Airspace Management Research Articles

SPHERE AND OBJECT OF ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL SUPPORT FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT FUNCTION IN AVIATION

Purpose: determination of the sphere and object of administrative and legal support for the implementation of the state law enforcement function in aviation. Research methods: cross-sectoral approach, which applied the historical and legal method, which made it possible to study the retrospective development of the concept of «aviation», «aviation activity»; methods of analysis and synthesis helped to determine the essence of the object of administrative and legal support for the implementation of state law enforcement functions in aviation. Results: the concept of general aviation has been defined - a type of civil aviation that is not associated with both the commercial operation of air transport and the specialized non-commercial operation of air transport while providing specialized types of activities (agriculture, construction, photography, geodesy, surveillance and patrolling, air advertising, etc. etc.). The aviation industry of Ukraine is a component of the transport system for the production (including, development, testing, manufacturing, maintenance, repair and disposal) of aircraft, their use in airspace, as well as air traffic management activities (including airspace management), air traffic services and air traffic flow management) of Ukraine. It was proposed to consolidate the formulated definition in a legislative act, in particular, Article 1 of the Air Code of Ukraine. Discussion: the object of administrative and legal support for the implementation of the state law enforcement function in aviation is proposed to be interpreted in a broad and narrow sense. In a broad sense, this is an aviation activity; narrowly - activities for the development, experimental testing, manufacturing of aircraft with their release into circulation, operation, maintenance and disposal, as well as activities for air traffic maintenance, management of the use of the airspace of Ukraine and the organization of air traffic flows.

Full Integration of Light RPAS into Not Segregated Airspace: Preliminary Safety Analysis for the Implementation of a Risk Model

A general evolution of airspace and air traffic management is ongoing in Europe including significant novelties for manned aviation. The most important one is the full integration of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) in the next future and the full integration of automated air vehicles and Driverless Personal Air Vehicles (DPAV) afterwards with manned aircraft. The economic impact of integration of RPAS with manned aircraft into not segregated airspace to perform aerial work is very important. European and worldwide Aviation Authorities and other organizations (EUROCONTROL, JARUS, RTCA, etc.) are working to elaborate new regulations and standards to maintain the current level of safety of aerial operations facing the incoming new entry in the airspace. The implementation of a comprehensive preliminary risk model is deemed to be propaedeutic to any former safety analysis of the new operational scenario: RPAS and manned aircraft flying together into a not segregated airspace. Such risk model is defined in accordance to the Safety Risk Management Pillar of Safety Management System model. The safety analysis for the implementation of the above mentioned preliminary risk model is presented and discussed in this article. Copyright © 2020 Praise Worthy Prize - All rights reserved.

Urgensi Penerapan Interdependent Airspace Governance Untuk Optimalisasi Tata Kelola Ruang Udara Nasional Sebagai Antisipasi Open Sky Policy

Indonesia as an archipelago state has a national airspace of 5,180,053 km². Indonesia's airspace is located in a strategic position between the continents of Asia and Australia which makes Indonesia one of the busiest air routes in the world. Therefore, the management of air space is a vital matter that must be emphasized through various legal instruments. The sovereignty of Indonesian air space is affirmed in Article 49 paragraph (2) of the 1982 International Law of the Sea Convention which was ratified by Law Number 17 of 1985 concerning Ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This article explicitly regulates the legal status of archipelagic waters, air space over archipelagic waters and the seabed as well as the land below. So far, territorial sovereignty that is complete and exclusive is regulated in Law Number 1 of 2009 concerning Aviation, but it does not specifically regulate the boundaries of Indonesia's sovereign air space, either vertically or horizontally. The national airspace of a country is completely closed to foreign aircraft, both civilian and military, so it must be with the permission of the underworld, either through bilateral agreements or multilateral agreements, so that a country's national air space can be traversed by foreign aircraft. Such closed nature can be understood considering that air space is a very vulnerable medium of movement when viewed from the point of view of under-state defense and security. Attacks using aircraft have many advantages and conveniences that can exploit the vulnerability of an air space, such as its fast (speed), wide range, surprise, optimal penetration. This is what prompts each country to adopt its national airspace protection standards which are strict and rigid. Flights between countries are fully regulated through the Bilateral Air Transport Agreement (BATA). Without BATA, the state cannot provide air transportation services to a country. BATA itself is a form of implementation of state sovereignty in air space that is complete and exclusive in the midst of globalization challenges, such as aviation liberalization (Open Sky Policy). Referring to the Open Sky Policy, this policy allows air carriers to make decisions on routes, capacities, prices and various options for flight activities.

