AWARE validation exercises test AI-supported situational awareness in Malmö

Can AI anticipate an air traffic controller's next move before it happens-and reshape how decisions are made in Europe's increasingly complex airspace? From 15-24 April 2026, the AWARE project conducts validation activities at LFV's Research and Development Centre in Malmö. The exercises assess how Artificial Situational Awareness (ASA) supports air traffic controllers by predicting intent, reducing workload and improving decision-making in complex traffic scenarios.

Testing Artificial Situational Awareness in operational scenarios

The AWARE project implements validation activities between 15 and 24 April 2026 at LFV's Research and Development Centre in Malmö. The objective is to assess whether the developed systems can meet operational goals once fully implemented.

AWARE's approach focuses on developing a proof-of-concept AI Assistant Application to demonstrate the Artificial Situational Awareness (ASA) solution, which supports air traffic control operators by identifying and assisting them in achieving their operational goals. The ASA system, originally developed during the AISA project, uses aeronautical information exchange models to create a knowledge graph representing the traffic situation, which is then converted to the Resource Description Framework. This graph, enhanced with rule-based knowledge and a reasoning engine, provides a semantic understanding of the traffic situation but cannot assess ATCO goals and actions. To enable effective human-machine collaboration, the system tracks ATCO attention and HMI interactions. By contextualising this information within the traffic situation through integration with Polaris ATM from Tern Systems, the system infers ATCO intent and determines appropriate supportive actions.

From baseline to AI-assisted operations

The experiments are designed to evaluate ASA's ability to predict ATCO intentions, reduce workload and support decision-making across a range of traffic scenarios. Validation includes baseline scenarios without ASA support, as well as advisory and executive modes where the system provides insights, real-time recommendations and automated task support.

Simulations cover high and projected future traffic volumes, assessing system performance under varying operational conditions. The exercises measure ASA's impact on ATM efficiency, capacity, environmental sustainability and safety - key priorities for addressing increasing airspace complexity in Europe.

Towards future operational deployment

Validation activities are conducted through controlled simulations replicating real-world operational demands. The focus is on assessing compatibility with ATCO workflows and demonstrating improvements in traffic flow, delay reduction and environmental performance, without increasing controller workload.

These experiments form an important step towards operational readiness. By validating ASA within the SESAR framework, AWARE contributes to the SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking's vision of safer, more efficient and increasingly automated European ATM, advancing human-machine collaboration in air traffic control.