CNS: the digital backbone of air traffic management - Airspace World SESAR Walking Tour reports
Reliable communications, navigation and surveillance (CNS) systems are the digital backbone of modern air traffic management. Through demonstrations, simulations and validation results, a dedicated SESAR Walking Tour at Airspace World 2026, guided by Michael Sfyroeras and Junchen Xu, SESAR Joint Undertaking, highlighted how these technologies enable more connected, resilient and interoperable ATM systems, paving the way for the deployment of CNS capabilities across Europe’s airspace.
Building resilient communications for the connected sky
A major challenge for future ATM is ensuring resilient and seamless communications across increasingly digital and distributed operations. At the ESSP stand, Diego Herce presented the ESMA Digital Sky Demonstrator, which is demonstrating more resilient air-ground communications through multi-link connectivity. The project combines satellite and terrestrial communications to support seamless transitions between different datalink technologies and ensure more robust communications for air traffic services.
The demonstrations included operational results from Transavia aircraft equipped with Iris satellite communication services, alongside validation activities involving IPS-enabled aircraft and multilink infrastructures developed with support from ESA’s Iris programme and Boeing’s ecoDemonstrator initiative. The project is showing how multi-link communications can improve operational continuity and support the transition towards future internet protocol suite (IPS)-based communications in ATM.
As communications become more connected, ATM also requires shared and trusted data services capable of supporting operations across borders. Addressing this challenge, at the ESSP stand, Celia Leiro, ESSP, and Chiara Mozzetti, IDS AirNav, presented the CNS DSP project, which is developing a cloud-based platform for shared surveillance and GNSS monitoring services across Europe. During the tour, the project demonstrated how surveillance data from multiple sources and countries can be securely fused and shared through interoperable services. The platform supports cross-border surveillance, GNSS interference monitoring and post-operational analysis, while also contributing to virtual centre architectures through collaboration with the VITACY project. Validation exercises carried out between 2025 and 2026 demonstrated the maturity and operational potential of distributed CNS data services for the Digital European Sky.
Enhancing surveillance resilience
Alongside data sharing, the resilience of surveillance infrastructure itself is becoming increasingly important, particularly around airports and in dense terminal airspace. At the ENAV stand, Carla Menciotti and Giancarmine Fasano presented the ASTONISH project, which is exploring alternative surveillance technologies for terminal manoeuvring areas (TMAs) and airports, as well as en-route operations. The project is validating the use of compact non-cooperative sensors — including radars, lidars and cameras — to improve surveillance resilience and airport safety. Validation activities carried out at airports including Naples and Seville showed promising results for ground movement monitoring and aircraft protection on the ground. Simulations involving LDACS-based surveillance and distributed radar networks also demonstrated the potential of alternative surveillance technologies to enhance ATM resilience in different operational environments.
Participants were able to view sensor mock-ups and videos from operational trials illustrating how these technologies can complement existing surveillance infrastructure.
Extending surveillance beyond terrestrial coverage
While many CNS developments focus on continental airspace, maintaining surveillance coverage in oceanic and remote regions remains another key challenge. At the Collins Aerospace stand, Mauro Leonardi and Mahsa Mohebbi, University of Rome Tor Vergata, and Victor Monzonis Melero, Universitat Politècnica de València, presented the SATERA project, which is developing space-based surveillance capabilities for oceanic and remote areas. The project simulates low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite behaviour to generate and triangulate ADS-B signals, enabling more reliable aircraft localisation where terrestrial surveillance coverage is limited. Demonstrations included a live visualisation of the project’s central processing system and simulation environment, showing how multilateration and integrity-check algorithms can support secure surveillance and improve resilience in remote airspace, including North Atlantic operations.
Future aviation services will also require fully integrated CNS capabilities capable of supporting both manned and unmanned operations at low altitude. Addressing this evolution, Charlie Cleary, Collins Aerospace, presented the ANTENNAE project, which is developing an integrated communication, navigation and surveillance (ICNS) concept based on 5G connectivity technology (possibly 6G in the future). The project explores how terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks can support low-altitude manned and unmanned aviation operations, while providing integrated CNS services for air navigation service providers, U-space service providers and advanced air mobility operators. A video demonstration showcased the project’s proposed ICNS reference architecture and its role in enabling future connected aviation services.
Laying the foundations for future deployment
Supporting these new communication and surveillance capabilities requires robust and interoperable network infrastructure. At the Frequentis stand, Zlatko Havlovic and Agnès Roegel presented a solution of the FCDI project, which focuses on the connectivity and infrastructure needed to support future deployment and future IPS-based ATM communications. The project is working on integrating hybrid connectivity (HYCON) solutions into multilink IPS environments, improving interoperability between mobility backbones and supporting highly resilient communications for future critical air traffic services. The presentation highlighted the importance of interoperable communication infrastructures as ATM transitions towards more service-based architectures.
The tour concluded with a return to the challenge of end-to-end interoperability. At the Leonardo stand, where Simona Pierattelli presented another contribution from the FCDI project focused on LDACS-based air-ground data communications. The demonstrations showed successful end-to-end transmission of ATN messages over LDACS datalinks during distributed validation exercises involving multiple European partners. The activities confirmed interoperability between airborne and ground systems from different suppliers and demonstrated stable air-ground connectivity with no data loss attributable to the datalink. These results represent an important step towards fully integrated, interoperable CNS services capable of supporting the future Digital European Sky.
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