scholarly journals Characterizing Terminal Airspace Operational States and Detecting Airspace-Level Anomalies

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Samantha J. Corrado ◽  
Tejas G. Puranik ◽  
Dimitri N. Mavris
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Traffic Management ◽  
Visual Inspection ◽  
Air Traffic Management ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
System Capacity ◽  
Trajectory Data ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Flight Level ◽  
One Year

Global modernization efforts focus on increasing aviation system capacity and efficiency, while maintaining high levels of safety. To accomplish these objectives, new analysis methods are required that consider Air Traffic Management (ATM) system operations at both the flight level and the airspace level. With the expansion of ADS-B technology, open-source flight tracking data has become more readily available to enable larger-scale analyses of aircraft operations. Specifically, anomaly detection has been identified as being paramount. However, previous analyses of airspace-level operational states have not considered the observation of transitional (transitioning between two distinct airspace-level operational patterns) or anomalous operational states. Therefore, a method is proposed in which the time-series trajectory data of all aircraft operating within a terminal airspace during a specified time period is aggregated to generate a representation of the airspace-level operational states such that a recursive DBSCAN procedure to characterize airspace-level operational states as either nominal, transitional, or anomalous as well as to identify the distinct nominal operational patterns. This method is demonstrated on one year of ADS-B trajectory data for aircraft arriving at San Francisco International Airport (KSFO). Overall, visual inspection of results indicate the method’s promise in assisting ATM system operators, decision-makers, and planners in designing the implementation of new operational concepts.

scholarly journals Modeling Air Traffic Situation Complexity with a Dynamic Weighted Network Approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongyong Wang ◽  
Ziqi Song ◽  
Ruiying Wen
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Flow ◽  
Traffic Management ◽  
Flow Characteristics ◽  
Air Traffic Management ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
System Capacity ◽  
Traffic Situation ◽  
Flight Delays ◽  
Weighted Network ◽  
Potential Applications

In order to address the flight delays and risks associated with the forecasted increase in air traffic, there is a need to increase the capacity of air traffic management systems. This should be based on objective measurements of traffic situation complexity. In current air traffic complexity research, no simple means is available to integrate airspace and traffic flow characteristics. In this paper, we propose a new approach for the measurement of air traffic situation complexity. This approach considers the effects of both airspace and traffic flow and objectively quantifies air traffic situation complexity. Considering the aircraft, waypoints, and airways as nodes, and the complexity relationships among these nodes as edges, a dynamic weighted network is constructed. Air traffic situation complexity is defined as the sum of the weights of all edges in the network, and the relationships of complexity with some commonly used indices are statistically analyzed. The results indicate that the new complexity index is more accurate than traffic count and reflects the number of trajectory changes as well as the high-risk situations. Additionally, analysis of potential applications reveals that this new index contributes to achieving complexity-based management, which represents an efficient method for increasing airspace system capacity.

scholarly journals Safety Assessment for an ATM System Change: A Methodology for the ANSPs

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulio Di Gravio ◽  
Riccardo Patriarca ◽  
Francesco Costantino ◽  
Ivan Sikora
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Management ◽  
Safety Assessment ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Current System ◽  
System Change ◽  
Air Traffic Management ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Evolutionary Scenario ◽  
Practical Tool ◽  
Definition Of

Air Traffic Management (ATM) is a continuously evolving process, where many current system elements derive from a time when ATM characteristics were very different from today. Nowadays, the provision of ATM services has to design new solutions and adapt to new scenarios. Although ESARR 4 and EU Regulation 1035/2011 define the need of evaluating ATM system risks before implementing any change, they do not define a practical tool to support the decision-makers. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap, proposing a systematic methodology; the Preliminary System Safety Assessment Tool (PSSA-T) capable of helping the decision makers in evaluating safety implications due to system changes. PSSA-T relies on the definition of two Indexes, which have been built according to the Aerospace Performance Factor (APF) methodology, and allow safety assessment of any proposed change. In detail, the former Index compares the evolutionary scenario with the current one and the latter evaluates the evolutionary scenario in which there is a failure of intervention, in the hypothesis the system change has been implemented already. A preliminary study about the change from Flight Progress Strip (FPS) to the Electronic-FPS clarifies the outcome of the study.

