Exploring the potential benefits of multi-aircraft trajectory manipulation in future air traffic control

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volumeConference contributionScientificpeer-review

35 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Future Air Traffic Management is expected to shift towards four dimensional trajectory (4DT) management, requiring new decision support tools for air traffic controllers to meet stringent time and position constraints. In previous work, a prototype human-machine interface has been developed for 4D trajectory manipulations of single aircraft. This paper describes a tool for multi-aircraft manipulation and investigates its potential control efficiency benefits. A human-in-the-loop experiment (N = 13) has been conducted using scenarios with sector disruptions and varying conflict geometry. Results show that participants preferred to use multi-aircraft manipulation for groups of aircraft having small convergence angles. Since the current implementation involves re-routing all selected aircraft through one common waypoint (referred to as a 'merge point'), extra additional track miles were flown and airspace robustness reduces. Regarding efficiency and safety, multi-aircraft trajectory manipulation seems favourable only for smaller convergence angles, although this also depends on the way the operators place the aircraft merging points. For future development, attention should be devoted to making flight efficiency constraints of each aircraft more salient, enabling controllers to better time the rerouting multiple aircraft and more fairly distribute re-routing costs.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2019 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, SMC 2019
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Pages3699-3704
Number of pages6
Volume2019-October
ISBN (Electronic)9781728145693
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2019
Event2019 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, SMC 2019 - Bari, Italy
Duration: 6 Oct 20199 Oct 2019

Conference

Conference2019 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, SMC 2019
Country/TerritoryItaly
CityBari
Period6/10/199/10/19

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Exploring the potential benefits of multi-aircraft trajectory manipulation in future air traffic control'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this