Policy, regulation and technology: three solutions to aviation challenges worldwide

In recent months Helios has been working in Africa and India, where aviations challenges are often structural or institutional. The ICAO and EU funded projects described in this newsletter aim to help developing nations formulate policy responses to growing demand for aviation safely. Aviations regulatory challenge extends from initiatives like the Single European Sky right down to the small print of technology implementation. Helios has just delivered updated guidelines to help UK Overseas Territories achieve regulatory approval and support the latest satellite technologies onboard aircraft for Instrument Flight Procedures. Finally, as a European company serving many European customers, we are often confronted by an air traffic control system with an established legacy infrastructure suffering from congestion on many different levels. So it is good to report from closer to home on a project that will help ease voice channel congestion across Sweden, using the latest mobile IP technology. Policy, regulation and technology are key to Helios business. This newsletter represents a microcosm of our activities these days, which span continents, and the many challenges facing transport. We welcome your feedback.
Mike Shorthose, Managing Director

CONTENTS
MAIN STORY

Aviation training across Africa

DATA LINK

CPDLC Sweden uses Mobile IP

EUROPEAID

Helping India fly

INSTRUMENT FLIGHT PROCEDURES

Process for design and approval

HOT AIR!

News & events

OFF AIR!

Puzzle competition

AUTUMN 2010

Harmonising aviation training across Africa

Helios and SITA develop training database for ICAO

Pictured presenting the survey findings to ICAO Secretary General Raymond Benjamin and the ICAO ACIP team are the Helios and SITA team (left to right): Ben Stanley (Helios), Maamoune Chakira (ICAO ACIP), Capt Haile Belai (ICAO ACIP), Raymond Benjamin (ICAO), Getaneh Desta (SITA), Bob MacEvoy (Helios), Emnet Meheret (SITA) and Minu Verma (SITA).

n response to a recommendation of the Special Regional Air Navigation meeting for Africa and Indian

explore further the underlying training capacity and demand issues. The research was conducted in both French and English to ensure the widest possible participation. Over 100 detailed responses were gathered from training organisations, regulators, ANSPs, airlines and maintenance organisations across Africa. Helios experience in delivering training as well as its independent status were key in ensuring appropriate and accurate data was gathered. SITAs in-country experts also proved vital in ensuring a wide distribution of stakeholders responded with full information. From the surveys and face-to-face consultations, key themes on training availability and harmonisation across Africa were synthesised and presented to the AFI

Ocean Region Conference, SITA was asked by ICAO ACIP (AFI Comprehensive Implementation Plan) to create and populate a database to help understand aviation training capacity and demand in Africa. SITA contracted Helios to help it develop and deliver the database. The joint project team worked closely with an AFI Training Experts Working Group to design a survey that would assess the aviation training needs and resources of the continent and to ensure that the data collected would inform future roadmaps for training harmonisation. Around 400 aviation stakeholders in Africa were consulted. In-depth questionnaires were supplemented with a two-week programme of face-to-face meetings to

News and Information from Helios

News and Information from Helios

Training Experts Working Group for use in further harmonisation activities. These included discussions on syllabus development, regional coordination and information sharing. The online database was developed by Helios in-house software experts and incorporates security privileges and administration rights. Queries can be run to show supply versus demand for various courses, regions or stakeholders, helping to identify gaps in training provision. The work was presented to Raymond Benjamin, the ICAO Secretary General, at the second Pan-African Aviation Training Coordination Conference held in Cairo in June 2010 with over 30 African States represented. States were encouraged to make use of the database and recommendations, and the conference adopted an action plan for harmonising aviation training in Africa.
For further information contact ben.stanley@askhelios.com.

The future is here

CPDLC Sweden uses Mobile IP
Sub-network Sub-network

Aeronautical Telecommunications Networks (ATN). Apart from the ability to meet aviations future operational needs, IP-based networks benefit from long-term support fuelled by the success and ubiquity of commercial public IP networks. The main expectations for aviation IP networks are reduced infrastructure and development costs compared to todays networks, as well as a future-proof infrastructure that can evolve at pace with commercial technology. In fact, the wide availability of IP products and skills was also a major reason for the success of CPDLC Sweden. Helios role in supporting LFV was twofold: to advise on practical solutions for implementing Mobile IP and to assess through simulations if the data link had the capacity to support CPDLC. As well as demonstrating its feasibility, Helios also identified the possibility to improve message delivery times by optimising data link parameters. LFV project manager Robin Hughes adds: Following Helios assessment, we decided to go ahead with the CPDLC project in 2009, quickly building the infrastructure and software components for full end-to-end Mobile IP implementation. The initial results met all the European performance requirements for CPDLC just as the Helios results had suggested. During 2010 we completed the full deployment, in the existing data link network, of an IPbased ATN across Sweden. The CPDLC Sweden network is now part of the platform for validating future applications under the European ATM research programmes in which LFV participates. Aviation has now really caught up with mobility the future is here.
For further information contact adam.parkinson@askhelios.com or robin.hughes@lfv.se.

