GMV helps to improve air traffic safety and security

GMV, a firm of tried and tested experience in European air safety projects has been selected to carry out DORATHEA, an air traffic security project.

DORATHEA (Development Of a Risk Assessment meThodology to Enhance security Awareness in ATM) is a project co-funded by the European Commission as part of the program to prevent and combat terrorism and other ATM security risks.

In collaboration with the Italian firm SESM (from the Finmeccanica group), GMV is developing a risk assessment methodology to improve Air Traffic Management (ATM) security by identifying the risks and vulnerabilities of the various agents involved. The overall aim is to protect critical ATM infrastructure such as control towers and radar equipment.

This methodology will then serve as the basis for a coherent implementation of the safety measures imposed by European directives and for defining the responsibilities of the various stakeholders.

It also takes into account standards already in use and will complement the work carried out in the SESAR Program (Single European Sky ATM Research) of Eurocontrol, the European air-navigation safety and air traffic-regulation body.

GMV can draw on the expertise and knowledge built up from its participation in SESAR research projects and the development of practices and technologies that go well beyond those currently applied by experts or even dreamt of by the public at large (such as the concept of completely autonomous flight).

The methodology, the main target of the project, will pinpoint safety faults related to the interoperability of existing systems and the new ones, ensuring that the measures are brought into practice as smoothly and as efficiently as possible.

The project kicked in March and will run for 24 months, during which the consortium will develop and approve the methodology by way of interviews and workshops with the key ATM and sector stakeholders (system providers and ATM services), air navigation service providers and national aeronautics supervision and regulation authorities from the whole of Europe.

"This project has been funded with the support of the European Commission. The opinions expressed are purely those of the author and may not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the European Commission”