As Sceye works to build a new layer of persistent infrastructure in the stratosphere, the technology is only one part of the equation. Scaling operations will also require new frameworks for how highly-automated fleets integrate into the airspace, communicate with regulators and other operators, and operate safely alongside an increasingly automated aviation ecosystem. This effort goes beyond Sceye. It’s collaborative across the entire stratospheric platform and operator industry and critical to much of the work being done by the HAPS Alliance.
As Sceye’s Director of Aviation Strategy, Léonard Bouygues works at the intersection of these challenges, shaping a regulatory landscape that enables the scaling of a-typical aircraft operated at scale using automation. We spoke with Léonard about the FAA’s emerging Higher Airspace Traffic Management (HATM) framework, the role of automation, and what it will take to build the regulatory and digital framework needed to support persistent operations in the stratosphere.
What brought you to Sceye?
I joined Sceye because I wanted to continue working at the cutting-edge of aviation and help shape what comes next. Throughout my career, I’ve been interested in how new technologies meet the real-world, and where they require us to re-imagine our existing, well-established frameworks. Sceye is building a new layer of infrastructure in the stratosphere, and that creates an opportunity not only to advance the technology itself, but also to help re-shape the broader aviation system such that it can generalize well to support a wider diversity of aircraft, operating concepts, and technologies.
How does your background prepare you for this work?
I have always been a geek at heart, fascinated by cutting-edge technology. Despite studying aeronautical engineering, I started my career at Google in digital advertising technologies because I wanted to focus on disruptive innovation. While seemingly disconnected, there are a lot of concepts and problems in the large-scale automated advertising systems and data-center management that translate directly to highly-automated aviation.
From the advertising world, I joined the Google X Loon project, leading flight operations of a large continuously airborne fleet. I applied some of the techniques the tech world uses to manage servers at scale to the problem of
managing flight-operations at scale, and distributed software concepts to a new kind of airspace management, working with regulators and researchers to embed these new concepts in regulations. I then joined as Safety Director at a company developing autonomous “air-taxis” with very large-scale ambitions and who needed to find alternate ways to the existing aircraft-certification process. Again, some techniques and frameworks used in the cloud/internet world to automatically test and validate complex software were highly relevant. Throughout those years working at the intersection of disruptive technology and regulations I built expertise on the existing regulatory framework and learnt how to work hand in hand with regulators to gradually shape it so that the new technologies can fit within. That experience has been invaluable in helping think through how higher airspace operations can evolve safely and responsibly.
How do you explain what HAPS are and how they work?
High-Altitude Platform Systems, or HAPS, operate in the stratosphere above commercial aircraft and below satellites. They provide a new layer of airborne infrastructure that can support connectivity, environmental monitoring, sensing,
and other services. At Sceye, we think of HAPS as more than just the platform in the air. It’s the entire system, including the platform, the ground systems, and the digital tools that allow long-duration operations to be managed safely and efficiently.
How does Sceye compare to other approaches?
There are different types of HAPS, each with their own strengths. Some are heavier-than-air platforms, similar to aircraft, while others are lighter-than-air platforms, or “unmanned free balloons,” technically speaking. Sceye’s approach
combines the endurance and payload advantages of a lighter-than-air platform with the ability to remain over a target area of operation for extended periods of time. Sceye’s added capability to oppose winds is also a game changer in comparison to other form factors. That combination of persistence, payload capacity, and operational flexibility is what makes the platform unique.
How do you explain the difference between traditional aviation and
persistent higher airspace operations?
Traditional aviation was designed around pilots flying aircraft, most often carrying passengers, during relatively short flights from one place to another, following precise deterministic trajectories over which they have full control, while communicating with air traffic controllers. HAPS introduce several new paradigms. They are highly automated, they can remain over a target area of operation for weeks, month or years, and they are often managed as part of a larger fleet system rather than as individual aircraft. Additionally, their trajectory, especially for lighter-than-air HAPS, is often sensitive to winds and not as deterministic as traditional aircraft, sometime more like a hurricane track instead of a series of waypoints. Unlike aircraft which tend to have relatively constant performance, HAPS performance can vary depending on conditions or time of day That requires us to rethink not just of the vehicle itself, but how airspace is managed.
Why do HAPS require a fundamentally different regulatory and operational
model than traditional aircraft?