Advanced Airspace Management Process

In order to increase efficiency and reduce delays, an improved airspace management process must be implemented leading to optimal route planning, better utilization of available airspace and increased performance targets in service delivery - through the establishment functional blocks of airspace (FABs). The Single European Sky (SES) project supports the establishment of the FAB through greater optimization and better performance, strengthening the ATM network through the introduction of the main objectives of the regulatory package, redesigning the European airspace in order to establish new air traffic flows; creating an increase in additional capacity, all with the aim of increasing the efficiency of the ATM system.

Managing the drone revolution: A systematic literature review into the current use of airborne drones and future strategic directions for their effective control

Commercial and private deployment of airborne drones is revolutionising many ecosystems. To identify critical issues and research gaps, our systematic literature review findings suggest that historic issues such as privacy, acceptance and security are increasingly replaced by operational considerations including interaction with and impacts on other airspace users. Recent incidents show that unrestricted drone use can inflict problems on other airspace users like airports and emergency services. Our review of current regulatory approaches shows a need for further policy and management response to both manage rapid and efficient drone usage growth, and facilitate innovation (e.g. intraurban package delivery), with one promising strategic response being low altitude airspace management (LAAM) systems for all drone use cases.

LEGAL REGULATION OF THE SUBJECTS OF AVIATION ACTIVITIES

The purpose of the article is to determine peculiarities of the aviation activity and, on the basis of the analysis of legal literature and normative legal acts, to propose an author’s definition of the said concept. Research methods: the following methods are applied. Formal-logical – for the formation of new concepts, their classification; eliminating inaccuracies and contradictions, etc. Formal dogmatic, or legal method, based on the use of rules of formal logic for knowledge of law, is a traditional, inherent in legal science, since it proceeds from its nature. Its essence is in the formulation and disclosure of legal concepts, the construction of legal structures, and clarification of the actual content of the law. At all stages of scientific research the dialectical method is used. This method determines the paths of any scientific study. It helps to explore all the phenomena in the relationship, interdependence. Comparative method involves comparing single-order legal concepts, phenomena and processes to establish similarities and account for differences between them. Results: based on the analysis of legal literature and the current national, aviation legislation, the author suggested his own definition of the subject of aviation activity. The subject of aviation activity is physical and legal entities of any organizational and legal form and departmental subordination, which create conditions and use airspace with the help of aircraft and other fly machine, including air traffic services, airspace management and flow management, air traffic, which is performed safely, economically and efficiently by providing facilities and continuous service in cooperation with all parties and with the involvement of airborne and ground functions, act on the basis of the provisions of general and special aviation legislation and are able by their actions to acquire rights and exercise them independently, as well as to perform duties and be liable in case of non-compliance. Discussion: features of functioning of subjects of aviation activity, problems of classification of subjects of aviation activity.

Three-dimensional (3D) Monte-Carlo modeling for UAS collision risk management in restricted airport airspace

The increased availability of off-the-shelf recreational unmanned aerial systems (UAS) on the market has greatly increased the likelihood of UAS intrusion, regardless of intent, into the controlled airspace. Such intrusion is especially a concern for airports in Singapore, where the consequence for a UAS collision is high and the 5 km restricted airport airspace covers nearly half of its overland airspace. The 3D Monte-Carlo UAS positional distribution model, based on flight dynamics of the UAS, was developed to help assess the risk posed by the UAS to aircraft operating inside the aerodrome. Simulations were carried out to establish the Alert Zone boundaries to quickly determine the collision risk posed by non-cooperative UAS sightings for various airport operation scenarios. The 3D model was also used to carry out simulations that could help determine the buffer airspace needed for cooperative UAS operating inside the aerodrome.

Space eye on flying aircraft: From Sentinel-2 MSI parallax to hybrid computing

Knowledge of the status (position and speed) of flying aircraft is vital for efficient and safe air space management. However, this requirement is often compromised due to the complexity of the aviation environment. Satellite remote sensing (RS) provides a complementary means for tracing aircraft, but is often limited to finding motionless aircraft under specific scenarios (e.g., at airports). Here, based on the inter-band offsets due to hardware parallax in push-broom sensors (e.g., Sentinel-2 Multispectral Instrument or MSI), we develop a method for detecting flying aircraft in an automated fashion. Supported by a hybrid computation framework (based on Google Earth Engine computation and local computation) specifically designed to address the challenge of processing large volume of moderate resolution RS data at a global scale, the method is applied to more than 2.31 million MSI images to establish a map of the global distribution of flying aircraft. The detected flying aircraft coincide well with those determined using traditional techniques (e.g., Flightradar24), when both datasets co-exist. With the existing and future moderate-resolution data captured by push-broom satellite sensors, the method is believed to provide a robust and cost-effective means of detecting aircraft status at a global scale, thus supplementing the traditional methods for tracking flying aircraft. The same method is also used to estimate the inter-band and inter-granule time offsets in multi-band MSI and Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) images, which may provide critical information needed to correct artifacts in aquatic applications.

