearson in 2022 and then Amsterdam Schiphol in early 2023. Once it went live at Amsterdam, it increased the airport’s capacity by up to six additional landings per hour, per runway.

The partnership agreement signed between the three companies means users of Indra Air Traffic Management systems in over 50 countries now have the option to seamlessly integrate Intelligent Approach – including time-based separation and wake vortex re-categorisation – into their operations.

Intelligent Approach allows air traffic controllers to optimise the spacing between arriving aircraft based on time rather than distance and thereby maximise runway capacity, reducing delays, and cutting fuel burn and emissions per-flight. It dynamically calculates the optimum time between arrivals based on aircraft size and type together with their runway occupancy time.

Intelligent Approach uses the latest wake vortex categorisation and dynamically calculates the spacing between arrivals based on real time wind conditions, rather than relying on wind forecasts and set distances. It has been shown to help airports increase the capacity of their existing runways without the need for any new airfield equipment or infrastructure.

Managing Director of ATM at Indra, Javier Ruano, said: “This collaboration allows us to accelerate the introduction of the most innovative technologies to move towards a greener and more sustainable aviation. It provides our clients with quick and easy access to the most cutting-edge technologies that have demonstrated a real ability to increase the efficiency of their operations.”

Indra’s Chief Executive Director, José Vicente de los Mozos, said: “This collaboration allows us to accelerate the introduction of the most innovative technologies to move towards a greener and more sustainable aviation. It provides our clients with quick and easy access to the most cutting-edge technologies that have demonstrated a real ability to increase the efficiency of their operations.”

Martin Rolfe, NATS Chief Executive Officer, said: “Intelligent Approach has a proven track record of delivering addition runway capacity wherever it has been deployed. This new agreement means Indra customers all over the world can now more easily enjoy those benefits, increasing their operational efficiency, improving on-time performance, and reducing fuel burn per-flight.”

Graham Emmons, Vice President & Managing Director, Civil at Leidos UK & Europe said: “This is an exciting milestone for Intelligent Approach as more airports globally may be able to reap the benefits it delivers. As evidenced by our most recent deployments, Intelligent Approach not only supports operational enhancements to existing airport infrastructure, but also contributes to environmental improvements. These include a reduction in overall airport CO2 emissions and decreased usage of noise-sensitive runways. We look forward to supporting future deployments.”

Building the future of ATM Together

When an industry’s main driver is safety, change happens in incremental, exceedingly cautious steps. In the Air Traffic Management (ATM) sector, where the slightest error or malfunction can have catastrophic consequences, the integration of each new functionality and/or technology requires extensive testing and, consequently, long lead-times. This increasing demand on safety will not reduce in the future with the new EASA regulation on safety and cyber-security for ground equipment. We can all be satisfied with this trend in a context of growing air traffic demand. At the same time, however, it is now clear to the entire ATM ecosystem that it will not be possible to manage this growing flow safely without accelerating the speed at which we integrate new technologies into our solutions. That is why, over the past decade, Thales has been working on the development of TopSky – ATC new release.

Designed for easier adaptation to changing traffic flows and faster integration of new functionalities and technologies, TopSky – ATC new release is not just a solution, it is also an alliance and a service allowing users to pool resources and work together for the future of ATM– be it flexible, sustainable, or technologically advanced.

TAKING THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPLORE OPEN, SAFE AND SECURE ATM

When the world was in the midst (and the worst) of the Covid-19 crisis, it was difficult to imagine that such worldwide catastrophe could potentially bring positive changes.

However, four years after the world came to a complete stop; air travel demand continues to increase much faster than previously anticipated. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), in 2023 international traffic had almost completely caught up with 2019
levels (88.6%). This was supposed to take five years, according to post-pandemic predictions. It took a mere two. Moreover, the disruptions passengers experienced in the year following the end of worldwide major lockdowns due to shortage of staff forced the ATM world to face the fact that its revenue model was no longer viable in an increasingly unpredictable world.

