Incorporating Geovectors into the Process of Conflict Resolution for UAV Airspace

Abstract

In order to enable the safe and efficient integration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles into very low level airspace, modern day research focuses on the development of new traffic services and procedures. One of these is the geovectoring protocol, which aims to reduce traffic complexity by setting limits on the allowed ground speed, course, and vertical speed. A geovector can be used to increase the capacity of an airspace by lowering the conflict rate. However, problems with priorities emerge when performing conflict resolution maneuvers in geovector airspace, as the limits are ignored in this process. A powerful conflict resolution algorithm is the Modified Voltage Potential (MVP). This research proposes an extension to the MVP ruleset, based on Velocity Obstacle theory. Making use of an alternative conflict resolution maneuver which respects the geovector, five resolution strategies are defined with different priority settings for the separate limits. The performance of these strategies is compared to pure MVP on geovector, safety, and stability measures, making use of fast-time simulations in a corridor airspace. All resolution strategies show improvements on the ability to perform conflict resolution maneuvers within the geovector limits, albeit at the expense of safety and stability. It is recommended to further investigate the performance of the geovector resolution strategies for other types of airspace, to verify whether the observed reduction in conflict rate from the geovectors can be reinforced by the resolution strategies.