FLIGHT TRAJECTORY PREDICTION FOR AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

With the ever-increasing volume of air traffic, strategic air traffic flow is a prerequisite requirement for effective functioning and transit of flights. Air traffic management is a term in the aviation industry that encompasses all the systems that work towards assisting an aircraft in the course of its departure, transit, and landing. The airspace management is to maneuver through the dangerous and fatal airspace sectors to make a safe flight experience for the on-board passengers and the aircraft itself. The objective concerns with identifying the hazardous areas in the airspace and avoiding them in the due course of the flight trajectory. The points of trajectory are predicted and computation with the help of continuously changing weather information. Clustering is used on the historical flight trajectories to classify the flight traffic into major groups based on similarity measures. Using these clusters, the Intent-based model predicts flight path and suggests an alternative path in case of the presence of a weather anomaly in the original flight path.

Which States Are Prepared for the Drone Industry? A 50-State Report Card

Worldwide, commercial drone services are being tested and permitted. Progress in the United States has been slow, in part because of a lack of clarity about the federal and state roles over drones and airspace management. To jump-start the drone industry, states can create drone highways — aerial corridors directly above public roads. We score and rank the 50 states based on their laws and drone industry data that indicate their preparedness for drones and drone highways. By adopting laws that allow cities to lease the air rights above public roads, vest air rights with property owners, and establish avigation easements, states can facilitate drone integration independent of reform from Congress or the Federal Aviation Administration. Creating a clear and coherent framework, such as a system of drone highways, will make parcel delivery faster, improve distribution of medical supplies, and create technology and logistics jobs.

The challenges of estimating the distribution of flight heights from telemetry or altimetry data

BackgroundGlobal positioning systems (GPS) and altimeters are increasingly used to monitor vertical space use by aerial species, a key aspect of their ecological niche, that we need to know to manage our own use of the airspace, and to protect those species. However, there are various sources of error in flight height data (“height” above ground, as opposed to “altitude” above a reference like the sea level). First the altitude is measured with a vertical error from the devices themselves. Then there is error in the ground elevation below the tracked animals, which translates into error in flight height computed as the difference between altitude and ground elevation. Finally, there is error in the horizontal position of the animals, which translates into error in the predicted ground elevation below the animals. We used controlled field trials, simulations, and the reanalysis of raptor case studies with state-space models to illustrate the effect of improper error management.ResultsErrors of a magnitude of 20 m appear in benign conditions for barometric altimeters and GPS vertical positioning (expected to be larger in more challenging context). These errors distort the shape of the distribution of flight heights, inflate the variance in flight height, bias behavioural state assignments, correlations with environmental covariates, and airspace management recommendations. Improper data filters such as removing all negative flight height records introduce several biases in the remaining dataset, and preclude the opportunity to leverage unambiguous errors to help with model fitting. Analyses that ignore the variance around the mean flight height, e.g., those based on linear models of flight height, and those that ignore the variance inflation caused by telemetry errors, lead to incorrect inferences.ConclusionThe state-space modelling framework, now in widespread use by ecologists and increasingly often automatically implemented within on-board GPS data processing algorithms, makes it possible to fit flight models directly to the output of GPS devices, with minimal data pre-selection, and to analyse the full distribution of flight heights, not just the mean. In addition to basic research about aerial niches, behaviour quantification, and environmental interactions, we highlight the applied relevance of our recommendations for airspace management and the conservation of aerial wildlife.

