Abstract

In the last decade, the constant air traffic growth has brought certain problems as well. While aircraft production and airline functioning are being stimulated by the competition, the situation in air traffic control and in infrastructure component is completely different. Air traffic management (ATM) is still owned by the state. The state, however, is known for the fact of not being a good manager and is solving problems slowly and not efficiently because of its large administration. There is a very strong trade union movement functioning in ATM system, which makes several rational decisions impossible. Critics of the current ATM system in Europe warn of increasing problems-delays and operational expenses. The control component is the only one among the four components of air traffic, which has not been liberalised and harmonised yet. There is no competition in the fields of air traffic. All matters are taken care of by CAA or by semi-private companies, owned by the state. According to air carriers which have to put in 4-9% of business expenses into terminal-and over-flights charges, these expenses are far too heavy a burden. Stalna rast zračnega prometa v zadnjih 10 letih prinaša tudi določene težave. Medtem ko proizvodnjo letal in delovanje letalskih prevoznikov stalno spodbuja konkurenca, je to na področju kontrolne komponente, v manjši meri pa tudi na področju infrastrukturne komponente, drugače. Službe zračnega prometa v celoti so navkljub nekaterim uspehom pri komercializaciji in privatizaciji še vedno večinoma v državni lasti. Država pa je dokazano slabši gospodar, saj zaradi prevelike administracije probleme rešuje počasneje in slabše. V službah zračnega prometa deluje zelo močno sindikalno gibanje, ki marsikatero racionalno odločitev in strateško usmeritev celo onemogoči. Kritiki sedanjega sistema služb zračnega prometa v Evropi svarijo pred naraščajočimi problemi, predvsem zamudami ter vedno večjimi operativnimi stroški opravljanja teh storitev. Navajajo, da od štirih stebrov zračnega prometa, le kontrolna komponenta še ni okusila liberalizacije in harmonizacije. Na področju služb zračnega prometa in konkurence, zadeve pa rešujejo državne ustanove (civilne letalske uprave) ali pa pol privatizirana podjetja, katerih lastnik je seveda država. Prevozniki, ki za preletne ter priletne takse namenijo 4-9% celotnih stroškov poslovanja, trdijo, da jim ta strošek pomeni preveliko finančno breme.

Abstract

ce structure can be used as a procedural mechanism for a priori separation and organization of en-route air traffic. Although many studies have explored novel structuring methods to increase en-route airspace capacity, the relationship between the level of structuring of traffic and airspace capacity is not well established. To better understand the influence of traffic structure on airspace capacity, in this research, four airspace concepts, representing discrete points along the dimension of structure, were compared using large-scale simulation experiments. By subjecting the concepts to multiple traffic demand scenarios, the structure-capacity relationship was inferred from the effect of traffic demand variations on safety, efficiency and stability metrics. These simulations were performed within the context of a future personal aerial transportation system, and considered both nominal and non-nominal conditions. Simulation results suggest that the structuring of traffic must take into account the expected traffic demand pattern to be beneficial in terms of capacity. Furthermore, for the heterogeneous, or uniformly distributed, traffic demand patterns considered in this work, a decentralized layered airspace concept, in which each altitude band limited horizontal travel to within a predefined heading range, led to the best balance of all the metrics considered.

Abstract

International audience; Airspace structure can be used as a procedural mechanism for a priori separation and organization of en-route air traffic. Although many studies have explored novel structuring methods to increase en-route airspace capacity, the relationship between the level of structuring of traffic and airspace capacity is not well established. To better understand the influence of traffic structure on airspace capacity, in this research, four airspace concepts, representing discrete points along the dimension of structure, were compared using large-scale simulation experiments. By subjecting the concepts to multiple traffic demand scenarios, the structure-capacity relationship was inferred from the effect of traffic demand variations on safety, efficiency and stability metrics. These simulations were performed within the context of a future personal aerial transportation system, and considered both nominal and non-nominal conditions. Simulation results suggest that the structuring of traffic must take into account the expected traffic demand pattern to be beneficial in terms of capacity. Furthermore, for the heterogeneous, or uniformly distributed, traffic demand patterns considered in this work, a decentralized layered airspace concept, in which each altitude band limited horizontal travel to within a predefined heading range, led to the best balance of all the metrics considered.

Abstract

Best paper award for the Network Management track; International audience; Airspace structure can be used as a procedural mechanism for a priori separation and organization of en-route air traffic. Although many studies have explored novel structuring methods to increase en-route airspace capacity, the relationship between the level of structuring of traffic and airspace capacity is not well established. To better understand the influence of traffic structure on airspace capacity, in this research, four airspace concepts, representing discrete points along the dimension of structure, were compared using large-scale simulation experiments. By subjecting the concepts to multiple traffic demand scenarios, the structure-capacity relationship was inferred from the effect of traffic demand variations on safety, efficiency and stability metrics. These simulations were performed within the context of a future personal aerial transportation system, and considered both nominal and non-nominal conditions. Simulation results suggest that the structuring of traffic must take into account the expected traffic demand pattern to be beneficial in terms of capacity. Furthermore, for the heterogeneous, or uniformly distributed, traffic demand patterns considered in this work, a decentralized layered airspace concept, in which each altitude band limited horizontal travel to within a predefined heading range, led to the best balance of all the metrics considered.

Abstract

ce structure can be used as a procedural mechanism for a priori separation and organization of en-route air traffic. Although many studies have explored novel structuring methods to increase en-route airspace capacity, the relationship between the level of structuring of traffic and airspace capacity is not well established. To better understand the influence of traffic structure on airspace capacity, in this research, four airspace concepts, representing discrete points along the dimension of structure, were compared using large-scale simulation experiments. By subjecting the concepts to multiple traffic demand scenarios, the structure-capacity relationship was inferred from the effect of traffic demand variations on safety, efficiency and stability metrics. These simulations were performed within the context of a future personal aerial transportation system, and considered both nominal and non-nominal conditions. Simulation results suggest that the structuring of traffic must take into account the expected traffic demand pattern to be beneficial in terms of capacity. Furthermore, for the heterogeneous, or uniformly distributed, traffic demand patterns considered in this work, a decentralized layered airspace concept, in which each altitude band limited horizontal travel to within a predefined heading range, led to the best balance of all the metrics considered.

Abstract

The current system of Air Traffic Control (ATC) relies on a centralized control architecture. At its core, this system is heavily dependent on manual intervention by human Air Traffic Controllers (ATCos) to ensure safe operations. The capacity of this system is, therefore, closely tied to the maximum workload that can be tolerated by ATCos. Although this system has served the needs of the air transportation industry thus far, the increasing delays and congestion reported in many areas indicates that the current centralized operational model is rapidly approaching saturation levels. To cope with the expected future increases of traffic demand, many researchers have proposed a transition to a decentralized traffic separation paradigm in en route airspaces. Although there are several variants of decentralized ATC, this thesis focuses on a variant known as self-separation. In self-separated airspace, each individual aircraft is responsible for its own separation with all surrounding traffic. To facilitate self-separation, significant research effort has been devoted towards the development of new algorithms for automated airborne Conflict Detection and Resolution (CD&R). However, in spite of over two decades of active research highlighting its theorized benefits, decentralization/self-separation is yet to be deployed in the field. From a technical point of view a lack of understanding on three open issues namely airspace design, airspace safety modeling, and airspace capacity modeling, have impeded its further development and implementation. The goal of this research is to address these three open problems in order to bring self-separated ATC closer to reality. Consequently, the main body of this thesis is divided into three parts, with each part tackling one of the three aforementioned open problems...