As just highlighted, HAPS operate very differently from traditional aircraft. This means that many of the key pillars of aviation from airspace management to safety assessment and flight-authorization need to be adapted. One of the biggest
shifts is that the role of the human changes. Instead of pilots or remote pilots that directly control or supervise individual aircraft, teams of people with various expertise control automated fleet systems: they configure automation, set goals, define restrictions, and intervene when needed. The regulatory framework needs to evolve to support that new model safely and at scale. “Traffic-Flow- Management” – the practice of organizing the flow of traffic to manage and optimize airspace capacity and throughput is another example. What does airspace capacity or throughput mean when aircraft loiter for months and do not “flow”? Airspace capacity metrics may be completely different from what we use for airliners.
Why is the FAA’s HATM framework such an important milestone for the
HAPS industry?
The FAA’s Higher Airspace Traffic Management (HATM) framework is important because it recognizes that higher airspace operations cannot be managed exactly like traditional aviation and provides a very powerful framework that
generalizes well to a very wide range of aircraft and concept of operations, including the existing aircraft and concepts. The FAA’s HATM CONOPs essentially enables two worlds to co-exist in harmony. Eurocontrol’s European Conops for Higher Airspace Operations (ECHO), and the CANSO Complete Air Traffic System (CATS) Conops share many similarities. They all are foundational pillars to support the growth and scalability of HAPS.
What does the future of higher airspace infrastructure look like over the
next 5-10 years?
The best analogy is the internet. The internet works because millions of different systems can communicate using shared standards on a distributed network. I think higher airspace will evolve in a similar way. A distributed digital network will enable the automated systems of operators, regulators, and a multitude of digital service providers, to exchange information digitally, cooperatively identifyand resolve conflicts, and manage the airspace so platforms can operate safely together. Back to my digital advertising background, we may take some inspiration from digital ad bidding systems – these solve a complex allocation problem in a matter of milliseconds taking into advertiser preferences. What excites me is that we’re helping build the digital ecosystem that will allow an entirely new layer of infrastructure to exist.
What role could regulators play in shaping global standards for higher
airspace operations?
HAPS can travel across large regions and potentially operate across multiple countries, so the world cannot rely on a different system in every jurisdiction we need global standards. Just as phones and the internet work because of shared standards, higher airspace operations will require common frameworks that allow systems to work together globally. The regulators that are most innovative and create the frameworks that enable industry to safely develop, scale, and operate efficiently, and cost effectively will lead the way and set the standards that the rest of the world will want to adopt. The airspace above 50k feet is currently mostly empty. This is a unique opportunity to safely test new ideas outside of beaten paths and do things differently. One day, what we learn in Higher Airspace may inform other areas of aviation.
Why is regulatory modernization so important to enabling long-duration
stratospheric infrastructure?
The technology is advancing quickly, but many of today’s aviation rules were designed for a very different type of operation. Regulatory modernization is about creating the frameworks, processes, and digital tools needed to safely integrate a-typical aircraft and operations into the broader aviation ecosystem. The good news is we’re not starting from scratch. Many of the concepts being developed for low altitude drones and highly automated aviation systems are applicable and will help accelerate that process.
How should people think about automation in higher airspace operations?
Automation doesn’t remove humans from the system. It changes their role.
As an analogy, think of how human roles changed from delivering physical mail to email – Humans are necessary to manage emailing systems, but their role is different than those physically delivering mail, they don’t act on individual emails, they manage servers and the automation that does
For Highly Automated Aviation Systems, instead of controlling individual aircraft, people oversee the operation of the fleet automation. Automation controls individual aircraft, humans control that automation – they set objectives, define limits, and step in when needed. The more automated the system gets, the more automation layers you can have (e.g. a human manages automation that manages automation, that manages individual aircraft). The future of higher airspace will depend on highly automated systems, but humans remain responsible for managing those systems and ensuring they operate safely, at least for the foreseeable future, who knows what will change with the progress of AI, for now even the most advanced AI systems have people running them at the top)
What excites you most about HAPS?
What excites me is the possibility that one day HAPS will become completely ordinary. If the industry succeeds, these platforms could become as normal as a power outlet in your home, a telephone pole, or a cell tower. People may not think about them every day, but they’ll rely on the services they enable. HAPS can support connectivity, environmental monitoring, agriculture, forest management, disaster response, and many other applications. That’s what makes them such a powerful infrastructure platform.
Anything else you’d like to share from the regulatory side?
One of the most important things to understand is that this isn’t just about one company or one vehicle. Building a higher airspace ecosystem requires collaboration between operators, regulators, technology providers, and standards organizations. Success depends on creating shared frameworks that allow many different participants to operate safely together. That’s how higher airspace evolves from promising technology into critical infrastructure. If your organization wants to get involved, I recommend joining Sceye and our fellow industry leaders in the HAPS Alliance. We are working on global regulatory efforts, global trials, and more.
