Print Email Facebook Twitter Three-dimensional conflict count models for unstructured and layered airspace designs Title Three-dimensional conflict count models for unstructured and layered airspace designs Author Sunil, E. (TU Delft Control & Simulation) Ellerbroek, Joost (TU Delft Control & Simulation) Hoekstra, J.M. (TU Delft Control & Simulation) Maas, J.B. (TU Delft Control & Simulation) Date 2018-10-01 Abstract This paper presents analytical models that describe the safety of unstructured and layered en route airspace designs. Here, ‘unstructured airspace’ refers to airspace designs that offer operators complete freedom in path planning, whereas ‘layered airspace’ refers to airspace concepts that utilize heading-altitude rules to vertically separate cruising aircraft based on their travel directions. With a focus on the intrinsic safety provided by an airspace design, the models compute instantaneous conflict counts as a function of traffic demand and airspace design parameters, such as traffic separation requirements and the permitted heading range per flight level. While previous studies have focused primarily on conflicts between cruising aircraft, the models presented here also take into account conflicts involving climbing and descending traffic. Fast-time simulation experiments used to validate the modeling approach indicate that the models estimate instantaneous conflict counts with high accuracy for both airspace designs. The simulation results also show that climbing and descending traffic caused the majority of conflicts for layered airspaces with a narrow heading range per flight level, highlighting the importance of including all aircraft flight phases for a comprehensive safety analysis. Because such trends could be accurately predicted by the three-dimensional models derived here, these analytical models can be used as tools for airspace design applications as they provide a detailed understanding of the relationships between the parameters that influence the safety of unstructured and layered airspace designs. Subject Air Traffic Management (ATM)Airspace designAirspace safetyConflict probabilityConflict rate To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:b68983ba-1851-4484-acde-9c011f38cfd7 DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2018.05.031 Embargo date 2020-07-31 ISSN 0968-090X Source Transportation Research. Part C: Emerging Technologies, 95, 295-319 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2018 E. Sunil, Joost Ellerbroek, J.M. Hoekstra, J.B. Maas Files PDF conflict_count_models.pdf 1.65 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:b68983ba-1851-4484-acde-9c011f38cfd7/datastream/OBJ/view