In other words, increasing the number of Air Traffic Controllers (ATCO) while decreasing the size of their areas of responsibility – to make traffic management humanly manageable – is no longer a solution in many cases. The swift post Covid-19 recovery of air travel is now conducive
to take the opportunity to explore new ways to address air traffic fluctuations by opening-up the ATM world to key technological advances.

Eve Air Mobility presents Vector and provides updates on the Urban ATM Software Development

Eve Air Mobility has released today at the Airspace World in Geneva the name of its Urban Air Traffic Management (Urban ATM) software and provided updates on the solution’s development. Vector will be an agnostic software solution designed to safely address the unique air traffic and network management challenges of current and future Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) operations, focusing on fleet and vertiport operators, and future service providers for AAM, including Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs). The company is advancing towards an operational version of the software which customers can test and trial to help progress the market.

“Electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft flights will become an established transportation mode for communities worldwide. Eve expects first deliveries and entry into service as soon as 2026 and has been addressing the airspace and Air Traffic Management (ATM) challenges to support the introduction and growth of the market in a harmonized and safe way. Vector will streamline AAM operations from day 1, coordinating all stakeholders involved to enhance safety, optimize performance, and maximize resource usage,” said Johann Bordais, Eve’s CEO.

Vector will allow eVTOLs to be integrated with other aircraft flying in low-level urban airspace from day 1 of operations and provide the automation needed to enable Urban Air Mobility (UAM) market scalability. To date, Eve has 14 (fourteen) customers for the solution, including fleet operators, vertiports and airspace and flow management providers. With Vector, eVTOL operators will make their operations more efficient; vertiports will manage resource availability with all operation stakeholders involved; and ANSPs and Providers of Services (PSU) for UAM will optimize the airspace and air traffic network for all users.

In November 2023, Eve partnered with Flexjet to conduct a simulation to validate and refine Vector’s capabilities under real-scenario conditions and better understand the software’s commercial viability and applications. The simulation took place in the UK and involved 18 flights across eight aerodromes, exercising 26 different routes with alternative landing locations to test the standby flight plan functionality. The team also tested delays at departure and destination with impacts on incoming flights, flight cancellations due to airspace and weather constraints, and in-flight emergencies, including alternative landing location requests.

The Eve-Flexjet simulation has found gaps between current ATM systems and those required to support UAM operations from Day 1, such as the lack of integration between fleet and vertiport operator systems to coordinate eVTOL flights safely and efficiently. Therefore, Eve is prioritizing the development of services that address these gaps, including integrated flight planning with airspace and vertiport resource availability; management of alternate landing locations built into the flight planning to support the endurance limitations of electric aircraft; and conformance management to inform stakeholders when flights deviate from their plan and may affect other flights.

“Flight dispatchers are responsible for nearly all aspects of an operation, which requires extensive decision-making and tracking abilities. Urban ATM services can support these activities in preparation for AAM operations through increased levels of automation and an integrated view of the relevant information tied to a specific flight. Eve has been actively incorporating features, including feedback received through user testing, into Vector to ensure the value of its services translates directly to the end users”, added Brenden Hedblom, Eve’s head of traffic management solutions.

As Vector matures, Eve continues to pursue additional opportunities to trial the solution with its customers and partners. Testing it in real-world scenarios is the best way to ensure the services provide optimal value. The company expects this year to advance towards an operational version of the software which customers can test and trial to help advance the market and prepare the UAM ecosystem for initial operations.

SeRo Unveils its State-of-the-Art GRX 3X Multi-Band Receiver

Receive and Monitor Up to 6 Channels Simultaneously with a Single Integrated Device

The GRX 3X reflects SeRo’s commitment to innovation and affordability in the field of air traffic surveillance and spectrum protection. This affordable sensor is the first in its class, boasting an expandable motherboard that can operate up to three independent radio front-ends (daughterboards) simultaneously.

