We are very happy to announce that the ICNS executive committee has chosen Dr. Bernd Korn as this year’s 2021 winner for the ICNS Champion Award.
The ICNS Champion Award was established with a primary goal to recognize individuals with significant contribution to CNS either as whole or in one or more of its components.
Dr. Bernd Korn is the head of the Pilot Assistance Department at the Institute of Flight Guidance of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The department comprises a staff of about 60 researchers. Main research topics of his department are flight guidance concepts and technologies, human machine interfaces in the cockpit, U-space/UTM and future ATM concepts / performance-based operations. Bernd holds a master’s degree in computer science and a doctorate in electrical engineering both form Technical University Braunschweig, Germany. In 1998 he joined DLR and in 2005 he became head of pilot assistance department.
Personally, Bernd is a well-known expert in many research areas. In the early 2000s, Bernd established the Enhanced and Synthetic Vision research at DLR and contributed to the international community (e.g., at DASC and ICNS) on ESVS landing systems using AI-based image analysis techniques and sensor fusion of IR and MMW radar sensor data. Later, his focus shifted towards new/advanced air traffic management concepts. His research revealed how the use of onboard 4D FMS capabilities in combination with new designs of route structures in the terminal area enable efficient and noise abating approach procedures like CDOs even in high density traffic situation. In addition, he is the main driver of the new traffic management concept called sectorless ATM or flight centric ATC, an en-route management concept for air traffic control, where controllers are no longer in charge of geographic sectors but are assigned individual aircraft anywhere in the airspace. In addition, Bernd contributed a lot to the development of the European U-space development. Concepts like the density-based traffic management concept for U-space / UAM traffic management are being considered as basis for the future European traffic management concepts actually developed under the umbrella of SESAR.
Bernd is as well a lecturer of CNS courses at Dresden Technical University and is member of several program committees of international conferences. He has served as chair for ATM, UAS or flight deck tracks at several ICNS and DASC conferences since 2006 and organized and moderated panels or was panel member at several ICNS and DASC conference. For the first European DASC 2015 in Prague he served as international co-chair.
In 2008, Bernd joined the DATC, becoming its first international member. He has authored or co-authored over 200 publications, more than 30 of them at ICNS and DASC with 8 being awarded as best-paper-of-session or best-of-paper-of track.