Discussions around the key operational challenges of Air Traffic Management (ATM) often focus on issues like capacity of airspace and airports, Air Traffic Controller (ATCO) workload and airspace design. However, there is another factor that deserves more attention than it has been receiving: the ability to exchange information efficiently between aircraft and Air Traffic Control (ATC).
To explore this topic further, Global Airspace Radar’s editor Katarzyna Żmudzinska spoke with Joel Klooster, Senior Vice President for Aircraft Operations and Safety at Viasat.
ATM’s unspoken bottleneck: Communications
As ATM evolves towards trajectory-based operations, increased automation and the integration of new airspace users, the volume of information that must be exchanged between aircraft and the ground is growing. The challenge is no longer exclusively that of airspace capacity, but information capacity.
One of the key challenges facing aviation today, and increasingly in the future, is the growing demand placed on existing terrestrial data links from more advanced ATM services, combined with airspace capacity constraints and the need to operate flights more efficiently. At the same time, the aviation industry must accommodate significantly higher traffic volumes and increasingly complex operations.
One example of how the industry is responding to these challenges is Iris, a satellite-based ATM data communications programme developed by Viasat, the European Space Agency (ESA) and ESSP. Iris entered commercial operational service in 2024, with ESSP acting as the certified service provider. Viasat and its partners are supporting a transition from traditional voice communications to more advanced digital data link communications designed to work in harmony with VHF as a robust multilink solution. This involves exchanging richer operational information between aircraft and ATC, rather than relying only on voice communications and radar vectoring.
Modern aircraft avionics can calculate highly efficient trajectories, which can then be shared with ATC via secure satellite communications. This enables controllers to work with a much more predictable flight profile and provide more efficient clearances, such as optimised climb and descent profiles. This shows a broader shift within ATM from managing aircraft positions through tactical interventions towards managing aircraft intent through shared digital information.
Iris is powered by Swift Broadband-Safety (SB-S), Viasat’s next-generation aviation safety communications platform. SB-S provides a highly secure and resilient safety datalink for ATM applications. Alongside safety services, it also supports IP-based communications that can be used for non-safety operational purposes. Examples include aircraft health monitoring, weather and turbulence updates, and operational communications between flight crews and airline dispatchers. These capabilities improve situational awareness and operational efficiency.
From an operational perspective, satellite communications provide the most benefit during phases of flight where aircraft have more flexibility in how they fly, particularly during the en-route phase. In these situations, there is greater potential to optimise trajectories. On the ground however, aviation can also make use of L-band satellite communications, a frequency band that is particularly resilient to adverse weather conditions and well suited to safety-critical communications. This can support services such as pre-departure clearances and other data exchanges while aircraft are at the gate.
Managing traffic at low altitudes
Viasat also aims to develop multi-orbit satellite communications capabilities that could in future combine existing geostationary satellite networks with additional lower-orbit satellite constellations. This approach would provide greater resilience, higher bandwidth and increased communications capacity.
These developments are expected to support the integration of new airspace users, including various categories of uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) and advanced air mobility vehicles. Multi-orbit satellite communications could help enable the safe deconfliction of low-altitude traffic from conventional aviation, supporting the growth of new economic activities and airspace services.
For ANSPs and regulators, this raises important questions about the communications infrastructure needed to support future ATM concepts and accommodate new categories of airspace users, such as UAS. Its strategic importance is becoming increasingly clear. As the industry prepares for higher traffic volumes, more automation and the integration of new airspace users, the ability to exchange information efficiently may become just as important as the ability to move aircraft through the sky.
