In order to handle the expected increase in air traffic volume, the next generation air transportation system is moving towards a distributed control architecture, in which ground-based service providers such as controllers and traffic managers and air-based users such as pilots share responsibility for aircraft trajectory generation and management. While its architecture becomes more distribut...

A number of factors lead to a reduction in airport capacity in weather conditions that prevent the use of visual approach procedures. These factors include a reduction in the number of available runways and the longitudinal wake turbulence separation constraints used by Air Traffic Control (ATC). These wake constraints (table 1) evolved over time to prevent wake encounters in weather conditions...

The next-generation air-traffic control system will have to be able to handle, safely and efficiently, a traffic density that will be two or three times that accommodated by the present system. Capacity of the en route and transition (arrival/departure) airspace of the present system is principally limited by the controller workload associated with monitoring and controlling aircraft separation...

As a result of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are expected to be integrated into the National Airspace System (NAS) by 2015. Several human factors challenges need to be addressed before UAS can safely and routinely fly in the NAS with manned aircraft. Perhaps the most significant challenge is for the UAS to be non-disruptive to the air traffic manage...

This paper presents a novel formulation of the flight dynamic equations that permits a rapid solution for the design of trajectory following autopilots for nonlinear aircraft dynamic models. A robust autopilot control structure is developed based on the combination of the good features the Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion (NDI) method, Integrator Backstepping method, Time Scale separation and Contro...

Predicting accurate trajectories with limited intent information is a challenge faced by air traffic management decision support tools in operation today. One such tool is the FAA’s Terminal Proximity Alert system which is intended to assist controllers in maintaining safe separation of arrival aircraft during final approach. In an effort to improve the performance of such tools, two final appr...

In a Free Flight Environment, managing separation between aircraft is delegated to the pilot by Air Traffic Management. The future adoption of a Free Flight Environment is necessary, as Air Traffic Controllers will be unable to handle the workload from the forecasted doubling of air traffic within two decades. The responsibility of pilots will expand to include a new set of cognitive demands as...

An essential element in the Free Flight concept is the detection and avoidance of air tra c con icts. A con ict occurs when the required separation between two aircraft, namely the ownship and the intruder, is lost. Con ict detection and resolution systems predict loss of separation and output con ict avoidance maneuvers that divert the ownship from its original trajectory. In this paper, we ad...

The statistical characterization of flight tracks is a critical component of safety-analysis models. This paper presents an analysis of multilateration data using an extension of an algorithm given in Jeddi et al. (2006). Key results are as follows. The separation distribution does not appear to change much at different points along the approach path. The left tail of separation (corresponding ...