In April, two workshops on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and a meeting of the FAB CE U-Space Coordination Group (UCG) were both held in Split, Croatia. The main topics discussed, were the requirements that will have the strongest impact on the provision of ATS services by the FAB CE Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) when implementing future U-Space areas. 

 There were two main key areas recognized, which need to be considered separately:

  • Data exchange requirements in regard to Common Information Services (CIS), and
  • The risk assessment requirements when implementing the future U-Space areas.

By the end of 2024, two documents are to be created to harmonize the approach to establishing U-Space at the FAB CE and ANSP level:

  • FAB CE Book of standards for CISP (Common Information Service Provider) data exchange,
  • FAB CE U-Space Coordination Group Risk assessment methodology for the implementation of U-Space airspace and associated services.

Those two activities have been recognized as the main prerequisite to be considered at the operational level and implemented in a harmonized way to enable U-Space to be implemented safely at the national and international level.

In the Split meeting, the UCG group identified additional two areas for common work within FAB CE, which directly influence all ANSPs and which are defined by the EU regulatory framework:

  • Harmonized common procedure for Dynamic airspace re-configuration in U-Space at FAB CE,
  • Harmonized common procedure for the establishment of Dynamic U-Space restrictions at FAB CE.

The FAB CE group concluded that there was a need to continue their work on the matter, primarily due to the workload that the implementation of U-Space would pose for ANSPs due to their lack of experts. That is why mutual support is needed to harmonize the process of establishing U-Space and the related services safely in the whole FAB CE.

FAB CE UCG was founded in 2021 to exchange relevant information, experiences, and best practices of member states in the domain of U-Space implementation and UASs in general, as required by the relevant EU regulations (EU 2021/664, EU 2021/665, and EU 2021/666). Special emphasis is placed on finding solutions in domains of intensive coordination between ANSPs and future U-Space Service Providers.