The Effects of Limited Intent Information Availability on Self-Separation in Mixed Operations

This paper presents the results of a computer simulation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Autonomous Flight Rules (AFR) concept for airborne self-separation in airspace shared with conventional Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) traffic. This study was designed to determine the impact of varying levels of intent information from IFR aircraft on the performance of AFR conflict detection and resolution. The study used Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) to supply IFR intent, but other methods such as an uplink from a ground-based System Wide Information Management (SWIM) network could alternatively supply this information. The independent variables of the study consist of the number of ADS-B trajectory change reports broadcast by IFR aircraft and the time interval between those reports. The conflict detection and resolution metrics include: the number of conflicts and losses of separation, the average conflict warning time, and the amount of time spent in strategic vs. tactical flight modes (i.e., whether the autoflight system was decoupled from the planned route in the Flight Management System in order to respond to a short-notice traffic conflict). The results show a measurable benefit of broadcasting IFR intent vs. relying on state-only broadcasts. The results of this study will inform ongoing separation assurance research and Federal Aviation Administration NextGen design decisions for the sharing of trajectory intent information in the National Airspace System

• Record URL:
  http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20120007667_2012007184.pdf
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  Langley Research Center
  Hampton, VA  United States  23681
• Authors:
  • Lewis, Timothy A
  • Phojanamongkolkij, Nipa
  • Wing, David J
• Conference:
  • 2012 Integrated Communications Navigation and Surveillance (ICNS)
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2012-4-24 to 2012-4-26
• Publication Date: 2012-4-24

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 13p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air traffic; Aircraft separation; Airspace (Aeronautics); Simulation; Surveillance; Trajectory control
• Uncontrolled Terms: Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast; Flight management system; Instrument flight rules
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01446368
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: NF1676L-14154
• Contract Numbers: WBS 411931.02.51.07.01
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 18 2012 8:52AM