HOME
Sub-network

Communication is routed through the aircrafts home subnetwork which keeps a record of its current network location

urrent aeronautical communications use voice as the

primary means of communication. In the future, to

realise benefits in efficiency and cost, aeronautical communications will use data link as the primary means of air-ground communication and industry standard IP-based network infrastructure. With this goal in mind Helios has been working with Swedish air navigation service provider LFV to assess the feasibility of implementing Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) using Internet Protocols (IP) over an air-ground data link called VDL4. The CPDLC Sweden project has achieved an aviation first by proving the feasibility of air-ground data link communication over an IP network and then successfully implementing it within a 10-month period. Key to its success was the use of advanced protocols, known as Mobile IP, to overcome the problem of the aircraft mobility within the IP network. In January 2009 the European Commission adopted a regulation mandating the implementation of CPDLC by European air navigation service providers by 2013 (2015 for those in Eastern Europe) and by most aircraft flying in Europe above 28,500 feet (i.e. normal air transport cruise altitudes). CPDLC enables air traffic controllers to communicate with pilots over a data link system. This digital communication helps reduce voice-channel congestion, and improve efficiency and accuracy. ICAO has developed standards for new IP-based

Adam Parkinson Adam is a senior consultant with over 10 years experience specialising in surveillance and communication technologies in the aviation and maritime markets. He is an expert on developing and validating standards for new technologies and assessing their potential to meet operational requirements. Adam leads Helios software capability and has created a number of software tools for analysing the performance of complex technical systems. For EUROCONTROL, he is currently responsible for developing a tool for analysing and planning the coverage of aviation surveillance systems such as radar, ADS-B and WAM.

News and Information from Helios

Namaste!*

Helping India fly

FAB news! In July Helios won the contract to carry out the feasibility study for the establishment of the Baltic Functional Airspace Block (FAB). This involves working with the Polish and Lithuanian ANSPs, regulators and other stakeholders to help identify the costs and benefits of moving towards a FAB, the potential obstacles that must be overcome, and the wider economic implications of this cooperation. The team is also examining the opportunities from cooperation with Poland and Lithuanias neighbours. We will bring you more news on this exciting new project in the next issue of ON AIR!. Helios at GAD 2010 One of the top events in the airport industry calendar, Global Airport Development (GAD) takes place on 15-18 November in Dublin. Were delighted to announce that Helios Mike Fairbanks will speak on Day Three of the conference on "Optimising the airport schedule to balance capacity constraints and environmental concerns". Thinking of attending?... Quote Helios VIP code KN2252HELMS when you register at www.icbi-gad.com and get a 25% discount off standard registration rates. Branching out into airline business planning In its first significant airline project, Helios is helping a major Middle Eastern airline to improve its route profitability processes. We will deliver functional designs and prototypes of best practice route profitability models. These will be integrated into corporate financial systems by the airlines system integrators. The models will enable retrospective performance monitoring as well as forward planning and budgeting. In parallel, we are defining business process improvements to ensure the route profitability activity is both efficient and effective. Air transport and climate change Safety and environmental expert Dr Tamara Pejovic presented a paper at the International Air Safety & Climate Change Conference (IASCC) in Cologne on 8-9 September. Organised by EASA, the event focused on the effects of climate and atmospheric change on aviation safety. Tamaras paper Implications of Climate Change on Air Transport - a UK Case Study deals with problems that the air transport sector might face both operationally and economically due to changes in future weather conditions. Visit www.askhelios.com/ conference-papers to download her presentation. Spectrum Auctions Masterclass, Farnham Castle, UK, 10-14 January 2011 Around the world several new frequency bands are coming to market, including the spectrum freed by analogue TV switchover as well as 2.6GHz, 3.4 GHz and portions of 900 MHz. A number of countries have already assigned these bands using different auction techniques. Through a series of mock auctions and lectures this 5-day residential course assesses the successes and failures of different types of spectrum auction, providing practical experience in both auction design and bidding. For more information contact richard.womersley@askhelios.com.

