iFly - Safety, Complexity and Responsibility Based Design and Validation of Highly Automated Air Traffic Management
Overview
Background & policy context:
One of the most innovative and promising paradigms in Air Traffic Management (ATM) is to transfer the responsibility of maintaining separation with other aircraft from sector air traffic controllers to the pilots of each aircraft. In short, such a complete transfer of separation responsibility is referred to as airborne self separation. Since the invention of Free Flight in 1995, airborne self separation research has seen a tremendous development worldwide.
Nevertheless, the current situation is of two schools of researchers holding different beliefs about airborne self separation:
- One school believes airborne self separation can be performed at sufficiently safe levels en-route and at traffic levels well above the current situation;
- The other school believes airborne self separation cannot be carried out at sufficiently safe levels above Europe.
In order to resolve this tie in beliefs held by two schools of researchers, iFly has first developed an advanced airborne self separation Concept of Operation for en route traffic, aimed to manage a three to six times higher traffic demand than high traffic demand in 2005. Subsequently iFly assessed this advanced concept of operations on safety and economy under three to six times the en route traffic demand over Europe in 2005.
Objectives:
For en route traffic, iFly has the objective to develop both an advanced airborne self separation design and a highly automated ATM design for en route traffic, which takes advantage of autonomous aircraft operation capabilities and which is aimed at managing a three to six times increase in current en route traffic levels. This incorporates analysis of safety, complexity and pilot/controller responsibilities and assessment of ground and airborne system requirements and which make part of an overall validation plan. The proposed iFly research combines expertise in air transport human factors, safety and economics with analytical and Monte Carlo simulation methodologies providing for 'implementation' decision making, standardisation and regulatory frameworks. The research is aimed at supporting SESAR and actively disseminates the results among the ATM research community.
Methodology:
iFly has performed two operational concept design cycles and an assessment cycle.
During the first design cycle, an Autonomous Aircraft Advanced (A3) en-route operational concept has been developed which is based on the current 'state-of-the-art' in aeronautics research. An important starting and reference point for this A3 ConOps development was formed by a systematic analysis of human responsibilities under current ATM and under airborne self separation.
During the assessment cycle, the A3 ConOps has been evaluated on cost-benefit and on safety as function of very high traffic demand.
During the second design cycle, the A3 Conops was refined by taking advantage of iFly studies on:
- Advanced conflict detection and resolution algorithms.
- Managing Multi-Agent Situation Awareness (SA).
- Prediction of complexity of air traffic situations.
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