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CNS/ATM Mission-Critical SESAR Eurocontrol Hard-Real-Time V-Model Bash

SACTA-iTEC System

Contribution to the evolution of ENAIRE's Automated Air Traffic Control System, supporting to engineering team for next-generation airspace management.

Official page
Published Sep 1, 2021
Role CNS/ATM Engineer
Domain Airspace Systems

Context

SACTA is ENAIRE’s core Air Traffic Control system, owned by ENAIRE and developed by Indra. It is the primary platform used to manage and separate aircraft in real time across Spanish airspace — one of the most complex in Europe, covering over 2.2 million km² including continental, oceanic, and transatlantic entry corridors, handling approximately 2 million flights per year.

ENAIRE is a member of the iTEC Alliance (Interoperability Through European Collaboration), a partnership of eight leading European Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) — including DFS (Germany), NATS (UK), LVNL (Netherlands), Avinor (Norway), PANSA (Poland), Oro Navigacija (Lithuania), and NavCanada — alongside Indra as technology provider. The goal of the alliance is to progressively build a common, interoperable ATM platform across 27 control centres in 8 countries. The SACTA-iTEC programme represents this evolution for ENAIRE, with version 4.0 being the first release to incorporate iTEC Alliance components.

Features & Modules

The functionalities I worked on:

  • Tactical Trajectory Management (TTM) / iCMON — Requirements specification and validation of the iTEC Conformance Monitoring module, including the logic for detecting level discrepancies between cleared and selected flight levels (CFL/SFL), with adaptive timing and filtering mechanisms to reduce false alerts for controllers.
  • Flight Plan Monitoring (FPM) — Real-time monitoring of flight plan status, supporting controller awareness of plan deviations across the en-route and TMA environments.
  • Direct Route / Route Modification — Specification of enhancements enabling graphical modification of complete flight routes by controllers, including automatic computation of new entry and exit boundary points for airspace outside the standard SACTA coverage.
  • VFR / Mixed Flight Rules (Y/Z rules) — Configuration and display of automated flight rule indicators on the controller position, supporting transitions between visual (VFR) and instrument (IFR) flight phases within the FIR.
  • DAPs / Mode S Downlink Aircraft Parameters — Integration of aircraft-transmitted data (indicated airspeed, ground speed, selected flight level, track, roll angle) directly into controller displays, reducing the need for verbal readbacks and improving track identification reliability.
  • Arrival Manager (AMAN) — Participation in requirements specification for arrival sequencing and spacing support, optimising inbound traffic flows for approach controllers.
  • Wake Turbulence Re-categorisation (RECAT) — Application of updated ICAO/EASA wake separation categories using Mode S data link parameters to improve runway throughput.
  • ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) — Processing and display of aircraft self-reported position data, supplementing multi-radar surveillance in the CWP.
  • Safety Nets — Familiarisation with the specification of critical airspace safety alert functions including Short-Term Conflict Alert (STCA), Minimum Safe Altitude Warning (MSAW), Area Proximity Warning (APW), and No-Transgression Zone (NTZ) monitoring.