AGNES

Main Goals of the Project

European airspace is experiencing growing congestion. At the same time, new categories of vehicles are being progressively integrated, including low-emission aircraft, high-altitude platforms, unmanned aerial systems and military aerial vehicles. This makes it difficult to maintain high standards of safety, seamless interoperability and airspace efficiency. Moreover, the current CNS (Communication, Navigation and Surveillance) infrastructure is increasingly exposed to vulnerabilities such as radio-frequency interference, signal degradation and deliberate threats, including jamming and spoofing.

The AGNES project (A-PNT and GBAS Navigation Enhanced Solutions), funded under the HORIZON-SESAR 2025 programme, aims to strengthen the resilience, continuity and performance of CNS in Europe by developing, integrating and validating next-generation PNT (Position, Navigation and Timing) solutions. The project therefore aims to deliver a robust evolution of PNT and CNS for the Digital European Sky, enabling safer, more efficient and more sustainable operations across all phases of flight.

CIRA Activities in the Project

CIRA will focus on developing algorithms for the advanced integration of distance measuring systems (DME/eDME) and the IRS, including flight-based de-risking activities with FLARE platform.

The expected results for CIRA relate to:

• Specification and development of the algorithm that uses the onboard inertial systems (IRS) output to detect eDME/DME distances affected by error and exclude them from the DME/DME-based aircraft position calculation.
• Definition of the laboratory verification plan.
• Execution of the verification activities and preparation of the related reports.
• Obtaining all the necessary authorizations to carry out flights with FLARE.
• Acquisition of onboard data and validation of the performance required for RNP-1.
• Assessment of the solution’s ability to support more stringent PBN procedures, such as RNP 0.3.
• Preparation of the reports on the results of the flight campaign.

General Project Information

Funding Programme: Horizon SESAR

Start Date: 01/10/2026; End Date: 30/09/2029

Website: https://www.sesarju.eu/projects/AGNES

Coordinating Organization: Pildo Consulting

Partners: Enaire, Boeing, DSNA, Airbus, Airbus Operations, Rohde & Schwarz, DFS, DLR, NAVPOS, Thales Italia, CIRA, Leonardo, ENAV, Indra Navia, SINTEF, Honeywell, Zurcher Hochschule, Eurocontrol, HUP, KAIST

CIRA Contact: Gianfranco Morani, g.morani@cira.it