Bridging the gap between study and implementation is challenging for many European Air Navigation Service Providers; and is also felt by LVNL and the aviation sector partners. There are many aspects that make it difficult for a new idea or concept to make it from the design table to live operations. These difficulties were discussed between the aviation sector partners KLM, LVNL and Schiphol Group, and the knowledge partners in the KDC.
The project “Vision on the role of technology demonstrations in ATM innovation” laid down a vision to overcome the study to implementation gap. The overarching development process for aviation sector projects can be divided into three main steps: Idea generation, validation and demonstration of ideas, and implementation of developed ideas. The research focused on the middle step: validation and demonstration. The experimental environment, called X-environment, starts after idea generation and supports development of the idea. In X-environment the idea is taken through several steps of validation, demonstrations of usefulness, and it is made ready for implementation. X-Environment is a facilitator for carrying out projects by enabling access to data from operational systems. It is not a validation tool in itself, like a simulator, but rather an environment that provides the right data and processes to effectively work with the data.
The result of the study comprises a document describing systems vision, elements, roles and responsibilities and a roadmap for implementation. Included is a pilot project description for the EHAM outbound predictability for MUAC.