Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine November 2017 - 4

Feature Article:

DOI. No. 10.1109/MAES.2017.170037

Provisioning for a Distributed ATM Security
Management: The GAMMA Approach
Hamid Asgari, Thales UK Research, Technology & Innovation (RTI), Reading, UK
Tim H. Stelkens-Kobsch, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Braunschweig, Germany
Patrizia Montefusco, Leonardo, Giugliano in Campania, Naples, Italy
Lalitha Abhaya, Airbus, Elancourt, France, Rainer Koelle, Eurocontrol, Lancaster, UK,
Garik Markarian, Lancaster University, UK, Giuliano D'Auria, Leonardo, Rome, Italy

INTRODUCTION
Air transportation represents a complex network of stakeholders
that include air navigation service providers (ANSPs), airport operation centers, airlines, manufacturers, government and security
agencies, and airspace policy authorities, passengers, etc. The security management in this federated and multistakeholder environment faces legal, institutional, and technical challenges. The
current state in aviation security is outlined by the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) Annex 17 of the Chicago Convention that was adopted in 1974 and subsequently updated several
times [1]. With its most recent update, Annex 17 recognizes the
security contribution of ANSPs and identifies cyber security as a
further dimension of aviation security.

Authors' addresses: H. Asgari, Thales UK Research, Technology & Innovation (RTI), 350 Longwater Avenue, Green Park,
Reading RG2 6GF, UK. Email: (Hamid.Asgari@uk.thalesgroup.
com). T. Stelkens-Kobsch, German Aerospace Center,
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft-und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR)
Institute of Flight Guidance, Lilienthalplatz 7, 38108 Braunschweig, Germany; P. Montefusco, Leonardo, SpA, Security &
Information Systems Division/Design Integrity Circ. Esterna di
Napoli, Giugliano in Campania (NA) - 80014 Italy; L. Abhaya,
AIRBUS Defence & Space, 1 Boulevard Jean Moulin, CS
40001 78996 ELANCOURT Cedex France; R. Koelle, School
of Computing and Communications, InfoLab21, South Drive
Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4WA, UK; G. Markarian,
Chair in Communication Systems, School of Computing and
Communications, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4WA,
UK; G. D'Auria, Leonardo, Security & Information Systems
Division/ATM Next Generation, Via Tiburtina km12,400, 00131
Rome, Italy.
GAMMA (Global ATM security management) is a partially
funded project by European Commission 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7),
Contract number 312382.
Manuscript received January 31, 2017, revised May 15, 2017,
and ready for publication June 21, 2017.
Review handled by W. Walsh.
0885/8985/17/$26.00 © 2017 IEEE
4

Prior to the year 2000, air traffic management (ATM) had
largely been delegated to local entities and European Union (EU)
members cooperating through Eurocontrol [2] and intergovernmental organizations. Present-day aviation is subject to an established regulatory environment to ensure aircraft safety and ATM
security. In particular, Eurocontrol coordinates and plans for ATM
activities in the whole European area. The US regulatory agency,
the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and European and national regulatory agencies are coordinated by ICAO. Eurocontrol
uses ICAO guidelines and documents as the reference, and works
towards their harmonization with the EU regulations and EUROCAE [3] guided standardizations.
There are a number of initiatives involved in the ATM security
standardization including the two EUROCAE Working Groups [3]
as stated below.
C

EUROCAE-WG72: Aeronautical systems security focuses
on the development of guidelines to address security concerns for airborne systems and interfacing ground systems.
It addresses security-related topics throughout the entire
lifecycle of products developed, manufactured, and operated
by many different civil aviation stakeholders. This working
group collaborates with the RTCA SC-216 group [4] to develop the Airworthiness Security Process and the methods to
use within it, including addressing security risk assessment
and security assurance for safety-related aircraft systems;
EUROCAE-WG78: It specifically addresses security concerns associated with future digital data link capability supporting air-to-ground communications. This working group
collaborates with the RTCA SC-214 group to develop
the Minimum Aviation System Performance Standards
(MASPS) for end-to-end data security requirements for next
generation ATS (air traffic services) data link systems.

Security issues related to ATM have been changing throughout the years, determining new challenges to be dealt with due to
technological advances and rapidly changing political landscapes
around the world. The existing ATM system has vulnerabilities
and security-related capability gaps and there is an urgent need to

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NOVEMBER 2017

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