In November 2002 and January 2003 the EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre (EEC) will run 2 Real Time Simulations (RTS) named 6 STATES. This is an ambitious project considering the large number of States concerned.

Benelux, France, UK and Germany will participate with Air Traffic Services Units (ATSU) which include: Amsterdam ACC (Area Control Centre), Brussels ACC, Dusseldorf APP (Approach Control Services), Frankfurt ACC, Karlsruhe UAC (Upper Area Control Centre), London ACC, Maastricht UAC and Reims ACC beside military representatives from Belgium, France and Germany.

Due to the scale of the simulated area the 6STATES RTS was divided into two areas/simulations. The EAST Simulation, concerning the Maastricht-Germany interface, will run for three weeks from 11^th to 29^th November and the WEST Simulation, concerning the Maastricht-UK interface, will run for two weeks from 20^th to 31^st January next year.

The airspace covering the northern core area of Europe is extremely congested. Today that area is responsible for about 40% of the en-route ATC delays within the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) area.

The presence of several large military areas severely restricts the capacity of several busy key sectors. Despite some recent improvements in the use of the restricted airspace due to the Flexibility Use of Airspace (FUA) scheme, further improvements are required in the area in order to handle future high traffic demand.

Therefore, Germany has decided to implement an extended Lauter TRA (Temporary Reserved Area) and to delete the existing Eiffel TRA in 2003. This will mean significant changes will be required to arrival/departure and overflight routes and sectoritation within the defined area.

The main EAST Simulation objective is to evaluate the impact of the following airspace modifications on sector throughput, with the aim of developing and testing the most suitable airspace structure interface considering the given extended LAUTER TRA.

The main WEST Simulation objective is to determine the potential benefits for Air Traffic Management (ATM) within the western 6 STATES interface by reorganising the Maastricht/UK interface.

After more than a year of regular meetings and one fast time simulation (TAAM) performed by Deutsche Flugsicherung DFS in Frankfurt, the 6 STATES Working Group (6SWG) has agreed the new procedures and routes to be simulated (see E1 map below).

The EEC Project Team has transferred all of these requirements into the simulation platform that will replicate 5 different ACCs. The latest tests performed with the clients in the middle of October were very successful, and the early indications are that the simulations will be extremely important in developing the new airspace structure.

Roger Lane

EEC Project Manager

Tel: (+33) 1 6988 7445

FAX (+33) 1 6988 7352

Email: roger.lane@eurocontrol.int

6 States Project Web Page

Participating organisations:

BELGOCONTROL

Deutsche Flugsicherung

Direction Generale de l’Aviation Civile

National Air Traffic Services

Dutch VACC

EUROCONTROL Maastricht

Abbreviation	Definition
6-ST RSSG	6 STATES Route Structure Steering Group
6 SWG	6 STATES Working Group
ACC	Area Control Centre
APP	Approach Control Service
ATC	Air Traffic Control
ATM	Air Traffic Management
ATS(U)	Air Traffic Services (Unit)
DFS	Deutsche Flugsicherung - (ATS provider for Germany)
EEC	EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre
ESCAPE	EUROCONTROL Simulation Capability and Platform for Experimentation
FUA	Flexible Use of Airspace
RTS	Real-time Simulation
TAAM	Total Airspace and Airport Modeller is a registered trademark of Preston Aviation Solutions (a Boeing company).
TRA	Temporary Restricted Area
UAC	Upper Area Control Centre