European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation

Date 09.12.2015

On 1 December the SESAR Joint Undertaking kicked off its annual Innovation Days in Bologna, Italy.

Spanning three days, this edition of the event  – the fifth so far – brought together 180 participants from a variety of academic fields. A total of 27 papers were selected by the Programme Committee as part of the SESAR Innovation Days’ long-term and innovative research programme (WP-E).

The event also gave centre-stage to Europe’s youngest and brightest aviation scientists, allowing them to present their research and to compete for the SESAR Young Scientist of the Year Award. This contest aims at recognising and supporting young scientists’ contributions to modernising ATM.

The winner of this year’s award is Floris Herrema – a EUROCONTROL trainee who is working on “Compression on final approach and Time Based Separation for Optimised Runway Delivery.”

Floris’ work helps enhance the understanding of the behaviour of aircraft on final approach. It has a direct impact on the safety of time-based separation (TBS), as deployed at Heathrow Airport, as well as the RECAT 2 reduction in wake vortex separation between pairs of aircraft on final approach.

EUROCONTROL is delighted that its trainee programme provides a platform for outstanding young ATM talents to gain practical experience. David Bowen, Chief ATM at the SESAR JU, remarked when presenting the prizes: “This year’s candidates presented innovative ideas which demonstrate that the future of European ATM research is in safe hands.”