Supporting Trajectory Based Operations in Aerodrome Control: Supporting the Timing of the Take-off Clearance

The introduction of Trajectory Based Operations (TBO) is set to change the operation on all levels of Air Traffic Control (ATC), including aerodrome control. Here, adherence to a planned four-dimensional trajectory is important to achieve a stable operation. At the same time, this concept provides possibilities for support tools to be used in...

Decision Support Tool for Time-Based Separation under Fixed Approach Trajectories in Approach Control: Increasing the Efficiency of Approach Control

The Dutch Air Traffic Control has implemented fixed approach trajectories within approach control during night operations when traffic density is low. During the day, when traffic density is higher, vector-based operations are used. The Dutch Air Traffic Control aims to implement fixed approach trajectories when traffic density is high. This...

Policy Analysis of Safe Vertical Manoeuvring using Reinforcement Learning: Identifying when to Act and when to stay Idle

The number of unmanned aircraft operating in the airspace is expected to grow exponentially during the next decades. This will likely lead to traffic densities that are higher than those currently observed in civil and general aviation, and might require both a different airspace structure compared to conventional aviation, as well as different...

Detecting ATC commands in ADS-B data: An exploratory research into ADS-B data to see if detecting ATC commands is possible

Automatic Dependent Broadcast-Surveillance (ADS- B) was introduced to increase the safety of air travel. Since then it has proven to be a useful source of air traffic data for academic research because it is publicly available. Another source of information are the communications between air traffic control (ATC) and aircraft. Methods are (being...

Effects of Wind and Trajectory Uncertainty in a 4D Trajectory Management Interface: Bringing 4D Air Traffic Control Closer To Reality

As a result of the current evolution in the ATM system, a fundamental shift in the ATC work domain is foreseen from ad-hoc tactical to more strategic, 4D (i.e., space and time) trajectory management. Both the SESAR programme in Europe<br/>and the NextGen programme in the US envision a central role for the human operator, to be aided by high...

Analyzing and Modeling Capacity for Decentralized Air Traffic Control

The current system of Air Traffic Control (ATC) relies on a centralized control architecture. At its core, this system is heavily dependent on manual intervention by human Air Traffic Controllers (ATCos) to ensure safe operations. The capacity of this system is, therefore, closely tied to the maximum workload that can be tolerated by ATCos....

Benefits of Direct Routing above Europe

As the amount of air traffic increases every year, the capacity of the current Air Traffic Control (ATC) structure is reaching its limit. Shifting the responsibility of aircraft separation from the ground to aircraft (free flight) eliminates the ATC constraint for aviation growth. Furthermore, free flight allows for direct routing of aircraft....

Enabling Continuous Descent Operations in High-Density Traffic

The Air Traffic Management (ATM) community strives to reduce the environmental impact per flight. Continuous Descent Operation (CDO) has been identified by the ATM community as one of the operational improvements that could reduce aviation’s environmental impact, both in terms of aircraft noise and gaseous emissions. In the current ATM system,...