FRANKFURT, Germany March 19, 2024 – SeRo Systems, a leader in next-generation CNS monitoring solutions, announced the latest innovation in its GRX receiver platform, the GRX 3X Multi-Band receiver. This affordable sensor is the first in its class, boasting an expandable motherboard that can operate up to three independent radio front-ends (daughterboards) simultaneously. Daughterboards are available for the 978 MHz, 1030 MHz, and 1090 MHz frequency bands, covering the main frequencies used in Europe and the US for commercial, military, and general aviation operators. With this innovative design, the GRX 3X enables SeRo’s customers to receive and monitor up to 6 channels simultaneously with a single integrated device. In addition, the GRX 3X offers the flexibility to accommodate custom daughterboard designs for customers with special requirements, making it an ideal choice for a wide range of applications.

“The GRX 3X reflects SeRo’s commitment to innovation and affordability in the field of air traffic surveillance and spectrum protection,” said Dr. Matthias Schäfer, managing director of SeRo Systems. “Designed with state-of-the-art radio technology, these receivers are rigorously tested to ensure the highest level of operational performance and reliability across the board. We are proud to be the provider of the only affordable multi-band standalone receiver solution that offers this extensive level of features and flexibility.”

The GRX product line is the backbone of SeRo’s air surveillance and monitoring receiver network. It is widely deployed in Europe and the east coast of the US to help customers ensure the security and safety of the airspace. Designed to meet the stringent demands of modern communication and monitoring, the new GRX 3X’s features include:

Comprehensive Frequency Coverage: This receiver is ADS-B (1090ES and UAT), and Mode S Up and Downlink compliant, making it a reliable and cost-effective choice for monitoring all air surveillance frequencies. It provides the ability to receive and monitor ADS-B, Mode S, and other frequencies simultaneously.

Antenna diversity: Supports beamforming, angle-of-arrival measurements, and use of sectorized antennas with multiple synchronized RF front-ends covering the same frequency.

Exceptional Performance: The GRX product line offers proven performance, particularly in high-noise environments, thanks to the highest degarbling capabilities. It has a configurable dynamic range, making it suitable for wide area and surface surveillance, even under challenging conditions.

Cutting-Edge Technology: Built on state-of-the-art software-defined radio technology, the GRX 3X supports the latest standards, including phase overlay of ADS-B v3 (DO-290C/ED- 102B). It is capable of providing nanosecond timestamps for multilateration and Doppler shift/frequency measurements with Hz resolution for more than 3000 received signals per second.

User-Friendly Interface: All our devices feature a convenient, language-independent, and well-documented API, granting users access to raw data, metadata, I/Q data, monitoring information, GPS data, system health data, and spectrum data (PSD data). Standardized ASTERIX data stream options are also available.

Maximum Flexibility: The GRX 3X runs on Debian Linux, ensuring maximum flexibility for users. It can be extended with custom firmware/tools and hardware extensions via USB, all while maintaining a remarkably small deployment footprint (SWaP).

Winners of the 2023 Global ATM Awards announced

Airways New Zealand won the Overall Excellence Award at the CANSO Air Traffic Management Global ATM Awards today (Tuesday 19 March) at a packed ceremony held on the CANSO stand at Airspace World 2024.

This year’s programme recognised achievements in five categories, along with an overall winner. The judges had a tough job this time around with a wealth of great entries to consider from 20 countries, initially resulting in a shortlist of 29 entries.

Drone topics monopolised the entries this year, with around half of the overall entries focused here and entries crossing beyond the drone category. This aligns well with the growing impact of this technology in our industry and can be seen by the increase in drone related exhibitors at this year’s event.

Look out on Airspace World Today for more details tomorrow but, in the meantime, here are our winners for 2023.

Overall Excellence Winner

Airways New Zealand: Resilient new physical and digital infrastructure.

