Objectives of the service
PLANET2 aims at providing business and regional aviation with in-flight information updates on weather conditions and hazards, while contributing at the same time to the observation of the atmosphere thanks to in-situ measurements (e.g. pressure, temperature, and wind) sent from the aircraft to the weather agencies.
Besides, the system targets in-flight reporting of dangerous encountered weather conditions via the delivery of digital PIREPs (pilot reports) to other aircrafts, and other non-meteorological services such as in-flight messaging or monitoring.
PLANET2 is a spin-off of the PLANET project (ARTES 3-4 Newcomers), successfully completed in September 2011 with the development of prototype service and on-board Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) targeting the light/small aircraft segment.
Thanks to the “collaborative meteo concept” (i.e. fruition of weather services and provision of weather observation data at the same time), PLANET2 aims at:
- Increasing considerably the number of in-situ measurements made available to weather agencies, which are nowadays provided only by commercial airlines serving a very limited number of airports,
- Increasing significantly the European geographical area of measurements, thanks to many new routes/airports targeted by business and regional aviation,
- provide valuable and cost attractive weather information service to business and regional aviation pilots in return for their provision of in-situ measurements.
The main objective of this project is to develop the PLANET2 platform (inclusive of on-board units and ground segment), and to validate the service through a pilot phase with potential customers.
Current Status
The Final review of the PLANET2 project activities and the System Acceptance Tests of the CCN#1 activities, which were kicked-off in July 2013 in order to obtain the ETSO (European Technical Standard Order) certification by EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) of the PLANET2 avionic and to provide faster satellite communication means (e.g. IRIDIUM RUDICS) to allow the provision of in-flight state-of-the-art meteorological SATELLITE and RADAR products, were both successfully held on 17th December 2013 pending the completion of a few actions.
In March 2014 the ETSO certification of the PLANET2 avionic unit was released by EASA.
Atmosphere-F has been providing the service to Safire, the French operator of environmental research aircraft active in atmospheric chemistry since 2012, and has further agreed with DLR for an additional 12-month service in 2014.
The Final review of CCN#1 activities was successfully achieved in May 2014
