Decision analysis and optimality in air traffic control conflict resolution I. optimal timing of speed control in a linear planar configuration

Abstract

This paper concerns itself with the effects of the air traffic controller's intervention on the progress of a potential aerial conflict and its resolution. The subsumed model consists of two planar intersecting air routes along which aircraft travel with fixed velocities. A potential conflict is declared whenever two airplanes on different routes violate a given safety distance. The task of the controller is to expediently resolve the conflict by modifying, at the right moment, the relative velocities of the planes involved. The intensity of the potential conflict—measured by its duration and minimum separation—depends, beside the approach pattern, on the variables manipulable by the controller. A complete analytical study of the conflict's intensity as a function of the controller's instructions is carried out, and consequently the optimal decisions that contribute most to the resolution of the conflict are laid out.