Digital Transformation in ATM

Winner: EUROCONTROL for the new Network Manager Operations Centre

Runner-up: NATS, Leidos, Think & LVNL: Intelligent Approach goes live at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

Re-imagining ATM Operations

Winner: NATS for the West Airspace Deployment

Runner-up: DFS – Deutsche Flugsicherung and EUROCONTROL Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC): Common deployment of Integrated Flow Management Position (iFMP) at the Karlsruhe and the Maastricht Upper Area Control Centres within the MAKAN cooperation

Greener Skies

Winner: DFS – Deutsche Flugsicherung for the Future ATS System Architecture

Runner-up: The Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department (HKCAD), Thales, Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK): Achieving Environmental Benefits through implementation of Wake Turbulence Group and Approach Spacing Management System at the Hong Kong International Airport

Resilience in ATM

Winner: Airways New Zealand, for the Resilient new physical and digital infrastructure

Runner-up: ENAV: Delegation of Airspace.

Integration of Drones/AAM

Winner: Airways New Zealand, for the integration of a Wisk Aero drone into unsegregated controlled airspace.

Runner-up: SkeyDrone: Drone Detection-as-a-Service Solution.

The need for unity in greener skies

Aviation is committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. A panel on innovation for greener skies at the CANSO Executive Summit 2024 agreed that collaboration is essential to achieve this aim, which is likely to be the biggest challenge that aviation will face in the next 26 years.

Pursuing greater efficiency will lead to improved sustainability. Moreover, it is the only viable way forward. Although traffic is predicted to almost double by 2050, no such increase is suggested for airports or air traffic management in terms of staff or other relevant parameters.

This means efficiency improvements, such as trajectory-based operations (TBO), will be vital. The question is how to implement procedural improvements when they rely on huge amounts of real time data. Other sustainability-related initiatives, including contrail avoidance, will only increase the challenge.

The hope is that artificial intelligence (AI) will make this possible. The potential of the technology was agreed by the panel although this has yet to translate to the physical world. Peter Kearney, CEO, AirNav Ireland likened this to a dog chasing a car that loves the chase but has no idea what to do if it catches the car.

Filip Cornelis, Director of Aviation, European Commission, also pointed out that digitalisation cannot just be digitising an analogue process which, he argued, changes nothing.

Marie Owens Thomsen, SVP Sustainability and Chief Economist, IATA, made an impassioned plea for transportation to be accessible for all because aviation is one of the greatest drivers of social and economic progress the world has ever known. But she stressed that only “unity in mission” could make this happen in a sustainable way. This unity involves not only airlines, airports and air navigation service providers but also governments and the customer.

The panel accepted that costs would go up but Kok Juan Han, Director General, CAAS, asked the critical question: “How much will people, organisations and governments pay to go green?”

He noted that Singapore has a 1 per cent surcharge, equating to about US$10. These “baby steps”, as he termed it, are essential as price elasticity – the amount people will pay before demand is affected – comes into play and that could change. Also, aviation would have to show that the finances were being properly used and carbon emissions were coming down. Monitoring, reporting, and most importantly, communicating the improvements would become mission critical.

The panel concluded with participants agreeing that being innovative and green equates to a good service to the customer. Ultimately, that will mean attracting more customers and generating more revenue. It will also mean avoiding the penalties that will doubtless be implemented for not pursuing carbon reduction strategies.

The Panel

Filip Cornelis, Director of Aviation, European Commission
Marie Owens Thomsen, SVP Sustainability and Chief Economist, IATA
Luis Felipe de Oliveira, Director General, ACI World
Michelle Bishop, Director Programmes, CANSO
Kok Juan Han, Director General, CAAS
Ramon Tarrech Masdeu, Director ATM Strategy and Innovation, Indra
Peter Kearney, CEO, AirNav Ireland

CERTIUM Locate from Rohde & Schwarz enhances air traffic control efficiency and safety over Hungary

HungaroControl has successfully implemented nationwide CERTIUM Locate system from Rohde & Schwarz, ensuring comprehensive air traffic coverage above 10,000 feet in Hungarian airspace.

