Air Traffic Control Regulations Research Articles

CONFLICT RESOLUTION STRATEGY BASED ON DEEP REINFORCEMENT LEARNING FOR AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

With the continuous increase in flight flows, the flight conflict risk in the airspace has increased. Aiming at the problem of conflict resolution in actual operation, this paper proposes a tactical conflict resolution strategy based on Deep Reinforcement Learning. The process of the controllers resolving conflicts is modelled as the Markov Decision Process. The Deep Q Network algorithm trains the agent and obtains the resolution strategy. The agent uses the command of altitude adjustment, speed adjustment, or heading adjustment to resolve a conflict, and the design of the reward function fully considers the air traffic control regulations. Finally, simulation experiments were performed to verify the feasibility of the strategy given by the conflict resolution model, and the experimental results were statistically analyzed. The results show that the conflict resolution strategy based on Deep Reinforcement Learning closely reflected actual operations regarding flight safety and conflict resolution rules.

Tactical Conflict Solver Assisting Air Traffic Controllers Using Deep Reinforcement Learning

To assist air traffic controllers (ATCOs) in resolving tactical conflicts, this paper proposes a conflict detection and resolution mechanism for handling continuous traffic flow by adopting finite discrete actions to resolve conflicts. The tactical conflict solver (TCS) was developed based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL) to train a TCS agent with the actor–critic using a Kronecker-factored trust region. The agent’s actions are determined by the ATCOs’ instructions, such as altitude, speed, and heading adjustments. The reward function is designed in accordance with air traffic control regulations. Considering the uncertainty in a real-life situation, this study characterised the deviation of the aircraft’s estimated position to improve the feasibility of conflict resolution schemes. A DRL environment was developed with the actual airspace structure and traffic density of the air traffic operation simulation system. Results show that for 1000 test samples, the trained TCS could resolve 87.1% of the samples. The conflict resolution rate decreased slightly to 81.2% when the airspace density was increased by a factor of 1.4. This research can be applied to intelligent decision-making systems for air traffic control.

Aircraft rerouting and rescheduling in multi-airport terminal area under disturbed conditions

The disturbances, caused by resource competition, weather changes, and demand uncertainties, frequently occur and result in obvious fluctuations (e.g., the increase or decrease of demand and capacity) in demand and capacity. This work addresses the problem of aircraft rerouting and rescheduling in presence of disturbances, characterized by the increase or decrease of demand and capacity, at a multi-airport terminal maneuvering area (TMA). A multi-objective optimization model is proposed to minimize the total flight delays and total extra flying time, considering the aircraft wake turbulence separation, runway operation rules, air traffic control regulations, scheduling time windows, and airport/airspace capacity, etc. Based on the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II), we designed an efficient evolutionary algorithm to solve the proposed model and search the Pareto solutions. Five scenarios are designed to analyze and compare the operation performance under normal and disturbed conditions, using the classic First-Come-First-Served (FCFS) and optimized scheduling (OPTS) methods. A case study is conducted for Shanghai Pudong and Hongqiao Airports, and the computational results show that, compared with the FCFS method, the proposed OPTS method significantly performs a overall better performance in minimizing total flight delay and total extra flying time, while slightly inferior in optimizing the delay and extra flying time of one single flight.

On the identification of weather avoidance routes in the terminal maneuvering area of Hong Kong International Airport

The safety and efficiency of air traffic are significantly affected by adverse weather. This holds especially in terminal maneuvering areas (TMA) where, in addition to the impact of weather itself, potential weather avoidance routes are strongly restricted by air traffic regulations. A weather avoidance model DIVMET has been developed which proposes a route through a field of developing thunderstorms. Air traffic control regulations have not been included in it at this stage. DIVMET was applied to the TMA of Hong Kong International Airport as air traffic control (ATC) there has become interested in improving the controller’s work load, especially for managing incoming traffic by avoidance route simulations. Although visual inspection of simulated avoidance routes by ATC was satisfactory, a quantitative validation of simulated with real observed routes was also carried out. Two real adverse weather situations with thunderstorms within the TMA of Hong Kong and with heavily distorted traffic were chosen. The main objective prior to any validation, however, was to identify routes which are solely impacted by weather but do not show any signs of regulation. Route selection was done on the base of flight position data. Landing flights were selected and deviations from standard approach routes were analyzed. As a result, the majority of 272 flights were found to be affected by both weather and regulations (60%), highlighting the challenge for air traffic controllers to manage landing traffic under adverse weather conditions safely and efficiently. Only a few weather-affected flights (7%) were not regulated and could be used for validation. DIVMET simulation routes were presented to local air traffic controllers who confirmed them as potential and realistic avoidance routes. DIVMET weather avoidance route simulations within a TMA appear to be helpful but further model development has to incorporate traffic regulations, to include holdings, short-cuts, and slow-downs.

Computation of global trajectories of commercial transport aircraft

A trajectory computation tool designed to compute global trajectories (from take off to landing) of commercial transport aircraft is presented. The global trajectory is defined by a general flight intent, considering flight segments usually flown by transport aircraft, including standard airline procedures, and air traffic control regulations. The computation is based on a trajectory computation solver designed for a general aircraft performance model (general drag polar and general engine model); the formulation takes into account wind effects and temperature corrections for a non-standard atmosphere. In the computation of the global trajectory, the top-of-descent point is determined iteratively, using the actual aircraft weight computed along the flight. Global properties such as total fuel consumption and flight time are computed; the influence of the actual take-off weight is analysed, as well as the effects of wind and non-standard temperatures. The computation tool provides a quantitative evaluation of these effects. Results are presented for a medium-range global trajectory and a model of a typical twin-engine, wide-body and, transport aircraft.

