GAMMA consortium: defining the future of ATM security

The GAMMA (Global ATM security Management) Consortium met for the first time at the premises of Selex ES in Rome to start project activities as agreed with the Research Executive Agency of the European Commission. Over the next four years Selex ES will lead the GAMMA consortium, comprising 19 European stakeholders with key roles in Air Traffic Management (ATM) and Security, in a research programme aimed at enhancing security in the ATM domain.

GAMMA is a project worth around fifteen million Euros, co-financed by the Research Executive Agency of the European Commission within the Seventh Framework Programme (7th FP) and coordinated by Selex ES. The project stems from the growing need to address new air traffic management threats and vulnerabilities due, for instance, to the increased reliance on distributed enterprise computing and the automated flow of information across a ground and airborne network.

The goal of the GAMMA project is to develop solutions to emerging air traffic management vulnerabilities backed up by practical proposals for the implementation of these solutions. The project will also consider the new scenarios created by the Single European Sky programme.

To reach these goals, GAMMA will first perform a comprehensive assessment of the full set of security threats and vulnerabilities affecting the existing ATM system, considering this as a ‘system of systems’ and covering operational as well as technological aspects. This analysis will provide the basis for GAMMA to develop a security management framework, a concrete proposal for the day-to-day operation of air traffic management security. It will also define the requirements and architecture of a security solution which will include the ability to manage incidents and crises spreading throughout the system. The solution will then be tested in exercises using a validation platform that will include prototypes and demonstrators developed within the project.

GAMMA is a consortium formed by the following companies: Selex ES; Airbus ProSky; Thales Alenia Space España; Boeing Research and Technology Europe; Enav; Lancaster University; Cassidian CyberSecurity; Deutsches Zentrum Fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt; RNC Avionics; Thales  Research and Technology; SEA; 42 Solutions; Ingenieria de Sistemas para la Defensa de España; Romtsa; Ustav Infomatiky; Slovenska Akademia Vied, Thales Avionics; Eads Innovation Works and Ciaotech.