Geneva/Munich, March 19, 2024 – Rohde & Schwarz and HungaroControl, the national air navigation service provider of Hungary, jointly announced during the CANSO Airspace World event, that they successfully implemented CERTIUM Locate nationwide. This cutting-edge technology, developed by Rohde & Schwarz, ensures comprehensive coverage above 10,000 feet in the airspace of Hungary by automatically identifying and pinpointing calling aircraft on the air traffic controller’s radar screen. The benefits are intuitive call sign identification on the screen, avoidance of confusion, increased situational awareness and improved user experience and confidence.

The deployed CERTIUM Locate system comprises ATC direction finders strategically placed across the country for optimal functionality. Central components such as administration consoles and allocation servers calculate the exact position of the calling aircraft in almost real-time and provide it via the Asterix interface seamlessly to the radar screen.

To ensure minimum environmental impact and maximum cost efficiency while achieving seamless coverage, the direction finding (DF) sites were installed on top of existing telecommunication towers. This innovative approach allowed for a simplified roll-out process, as base station towers are readily available across the country and the top part of the masts is typically vacant and ideal for direction finder antennas. To further enhance the system’s effectiveness, eleven ATC VHF radio sites were connected to the location server to suppress ground station radio transmissions on the operators’ radar screens.

László Tóth, CEO of HungaroControl, expressed his satisfaction with the CERTIUM Locate system, stating: “During peak times, this advanced technology significantly improves our controllers’ work efficiency and enhances overall safety.”

Barnabás Kis, CTO of HungaroControl, echoed these sentiments, emphasizing the positive feedback received from users on the intuitive use and the increased situational awareness.

The nationwide implementation of the CERTIUM Locate system marks a significant milestone for HungaroControl and the aviation sector in Hungary. The system’s swift execution, coupled with its numerous benefits, including increased efficiency and enhanced safety, has solidified its role as an innovator in air traffic management. Given the recent surge in air traffic volumes in South-Eastern Europe, other ANSPs in the region or in other parts of Europe with dense airspace can benefit from HungaroControl’s experience.

Caption: Rohde & Schwarz and HungaroControl have successfully implemented CERTIUM Locate nationwide (Image: Rohde & Schwarz)

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FREQUENTIS boosts aviation audio quality with AI enhancement

Control towers and centres set to benefit from a new generation of voice quality
AI-based audio enhancement from Danish company, Augmented Hearing, to improve speech in noisy environments

Frequentis and its cooperation partner, Augmented Hearing, based in Denmark, have been working together to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) based audio enhancement suitable for the aviation industry.

“In pursuit of future-ready safety critical communications Frequentis plans to establish a new stage of effortless controller-pilot interaction using AI based audio enhancements with its X10 voice communication system,” says Gerald Mohnl, Director ATM Communication. “Augmented Hearing are revolutionising communication by enhancing speech comprehension in noisy environments, and it is a pleasure to work with them on such an important project.”

For decades, air traffic controllers have adeptly managed their responsibilities despite voice quality challenges in ATC radio calls, learning to work with significant noise exposure as part of their job. Frequentis now intends to revolutionise the audio quality of voice communications, reducing controller workload, by using the AI-based software module from Augmented Hearing to enhance speech information in ATC communications.

The AI-based audio enhancement from Augmented Hearing is already improving critical communication environments within Danish public safety organisations. The AI module is trained to suppress noise and works offline and on premises, while ensuring full reliability and GDPR compliance.

“We are thrilled to be working with Frequentis on a solution to enhance aviation audio. Our Sharpi software is developed based on decades of experience in the hearing aid industry and is already used in safety critical communication environments in Denmark. We are happy to embark on the journey with Frequentis to bring the benefits of improved audio quality for reduced controller workload to the air traffic management market,” says Mette Carstensen, CEO Augmented Hearing.

Augmented Hearing aims to harness AI to create software solutions that not only improve hearing but enrich lives – fostering effective, effortless communication for everyone. With over 50 years’ experience in the Danish hearing and audio industry, Augmented Hearing brings unique insights into market.

Frequentis and Augmented Hearing will be at Airspace World, Geneva, March 19-21 presenting the results of combined capabilities, set to launch a new generation of voice quality for control towers and centres.