ESSP provides technical assistance to ANSPs, CAAs and airport operators, to develop the activities related to a real PBN implementation.

This services level includes the design phase and every other activity related to such procedure that will lead to its implementation. These activities are defined and regulated by ICAO through different manuals with which ESSP’s methodology fully complies. ESSP offers its support to execute all these activities, either they are mandatory activities and therefore are strictly regulated or recommended activities which strength the approval of the procedures to be implemented.

This service is divided in separated and interconnected subservices covering all the activities the customer needs or desires to develop for the implementation of PBN procedures.

The subservices are the following:

• SL 3.1 Airspace and flight procedure design
• SL 3.2 GNSS performance & interference assessment
• SL 3.3 Environmental impact assessment
• SL 3.4 Safety assessment

SL3.1 Airspace and flight procedure design

ESSP’s designers develop the airspace and flight procedures design accommodating the new PBN solution into the existing airspace, in accordance with the international standards ICAO PANS-OPS doc 8168, doc 9906 and PBN manual doc 9613.

The design includes both conventional and PBN designs:

• Approach flight procedures and
• Terminal area flight procedures
• Route designs
• Airspace structures (CTR/CTA/TMA)

SL3.2 GNSS performance & interference assessment

These assessments are aimed to verify the suitability of GNSS systems and services to provide the required performance to support the intended implementation of PBN procedures in airports and terminal areas. This subservice includes:

• L1, L2 and L5 bands GNSS performance assessment
• L-Band interference spectrum detection
• Multipath assessment

The activities are framed in the ground testing/inspection activities of “site proving” and “initial proof of performance” defined in ICAO doc 8071, ICAO PBN Manual doc 9613, and ICAO Annex 10 Vol. I.

SL3.3 Environmental impact assessment

The environmental assessment covers the evaluation of the aircraft noise exposure and local air quality based on Eurocontrol’s BADA and IMPACT tool.

The methodology and metrics used in the environmental impact assessments are compliant with ICAO guidance material (ICAO Annex 16, Doc. 10031, Doc 9911) and European directives (EC Directive 49/2002, ECAC-CEAC Doc 029).

SL3.4 Safety assessment

The development and submission of a safety assessment to the competent authorities is compulsory from the regulatory point of view for all the airspace changes involving a shift from conventional navigation to PBN. The safety assessments are developed according to the ICAO Annex 19 and Single European Sky regulations, applying Eurocontrol’s SAM methodology and escalating methodologies to customers’ SMS.