Conflict Resolution in Converging Air Traffic Using Trajectory Patterns

A method for conflict detection and resolution based on the parameterization of the aircraft intents is presented. The method is also based on the use of predefined trajectory patterns, which are in fact flight intents; these patterns include standard airline procedures and air traffic control regulations. The conflict resolution problem is formulated as a parametric optimization problem subject to constraints; the optimality criterium is defined so that the deviation from the intended (preferred) trajectories in the lateral profile is minimized. The resolution trajectory patterns take into account changes of the nominal waypoints (vectoring) and changes of the aircraft speeds. The method is applied to the case of multiple conflicts among commercial transport aircraft in converging traffic in the terminal area; different scenarios are considered, which include locked aircraft, that is, aircraft whose trajectories are known and fixed. The conflict detection and resolution algorithm relies on a kinetic trajectory predictor (nonlinear point-mass model with variable mass), which is accurate, flexible, and transparent, and provides the high-fidelity prediction required in the analysis of the demanding terminal area traffic. The cost of the global conflict resolution process is assessed, in terms of extra distance traveled, extra flight time, and extra fuel consumed for each aircraft.

Days of Future Past: Documenting the Future

In the future Britain will not be a nice place to live. By 2014 the growth in the gap between the rich and the poor will have led to a society divided both economically and physically, the ‘underclass’ constantly at war with those with economic clout. The obesity epidemic due to changes in dietary habits and the decline in exercise will, by 2020, have led to a National Health Service stretched to its limits through dealing with the consequences of the nation’s inability to do something as simple as eating properly. This will compound the other primary drain on the NHS budget in 2024: the ageing population requiring expensive long-term care, with the health system being a victim of its success in helping people to live longer. The economic consequences will be dire, with a shrinking working population contemplating violent direct action in their campaign against the exponential tax rises required to fund the elderly and the overweight. At the same time, the country will still be recovering from a range of disasters and terrorist attacks which occurred at the beginning of the twenty-first century and seriously undermined the population’s faith in government, science, politics and all of those whose job it is to ensure our lives are safe. Both the smallpox attack of 2002 and the release of chlorine gas in the London Underground in May 2004 not only claimed many lives, they also demonstrated how easy it was for such things to happen. And the aircraft which crashed into West London in 2003 – a consequence of air traffic control regulations and general inadequacies in Britain’s transport policy – showed how deaths on such a massive scale are not always a result of terrorists. In all, the first quarter of the twenty-first

New Algorithms for Aircraft Intent Inference and Trajectory Prediction

Aircraft tracking, intent inference, and trajectory predictions are important tools for enhanced capacity in air traffic control operations. In this paper, we propose an algorithm that performs these three tasks accurately. The algorithm uses a hybrid estimation algorithm to estimate the aircraft's state and flight mode. These estimates are combined with knowledge about air traffic control regulations, the aircraft's flight plan, and the environment to infer the pilot's intent. Trajectory predictions are computed as a function of the aircraft's motion (state and mode estimates) and the inferred intent The result is an algorithm that provides, in real-time, accurate intent and trajectory predictions for aircraft. We analyze and test the performance of the proposed algorithm with various scenarios representative of current and future aircraft operations within the National Airspace System.

The ergonomics of flight management systems: fixing holes in the cockpit certification net

Recent air traffic control regulations mandate the installation of computer-based flight management systems in airliners across Europe. Integrating and certifying add-on cockpit systems is a long and costly process, which in its current form cannot meaningfully address ergonomics aspects. Two levels of problems occur: add-on systems carry many “classic” HCI failures, which could easily be addressed with modified certification requirements. Further, adding new technology changes practice, creates new skill and knowledge demands and produces new forms of error, which are more difficult to assess in advance. However, one innovative certification approach for add-on cockpit systems, based on the use of a representative population of user pilots, was found to be promising. This method minimizes the subjective bias of individual pilots in addition to defining pass/fail criteria in an operational environment.

Risk and Capacity Impacts of ATC Separation Rules

Some of the most significant factors in determining runway capacity are air traffic control regulations. Interaircraft separation regulations have been established to provide maximum safety to the travelling public. Thus any modification of these regulations, in an attempt to increase capacity, must have sufficient benefits to outweigh any increase in risk. A simulation indicated that the required separation between two arriving aircraft of 5,490 m could be reduced to 4,570 m, with a modeled 15% increase in capacity and a 1.5% increase in risk. Further simulations indicated that parallel runways spaced as close as 914 m apart could be operated independently, with capacity increases of between 38% and 95% and no estimated increase in risk. Reducing the present requirement to separate arriving aircraft from departing aircraft by 3,560 m to 1,825 m was estimated to result in a 25% increase in capacity with only a 1.5% increase in risk.

The city helistop

The large number of enquiries received by the BHAB show that there is a need for basic guidelines on this subject. These are given here but more detailed information is available from the Civil Aviation Authority, AS4.Any owner of a piece of ground may use it as a helicopter landing facility without any kind of permission, provided the following conditions are met:a.It is not in a congested area, as defined in Article 90 of the Air Navigation Order 1976, that is, any area which is substantially used for residential, industrial, commercial or recreational purposes.(Note: In this context, the CAA considers the term “substantial’ to mean 50% or more.)b.No structure is erected in connection with its use as a helicopter landing area, eg concrete landing pad, hangar,etc, other than a temporary structure such as a windsock.c.Its usage is confined to the private or business use of the owner, his employees or anyone specifically visiting him for social or business purposes.d.A pilot using the site will be able to conform with Rule 5 of the Rules of the Air and Air Traffic Control Regulations 1976.