Conflict resolution of North Atlantic air traffic with speed regulation

Abstract

Since air traffic volume increased over the oceanic airspaces, it has been primordial to improve oceanic air traffic management procedures. One of the most important limitations in the oceans air traffic is the lack of radar coverage. The availability of new surveillance means, called automated dependence surveillance broadcast system (ADS-B), permits to enhance the strategic flight planning over the oceans by reducing the separation standards. Besides, oceanic flights are mainly subjected to strong winds caused by the jet streams. In this work, we focus on optimizing the strategic flight planning over the North Atlantic airspace. First, we organize the traffic inside a route structure that benefits from both the Jet streams and the exploitation of ADS-B systems. Indeed, from one side, these routes are merged inside the jet streams in order to be as close as possible from wind-optimal routes. On the other side, these routes are constructed to fit in with the new separation standards required when implementing the ADS-B systems. Then, we resolve conflicts between aircraft via an optimization model based on a speed regulation. Simulations were conducted for a real traffic data. Computational findings show that the proposed methodology provides satisfying results.