THEATRE - Thematic Network on Air Transport and ATM Validation Activities
Overview
Background & policy context:
It is recognised that the future European Air Traffic Management (ATM) system cannot be designed and implemented in a fragmented manner. Therefore, the THEATRE Network intended to promote the co-ordination and consolidation of all of the current work being done in the field of ATM validation. Based on the feedback received from European experts in the fields of ATM validation, it compiled and disseminated the recommendations for both a standardised process and a validation regulated framework.
Collaboration between European partners to produce an agreed set of validation information was felt to be essential for the industrial analysis and design activities that will follow. This Project was intended to greatly reduce the time required to gain acceptance for the new ATM system on a European rather than an individual civil aviation authority basis.
The enforced competition especially with United States companies, and the success of several European research projects (e.g. ARTAS, ODS, PATIO, PHARE, CINCAT or FARADEX) led the consortium to consider that the time was right to launch such a European Project. The THEATRE project made available the validation guidelines needed to make a smooth transition from research to industrial applications. To this end, the THEATRE Project disseminated the knowledge essential to validate new systems.
Objectives:
The most significant objectives of the THEATRE project were the following:
- To create an environment of collaboration and transparency between ATM stakeholders and ATM validation projects.
- To create a pool of validation experts across Europe, including NAS States, and elsewhere.
- To reach a consensus of ATM validation experts on the required elements of the validation work required in the 5th FP.
- To provide support to the European Commission in ATM validation activities.
Methodology:
THEATRE addressed the intended validation activities with an innovative approach. Instead of relying on the expertise available in one or several organisations in a fragmented and loosely co-ordinated way, the THEATRE Thematic Network created a pool of European validation experts that provided their expertise and knowledge to orient FP5 validation objectives. The experts were organised in Working Groups, each e addressing a specific validation issue. THEATRE provided secretarial and administrative support, as well as technical knowledge, to ensure that the experts focused on signficant validation issues.
THEATRE created three Working Groups. The Validation and Safety Working Group studied aspects of safety as they affected ATM validation. The Validation and Business Working Group studied the main aspects to be taken into account in the ATM system decision-making process from the economic and business points of view. Finally, the Support to MAEVA Working Group provided support to the Master ATM European Validation Plan (MAEVA) project as well as, at the request of the European Commission, providing support to its validation activities as needed.
The administrative support provided by THEATRE included the preparation and organisation of two scheduled workshops and several other unscheduled meetings. It also provided support to complementary dissemination activities requested by the European Commission, such as the organisation of the Commission stand at the ATC Maastricht ATC International Exhibition and other international forums as requested.
Share this page