scholarly journals Constraint programming for air traffic management: a survey

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyril Allignol ◽  
Nicolas Barnier ◽  
Pierre Flener ◽  
Justin Pearson
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Constraint Programming ◽  
Traffic Management ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Current Problem ◽  
Air Traffic Management ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
Combinatorial Problems ◽  
Flight Level ◽  
Current Paradigm

AbstractAir traffic management (ATM) under its current paradigm is reaching its structural limits considering the continuously growing demand. The need for a decrease in traffic workload opens numerous problems for optimization, from capacity balancing to conflict solving, using many different degrees of freedom, such as re-routing, flight-level changes, or ground-holding schemes. These problems are usually of a large dimension (there are 30 000 daily flights in Europe in the year 2012) and highly combinatorial, hence challenging for current problem solving technologies. We give brief tutorials on ATM and constraint programming (CP), and survey the literature on deploying CP technology for modelling and solving combinatorial problems that occur in an ATM context.

A Study on Geometric and Barometric Altitude Data in Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) Messages

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (5) ◽  
pp. 1140-1158
Author(s):  
Busyairah Syd Ali ◽  
Nur Asheila Taib
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Control ◽  
Traffic Management ◽  
Air Traffic Management ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
Global Navigation Satellite Systems ◽  
Civil Aviation ◽  
Vertical Separation ◽  
Satellite Systems ◽  
Flight Level ◽  
Global Navigation Satellite

In Air Traffic Control (ATC), aircraft altitude data is used to keep an aircraft within a specified minimum distance vertically from other aircraft, terrain and obstacles to reduce the risk of collision. Two types of altitude data are downlinked by radar; actual flight level (Mode C) and selected altitude (Mode S). Flight level indicates pressure altitude, also known as barometric altitude used by controllers for aircraft vertical separation. ‘Selected altitude’ presents intent only, and hence cannot be used for separation purposes. The emergence of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs) has enabled geometric altitude on board and to the controllers via the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system. In addition, ADS-B provides quality indicator parameters for both geometric and barometric altitudes. Availability of this information will enhance Air Traffic Management (ATM) safety. For example, incidents due to Altimetry System Error (ASE) may potentially be avoided with this information. This work investigates the use and availability of these parameters and studies the characteristics of geometric and barometric data and other data that complement the use of these altitude data in the ADS-B messages. Findings show that only 8·7% of the altitude deviation is < 245 feet (which is a requirement of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to operate in Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) airspace). This work provides an alert/guidance for future ground or airborne applications that may utilise geometric/barometric altitude data from ADS-B, to include safety barriers that can be found or analysed from the ADS-B messages itself to ensure ATM safety.

Safety Culture and Safety-Relevant Behavior in Air Traffic Management

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela Schwarz ◽  
K. Wolfgang Kallus
Keyword(s):  
Safety Culture ◽  
Traffic Management ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Five Factor Model ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Air Traffic Management ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
Psychometric Validation ◽  
Safety Attitudes ◽  
Culture Development

Since 2010, air navigation service providers have been mandated to implement a positive and proactive safety culture based on shared beliefs, assumptions, and values regarding safety. This mandate raised the need to develop and validate a concept and tools to assess the level of safety culture in organizations. An initial set of 40 safety culture questions based on eight themes underwent psychometric validation. Principal component analysis was applied to data from 282 air traffic management staff, producing a five-factor model of informed culture, reporting and learning culture, just culture, and flexible culture, as well as management’s safety attitudes. This five-factor solution was validated across two different occupational groups and assessment dates (construct validity). Criterion validity was partly achieved by predicting safety-relevant behavior on the job through three out of five safety culture scores. Results indicated a nonlinear relationship with safety culture scales. Overall the proposed concept proved reliable and valid with respect to safety culture development, providing a robust foundation for managers, safety experts, and operational and safety researchers to measure and further improve the level of safety culture within the air traffic management context.

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