SESAR - Single European Sky ATM Research
SESAR - Single European Sky ATM Research
01/10/2025 | News release | Distributed by Public on 01/10/2025 04:36
Bringing fresh perspective to some of ATM’s most pressing challenges
Increasing flight numbers, integrating new airspace users, making aviation more sustainable - these are just some of the complexities facing air traffic management (ATM) today.
They're also the type of challenges being addressed by the winners of this year's SESAR Young Scientist Award.
Announced during November's SESAR Innovation Days, the annual award recognises early-career researchers who have excelled in ATM and aviation-related fields. "This award is designed to highlight the potential of young talent to bring fresh perspectives and solutions to the challenges facing ATM and aviation," says Andreas Boschen, Executive Director of SESAR JU.
Differentiated Conflict Management Methods for ATM and UTM
One of those young scientists is Yutong Chen, a researcher from Cranfield University whose fresh perspective on conflict management took home the top honour in the award's PhD category. "In complex airspace environments, traditional traffic management methods struggle to simultaneously meet the demands for flight safety, efficiency, and large-scale operations," explains Chen.
To address this challenge, Chen's research uses artificial intelligence as a means of optimising airspace resource allocation and conflict management, both for traditional ATM and U-space, Europe's uncrewed aircraft system traffic management (UTM). "I employ different strategies for ATM and UTM, taking into account their operational concept differences," he explains.
For instance, on the ATM side of the equation, Chen says that while multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) methods have the potential to handle complex traffic environments, their inherent instability can introduce uncertainties that may affect system performance. "However, in the ATM context, air traffic controllers can act as the final safety safeguard, allowing for some uncertainty and randomness since they can ensure timely interventions if issues arise," he adds.
UTM, on the other hand, has higher autonomy requirements, meaning the system would better produce deterministic results. Here, Chen used more stable and deterministic methods, such as heuristic-based trajectory planning and conflict resolution strategies, which maintain high certainty and predictability in complex, dynamic airspace and thus better support UAV autonomous flight.
"Overall, my research addresses the different needs in airspace management and safety assurance by developing high-performance MARL methods in ATM and introducing more stable heuristic methods in UTM, thereby enhancing airspace utilisation efficiency and ensuring flight safety under varying control needs," says Chen.
According to Chen, by enabling adaptive decision-making in dynamic, high-density environments, these methods could support the large-scale deployment of UAVs, advance automation in ATM, and help ATM become more sustainable.
"My research not only contributes to addressing some of the core challenges in current ATM, but also provides valuable insights that could support the development of future intelligent, automated, sustainable, and safe airspace management," he says.
An alternative positioning system for VTOL operations
In the student category, the top prize went to Samuel Christian Heilein from the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) for his research on a GNSS -independent, alternative positioning system for vertical position estimation during vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) phases at vertiports.
"Tomorrow's very low-level airspace must be shared by a variety of new air vehicles, including drones, air taxis, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)," says Heilein. "For vertical separation, collision avoidance, and efficient airspace usage, accurate vertical positioning and common altitude references are both essential."
According to Heilein, current research focuses on establishing a common altitude reference system for ATM and U-space by integrating satellite- (i.e. GNSS) and pressure-based navigation technologies. But current GNSS-based navigation systems face significant limitations in urban environments due to poor vertical accuracy, signal outages or shadowing, and interference. "These challenges are particularly critical during vertical take-off and landing phases at vertiports, where safety and precision are paramount," he explains.
To address this challenge, Heilein proposes a system that integrates barometric and radar altimeters with data from ground weather stations. Not only does this enhance the harmonisation between barometric and geodetic altitudes, it also addresses inaccuracies in barometric altitude computation and the reliability of altitude conversion.
More than just theory, Heilein's innovative system was validated using barometric data collected during test flights at the National Experimental Test Centre for Unmanned Aircraft Systems, part of the DLR-supported HorizonUAM research project.
"By proposing an alternative positioning solution, the research improves the reliability and safety of UAV navigation in urban airspace - supporting the convergence of traditional ATM with emerging UTM and U-space systems," adds Heilein.
Opening new doors to future research
The Young Scientist Award not only celebrates scientific excellence, it also supports young researchers by offering them further professional development opportunities.
For example, Heilein has seen his research published in a paper at the AIAA/IEEE Digital Avionics Systems Conference 2024. "Winning this award motivates me to continue my work wholeheartedly in the future," he says.
Meanwhile, Chen is continuing his research as part of the SESAR-supported HYPERSOLVER project. "Winning this award has opened new doors for my future research and career development, and I look forward to collaborating with more researchers and industry experts to further advance ATM," he concludes.