Modelling and Simulation of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency Billing System Using Python Simulation Packages

Revenue generation has a positive and significant effect on the growth of any business. The existing work process in Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) billing system creates the loophole for revenue deficit. The need to enhance the billing system of this organization prompted the need for this study. Primary data were collected from NAMA station at Muritala International Airport and its corporate headquarters. The data include the process and time of attending to airlines or their agents (which includes arrival time, service time, departure time, Waiting time etc.), Six months financial statement of NAMA MMIA, Debt profile details for debtors and number of airlines attended to per day. These data formed the input for developing the SimPy model to bring together process based discrete events. Validation was done by comparing the simulated results with the real results using statistical t-test at p less than 0.05 (p<0.05). 15 airlines were considered for 5 months (assuming 30 days per month), making an average of 6 landings per day per route which represents 3 flights within a route per day. The rate is ₦7,000 per one-hour flight per route. The simulation results reveal that with the proposed model ₦23,948,044 was generated as against ₦12,486,680 of the existing system. This represents 191.788% improvement. This result is for Murhitala Muhammed International Airport (local wing) only. The python simulation package (SimPy) used, introduced approval levels for the various department, thereby ensuring no departments’ function was undermined. This model is useful for Airspace management, in that it reduces deficit without any negative impact on the safety and service delivery of airlines.

Multi-Objective Evaluation of Airborne Self-Separation Procedure in Flow Corridors Based on TOPSIS and Entropy

This paper proposes a simulation-based framework for assessing airborne self-separation procedures in flow corridors with consideration of different performance metrics, including air traffic operations, corridor capacity, safety, and environmental impacts. Firstly, the airborne self-separation concept in flow corridors is introduced, followed by an agent-based flow corridor simulation model. Then, data were collected to initialize a parallel-lane flow corridor model connecting A461 upper air route from Beijing to Guangzhou in China which can also simulate aircraft self-separating in the flow corridor. The total control delay, flow corridor throughput, breakout rate, and the CO2 emissions of traffic flow were considered as the impact measurements, and the TOPSIS and entropy method was used to rank the performances of different self-separation procedures. We found that combining multiple objectives into one, the optimum scheme can be obtained to guide the design of self-separation procedures for flow corridors. The research results can be used by airspace managers to dynamically develop appropriate operational procedures and rules for flow corridors given different operational conditions and constraints. Also, the framework proposed in the research may be used to evaluate the design of airspace structure with consideration of multiple objectives.

NASA electrified aircraft propulsion efforts

PurposeThis paper aims to review national aeronautics and space administration (NASA’s) broad investments in electrified aircraft propulsion (EAP). NASA investments are guided by an assessment of potential market impacts, technical key performance parameters, and technology readiness attained through a combination of studies, enabling fundamental research and flight research.Design/methodology/approachThe impact of EAP varies by market and NASA is considering three markets as follows: national/international, on-demand mobility and short-haul regional air transport. Technical advances in key areas have been made that indicate EAP is a viable technology. Flight research is underway to demonstrate integrated solutions and inform standards and certification processes.FindingsA key finding is that sufficient technical advances in key areas have been made, which indicate EAP is a viable technology for aircraft. Significant progress has been made to reduce EAP adoption barriers and further work is needed to transition the technology to a commercial product and improve the technology, so it is applicable to large transonic aircraft.Practical implicationsSignificant progress has been made to reduce EAP adoption barriers and further work is needed to transition the technology to a commercial product and improve the technology, so it is applicable to large transonic aircraft.Originality/valueThis paper will review the activities of the hybrid gas-electric subproject of the Advanced Air Transport Technology Project, the Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology Project and the X-57 Flight Demonstration Project, and discuss the potential EAP benefits for commercial and military applications. This paper focuses on the vehicle-related activities, however, there are related NASA activities in air space management and vehicle autonomy activities, as well as a breakthrough technology project called the Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Project. The target audience is people interested in EAP.

A Review of Research Literature on “Management Reform and Low-altitude Opening of Low Air Space” in Recent Years

Low altitude open a worldwide topic and the use of low altitude airspace resource exploitation. Through the reading and analysis of the existing literature, this paper combs the related research results of low-altitude airspace management reform and low-altitude opening in recent years. To sum up, the current research results related to low-altitude airspace management reform and low-altitude opening focus on market potential analysis, general aviation industry development forecasting, air traffic supervision and risk prevention.

