Airbus ProSky and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) signed a research and collaboration agreement to jointly develop a concept of operations for air traffic flow management (ATFM) in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region based on “collaborative decision making” among airspace users. Eric Stefanello, Airbus ProSky president, and CAAS director general Yap Ong Heng signed the agreement at the ATM World Congress in Madrid on Wednesday.

The research and development contract follows a memorandum of cooperation for air traffic management (ATM) research the two parties signed last November, and accounts for part of the CAAS’s larger effort to advance ATM research in Singapore under its Center for Excellence for ATM initiative. The agreement calls for the parties to study air traffic flow “in the context of the specific operational dynamics of the region.” Airbus ProSky plans to build a technology testbed in Singapore running on its Harmony ATFM software platform to develop and refine the ATFM concept of operations.

“CAAS is pleased to partner with Airbus ProSky in ATM research and development, and specifically this first research endeavor to develop a novel air traffic flow management concept of operations that is unique to Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region,” Heng said. “It will pave the way for the eventual application of advanced air traffic flow management solutions that will benefit the aviation community.”