elios is a partner of the consortium that provides

expertise to a EuropeAid funded project delivering

technical expertise to the Indian civil aviation sector. This will help strengthen the Indian civil aviation institutions. Helios is providing air traffic management, safety, licensing and economics expertise. India is among the world's fastest growing air transport domains, and this project requires the team to work closely with the Directorate General of the Civil Aviation (DGCA) and key stakeholders such as airlines, the air traffic service provider and airports. The project will focus on removing constraints to sustainable economic growth in India caused by critical bottlenecks and unbalanced development of the expanding aviation sector, particularly within the regulatory functions of Government. The Indian Civil Aviation Requirement on Safety Management Systems (SMS) has just been published and much of Helios initial work will involve assisting the staff of the DGCA to develop the skills to provide oversight of SMS. It will also give the stakeholders guidance in implementing their SMS. The work started in March 2010 and is due to complete in 2012. On Helios side, the consultancy is provided by Ben Stanley and Dr Tamara Pejovic, with other Helios experts becoming involved as the project progresses. The consortium is led by the Austrian consulting firm Human Dynamics KG.
For further information contact tamara.pejovic@askhelios.com. *Greetings in Sanskrit. The cabin crew of Air India, Thai Airways, Sri Lankan Airways and Air France and Virgin Atlantic on their flights to India use namaste to greet passengers as well as in other hospitality settings.

News and Information from Helios

Instrument Flight Procedures

Process for design and approval

adhere to a quality control process that ensures the accuracy, integrity and resolution of the published data in line with ICAO requirements. And of course, the procedure designer must understand the ICAO requirements for that particular procedure in order to develop an IFP that is safe. The updated guidelines provide an acceptable means of compliance to the requirements of the Air Navigation (Overseas Territory) Order and reflect the most recent developments within ICAO. Mark Denney of ASSI adds: Helios have delivered a document that provides a clear and auditable set of requirements that will not only assist us in our regulatory role, but clarifies the processes and evidence required for IFPs to be approved for publication. We look forward to publishing

f you are one of the 22 million people lucky enough to be

OTAR 176 after the consultation period.

For further information contact philip.church@askhelios.com.

visiting the Caribbean this year, its likely that the aircraft

you travel on will be equipped with the latest satellite technology and its operator will be understandably keen to make best use of it. To do so they will need accurate and reliable aeronautical information from destination aerodromes and approved Instrument Flight Procedures (IFPs). Aviation is a global business and the services provided to it need to comply with ICAO standards and adopt
Test your geography The UK Overseas Territories are:
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Break the code!

Ben arrives first at the Helios offices one morning, but hes forgotten the 5-digit entry code. However, he does remember five clues: The fifth number plus the third number equals 14. The fourth number is one more than the second number. The first number is one less than twice the second number. The second number plus the third number equals 10. The sum of all five numbers is 30. Can you help Ben find the code? Please send your solutions to onair@askhelios.com. The answer will be published in the next edition of ON AIR!. All entries must be received by 31 December 2010. The first correct answer drawn at random after this date will win a Helios Powermonkey portable charger. And the winner is The correct answer to the lunar puzzle in the Summer 2010 issue was 360 miles. The volume of a sphere is 4 /3 times the cube of the radius. Its surface is 4 times the square of the radius. If we express the moons radius in lunars and assume that its surface in square lunars equals its volume in cubic lunars, we can determine the length of the radius by equating the two formulas and solving for the value of the radius. Pi cancels out on both sides, and we find that the radius is three lunars. The moons radius is 1,080 miles, so a lunar must be 360 miles. Congratulations to Heribert Lafferton of DFS.
For more information visit our website www.askhelios.com or call us on +44 1252 451 651. Please send change-of-address notifications to info@askhelios.com or by post to Helios, 29 Hercules Way, Aerospace Boulevard, AeroPark, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 6UU, UK. This newsletter has been written for the interest of our clients and colleagues. We believe the facts are correct at the time of printing, but cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions.

internationally recognised processes. It is the job of regulators to ensure that the underlying infrastructure and procedures set in place support compliance with ICAO requirements. Air Safety Support International (ASSI) is a whollyowned subsidiary of the UK CAA, responsible for providing a more cohesive system of civil aviation safety regulation in the UK Overseas Territories and hence to enable them to manage their own compliance against ICAO requirements. ASSI recently asked Helios to draft updated guidelines for UK Overseas Territories addressing how an organisation might be approved for the design of IFPs and how the resulting IFPs should then be approved for publication. Helios project manager Philip Church explains: Advanced GNSS-based IFPs are predicated upon points-inspace that are calculated and derived relative to surveyed points on the ground. So, the survey method, data handling, calculation methods and eventual publication all need to
Helios is a management and technology consultancy supporting business, governments and other institutions. We help improve corporate performance through analysis of problems, assessment of solutions and delivery of results. Our team has expertise in these disciplines: performance improvement; regulation; business economics; safety and security; environment; technology and innovation; and planning and procurement. We also offer a range of relevant training courses, run by recognised industry experts.

Anguilla Bermuda British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Falkland Islands Montserrat Pitcairn Island, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands St Helena and Dependencies Turks and Caicos Islands

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