CIMACT is EUROCONTROL's Civil-Military Air Traffic Management Co-ordination Tool.

Definition

CIMACT is a

EUROCONTROL The European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, commonly known as Eurocontrol (stylised ''EUROCONTROL''), is an international organisation working to achieve safe and seamless air traffic management across Europe. Founded in 1960, Eur ...

software, that is combining and merging civil and military data sources (mainly

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...

and

flight plan Flight plans are documents filed by a pilot or flight dispatcher with the local Air Navigation Service Provider (e.g. the FAA in the United States) prior to departure which indicate the plane's planned route or flight path. Flight plan format is ...

data) into a correlated Air Situation Display (also known as Recognised Air Picture (RAP) to enhance situational awareness and civil-military coordination. The aim is to ensure and increase safety levels, enhance capacity and efficiency. The software is highly flexible, interfaces to a wide variety of data sources and runs on

commercial-off-the-shelf Commercial off-the-shelf or commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) products are packaged or canned (ready-made) hardware or software, which are adapted aftermarket to the needs of the purchasing organization, rather than the commissioning of ...

(COTS) hardware.

History

CIMACT was developed on the basis of ADMAR 2000 (Abgesetzte Darstellung Maastricht Radar Daten), ADMAR, ADKAR and GAME on the basis of a special Agreement of MOD Germany ( – A/13/D/HG/82, April 18, 1983) in cooperation with

. It has been operational since 1983 and was used by the

German Air Force The German Air Force (german: Luftwaffe, lit=air weapon or air arm, ) is the aerial warfare branch of the , the armed forces of Germany. The German Air Force (as part of the ''Bundeswehr'') was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War a ...

exclusively. In 2002 the system was re-engineered to run on modern hardware and operating systems, and eventually named CIMACT. EUROCONTROL has since then offered the software package to its member states. CIMACT's flexibility and versatility have led to increased use by European countries and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

for civil-military coordination,

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

and security-related applications. File:CIMACT AF APP2 2011-04-11.jpg, CIMACT in approach control File:CIMACT HMI.jpg, CIMACT HMI File:Civil-Military Support Systems.png, CIMACT in the flexible use of airspace concept File:CIMACT AF TWR1.jpg, CIMACT on an aerodrome control tower File:Eurocontrol logo 2010.svg, EUROCONTROL File:Eurocontrol hoofdkwartier 2.jpg, EUROCONTROL HQ in Brussels

Operational use

CIMACT is developed as a common co-ordination system to exchange information between civil and military users. CIMACT integrates a wide variety of information to provide the user with a comprehensive overview of the air situation. It contains a set of

(ATC) functionalities, filters and collaboration facilities to enable silent coordination between connected systems. CIMACT offers an automated

interface Interface or interfacing may refer to: Academic journals * ''Interface'' (journal), by the Electrochemical Society * ''Interface, Journal of Applied Linguistics'', now merged with ''ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics'' * '' Inte ...

with the EUROCONTROL Local And sub-Regional Air space management support system (LARA). CIMACT is used the following operational scenarios: * Airspace management (FUA concept) – to improve situational awareness and enable coordination of civil and military controllers during the activation and use of areas designated for military training activities or operations. * Aerodrome and

approach control Approach may refer to: Aviation *Visual approach *Instrument approach *Final approach (aeronautics), Final approach Music * Approach (album), ''Approach'' (album), by Von Hertzen Brothers * ''The Approach'', an album by I:Scintilla Other uses *A ...

– Combined with a radar tracker, the system is used at different military airbases for control of local air traffic. * Tracking, Recording and Analysis – to monitor and assess air traffic to follow up reports, investigate incidents and potential violations. * ATM Security – to coordinate efficiently between civil and military units during ATM Security incidents, for more information, see the video on the EUROCONTROL CIMACT Site. For additional information, see the latest CIMACT Brochure from EUROCONTROL.

Main features

CIMACT is running on a dedicated Linux distribution and is coded in C++ and Java. The main capabilities encompass: * Decoding of multiple types of surveillance (tracks/plots) and flight plan data * Producing one correlated air picture * Connectivity over various networks and protocols (

TCP/IP The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the set of communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the suit ...

, UDP,

X.25 X.25 is an ITU-T standard protocol suite for packet-switched data communication in wide area networks (WAN). It was originally defined by the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (CCITT, now ITU-T) in a series of drafts ...

UMTS The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Inte ...

, etc.) * Filtering and highlighting capabilities * Interfacing to several tools and databases (LARA, and EAD) * Drawing package * Pilot working position ''CIMACT supported data formats'' EUROCONTROL published ASTERIX standards: * CAT000 Time Synchronisation Messages (timestamp and/or status) * CAT001 Monoradar Data Target Reports (Plot and/or Track) * CAT002 Monoradar Service Messages (Timestamp) * CAT003 Distribution of Synthetic Air Traffic Data (Track) * CAT004 Safety Nets Messages (Time and/or Conflict) * CAT008 Monoradar Derived Weather Information (Weather) * CAT009 Multisensor Derived Weather Information (Weather) * CAT021 ADS-B Messages (Track) * CAT030 Air Situation Picture (Track) * CAT031 Sensor Service Messages (Status) * CAT034 Monoradar Service Messages (Timestamp) * CAT048 Monoradar Data Target Reports (Plot and/or Track) * CAT062 System Track Data (Track) * CAT063 Sensor Status Messages (Status) * CAT065 SDPS Service Status Messages (Timestamp) * CAT150 Flight Data Messages (Flight plan) * CAT152 Time Stamp Messages (Timestamp) * CAT252 Session and service control messages (Timestamp) CIMACT developed ASTERIX standards (proprietary standards): * CAT142 Track Highlight Messages * CAT143 Geographical Pointer Messages * CAT144 Note for Inter-site Communication Messages * CAT145 List of Online Participants for Inter-site Communication Messages ADEXP formatted messages: * ADMFPL Flight Plan Message * ADMFPT Flight Plan Termination Message * ADMFPU Flight plan Update Message *LARAACT Airspace Activation Message ICAO formatted messages: * FPL Filed Flight Plan * CHG Changed Flight Plan * CNL Cancelled Flight Plan * CPL Current Flight Plan

Programme management

The CIMACT Programme is managed b
EUROCONTROL's Civil-Military ATM Coordination Division
Helpdesk and Service Support is provided by the CIMACT Team based at EUROCONTROL's

Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre The European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, commonly known as Eurocontrol (stylised ''EUROCONTROL''), is an international organisation working to achieve safe and seamless air traffic management across Europe. Founded in 1960, Eur ...

. CIMACT is maintained and further developed in line with user requirements articulated through the CIMACT User Group. The software development and maintenance is currently contracted to 42Solutions b.v and Graffica Ltd. The Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) for the software are owned by EUROCONTROL.

Summary

CIMACT paves the way towards the European-wide application of the FUA concept with new opportunities for improving civil-military cooperation. CIMACT is a reliable cost-effective operational system supporting the improvement of civil-military co-ordination and security, which enhances the safety of

air navigation The basic principles of air navigation are identical to general navigation, which includes the process of planning, recording, and controlling the movement of a craft from one place to another. Successful air navigation involves piloting an air ...

in the

Single European Sky The Single European Sky (SES) is a European Commission initiative that seeks to reform the European air traffic management system through a series of actions carried out in four different levels (institutional, operational, technological and contr ...

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.eurocontrol.int/tool/civil-military-air-traffic-management-coordination-tool
CIMACT BrochureCIMACT contribution to the Exercise "Vigilant Skies" 2011
Air traffic control in Europe Air traffic control systems Control engineering Information systems