A model for evaluating conflict characteristics at multiple airway intersections

摘要

This paper deals with the estimation of the number and distribution of air conflicts at intersecting air routes. A conflict occurs when the spatial separation between two or more airplanes falls below a specified threshold. The number of conflicts may serve as a measure of the controller's workload and is an important measure of the air traffic control system's performance. Existing analytical models c an solve for either simple planar configuration of airways and complex stochastic arrivals, or complex airway geometry and rather simple assumption of constant aircraft arrivals, but not both. A simulation model was developed in order to cope with three-dimensional spatial geometry of airway intersections, and to account for different aircraft arrival distributions on the airways. The simulation model is first developed for a simple configuration of two intersecting airways, and later extended to cope with a complex airway system composed of multiple intersecting paths. The simulation model includes a simple module which computes the delay caused by correction maneuvres due to potential conflicts.