This paper discusses the development of a prototype alerting system for a conceptual Free Flight environment. The concept assumes that datalink between aircraft is available and that conflicts are primarily resolved on the flight deck. Four alert stages are generated depending on the likelihood of a conflict. If the conflict is not resolved by the flight crews, Air Traffic Control is notified t...

A runway incursion is defined as any occurrence in the airport runway environment involving an aircraft, vehicle, person, or object on the ground that creates a collision hazard or results in a loss of required separation with an aircraft taking off, intending to take off, landing, or intending to land. Multiple factors could contribute to runway incursion, including pilots’ failure to accurate...

A concept is presented for the development and implementation of a prototype Aircraft Vortex Spacing System (AVOSS). The purpose of the AVOSS is to use current and short-term predictions of the atmospheric state in approach and departure corridors to provide, to ATC facilities, dynamical weather dependent separation criteria with adequate stability and lead time for use in establishing arrival ...

We present a decentralized optimization method for solving the coordination problem of interconnected nonlinear discrete-time dynamic systems with multiple decision makers. The optimization framework embeds the inherent structure in which each decision maker has a mathematical model that captures only the local dynamics and the associated interconnecting global constraints. A globally convergen...

Performance of an automated conflict resolution algorithm is assessed. Evaluations are based on fast-time simulations of 24 hours of nominal and heavily increased air traffic demand in the Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center airspace. Departure, en-route, and arrival traffic were represented, based on recorded Host data. The algorithm is designed to resolve detected conflicts—projected t...

An efficient conflict detection and resolution method for Air Traffic Management (ATM) under heavy traffic conditions is presented. The problem of assigning a speed profile to each aircraft in real time such that the separation between aircraft is greater than a given safety distance is considered and the total deviation from the initial planned trajectory is minimized. The proposed method invo...

Capacity limitation of runway and taxiway in an airport is often the major limiting factor of air traffic operation. The congestions on the apron of an airport cause severe delay on aircraft schedule. This paper proposes an integrated algorithm to solve problems of runway scheduling and taxiway routing simultaneously for both departure and arrival aircrafts. A set partitioning model with side c...

This work is focused on norm operationalization in aviation domain. The investigated paradigm can be described as: from legal norms to technical rules in the artifact. Normative requirements (norms) for the aircraft trajectories are extracted from the flight rules and airport procedures, and operationalized in a decision support system (DSS). The decision support is based on evaluation of risk ...

A new nonlinear guidance logic, that has demonstrated superior performance in guiding unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) on curved trajectories, is presented. The logic approximates a proportional-derivative controller when following a straight line path, but the logic also contains an element of anticipatory control enabling tight tracking when following curved paths. The method uses inertial speed ...

NASA Langley has developed a multi-mode decision support system for pilots operating in a Distributed AirGround Traffic Management (DAG-TM) environment. An Autonomous Operations Planner (AOP) assists pilots in performing separation assurance functions, including conflict detection, prevention, and resolution. Ongoing AOP design has been based on a comprehensive human factors analysis and evalua...