National Civil Aviation Policy Implementation in Nigeria: An Empirical Study

The study examined the various programmes put in place by the Ministry of Aviation towards the implementation of government policy on civil aviation and assessed the extent of implementation of the national civil aviation policy in line with the set goals and objectives in Southwestern Nigeria. The study utilized primary and secondary sources of data. Primary data were collected through the administration of questionnaire and conduct of in-depth interviews. In all, 193 copies of questionnaire were administered to the staff of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA); Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN); Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) in the three selected States (Lagos, Oyo and Ondo) of Southwestern Nigeria. In-depth interviews were conducted on eight Directors in the four aviation agencies to complement data obtained through questionnaire. Secondary data were sourced from books, official publications, academic journals, newspapers, magazines and internet materials. Data collected were analysed using simple percentages, frequency counts, mean values, and rank. The results showed that adequate personnel training (84%) and the development of institutional infrastructures for aviation agencies (76%) were programmes put in place by the Ministry of Aviation towards the implementation of civil aviation policy. On the extent of implementation, the study however revealed that, technical personnel were not adequately trained for professionalism and efficiency in air operations (with a mean value of 3.582) and all necessary equipment, technologies and institutional infrastructures were inadequately provided to civil aviation departments and agencies to prevent and counter new and emerging threats (with a mean value of 3.144). The study concluded that government policy on civil aviation in Southwestern had been poorly implemented to date. Keywords: Assessment, Trade Development, Implementation, Government Policy, Civil Aviation DOI : 10.7176/JLPG/88-26 Publication date : August 31 st 2019

Airside Capacity Utilization in a Nigerian Airport: A Case Study of Murtala Muhammed International Airport

Airport Capacity generally refers to the ability of an airport to handle a given volume of traffic (demand) and should be assess to ensure they are adequate for lay down Standards. This study was based on the assessment of Airside Capacity Utilization at an International Airport; the Runway is the focus of this study. Capacities are very important and this dictates the level of patronage made by airlines at the Airport. Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) as a case study was examined; the domestic and international traffic flow well assessed on a daily basis, over a period of sixteen (16) years, to determine the traffic intensity of the airport was obtained from Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and Nigerian Airspace Management Agencies (NAMA). This experimental research involved the estimation of the traffic flow, installed capacity of the Runway, the intensity of traffic on hourly, daily, monthly bases. The model adopted for the research was Queue Theory. Findings show that the domestic wing generates more traffic flow than international wing of the Runway. The through put at the Runways shows that the runway is adequately utilized to accommodate existing traffic, expansion in the form of construction will not be necessary.&#x0D;

How to Govern the Non-Cooperative Amateur Drones?

In recent years, amateur UAVs have become more and more popular. This is due to the decreasing cost and growing range of applications such as weather monitoring, cargo transport and recreational purposes. However, non-cooperative UAVs may cause abuses of low-altitude airspace with potential security and safety problems, posing increasing challenges for low-altitude airspace management. In this article, we analyze the mechanisms to counter UAVs. Then GNSS spoofing on a UAV is described and our experimental results are reported. Also, a novel method to build a no-fly zone for non-cooperative drones is proposed.

Impact of Trajectories’ Uncertainty in Existing ATC Complexity Methodologies and Metrics for DAC and FCA SESAR Concepts

The most relevant SESAR 2020 solutions dealing with future Capacity Management processes are Dynamic Airspace Configuration (DAC) and Flight Centric ATC (FCA). Both concepts, DAC and FCA, rely on traffic flow complexity assessment. For this reason, complexity assessments processes, methods and metrics, become one of the main constraints to deal with the growing demand and increasing airspace capacity. The aim of this work is to identify the influence of trajectories’ uncertainty in the quality of the predictions of complexity of traffic demand and the effectiveness of Demand Capacity Balance (DCB) airspace management processes, in order to overcome the limitations of existing complexity assessment approaches to support Capacity Management processes in a Trajectory-Based Operations (TBO) environment. This paper presents research conducted within COTTON project, sponsored by the SESAR Joint Undertaking and EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. The main objective is to deliver innovative solutions to maximize the performance of the Capacity Management procedures based on information in a TBO environment.

Integrated optimization of terminal maneuvering area and airport at the macroscopic level

Airports and surrounding airspaces are limited in terms of capacity and represent the major bottlenecks of the air traffic management system. This paper addresses the problems of terminal airspace management and airport congestion management at the macroscopic level through the integrated control of arrivals and departures. Conflict detection and resolution methods are applied to a predefined terminal route structure. Different airside components are modeled using network abstraction. Speed, arrival and departure times, and runway assignment are managed by using an optimization method. An adapted simulated annealing heuristic combined with a time decomposition approach is proposed to solve the corresponding problem. Computational experiments performed on case studies of Paris Charles De-Gaulle airport show some potential improvements: First, when the airport capacity is decreased, until a certain threshold, the overload can be mitigated properly by adjusting the aircraft entry time in the Terminal Maneuvering Area and the pushback time. Second, landing and take-off runway assignments in peak hours with imbalanced runway throughputs can significantly reduce flight delays. A decrease of 37% arrival delays and 36% departure delays was reached compared to baseline case.