BUBBLES is a project targeting the formulation and validation of a concept of a U-Space advanced (U3) ‘separation management service’ at TRL3. BUBBLES will develop algorithms to compute the collision risk of UAS (taking into account all the involved risk sources), allowing to define separation minima and methods (procedural, tactical self-separated or tactical ground-based) so that a safety level stated in terms of overall probability of collision can be defined and maintained. The project will apply these algorithms to a set of generic CONOPs for UAS Operations defined by BUBBLES.

These CONOPs will be detailed enough to cover all envisaged applications, but generic enough not to be linked to any particular one. The generic CONOPs will be classified in terms of risk using the SORA methodology. Afterwards, separation minima and methods will be assigned to them, leading to the definition of a set of generic OSED from which safety and performance requirements for the CNS systems will be derived through a safety assessment and based on the Performance-based Navigation (PBN) and Performance-based Communication and Surveillance (PBCS) concepts, including performance monitoring.

To contribute the use of highly automated and digitalised systems in the U-Space, BUBBLES will also investigate the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support the separation management, both for centralised and distributed systems. Moreover, BUBBLES will contribute to the standardisation of the U-Space by drafting required performance specifications for the CNS and AI-based systems involved in the provision of the Separation Management service.

Lastly, the project will exploit the similarity between the U-Space Separation Management service and the Air Traffic Control (ATC) and the widespread confidence on the latter to improve the perception of safety regarding the UAS operations among the general public, thus contributing to their social acceptance.