Collision risk-capacity tradeoff analysis of an en-route corridor model

Flow corridor is a new class of trajectory-based airspace which derives from the Next Generation Air Transportation System Concept of Operations. Reducing the airspace complexity and increasing the capacity are the main purpose of the en-route corridor. This paper analyzes the collision risk-capacity tradeoff using combined discrete-continuous simulation method. A basic two-dimensional en-route flow corridor with performance rules are designed as the operational environment. A second order system is established by combing Point Mass Model and Proportional Derivative controller together to simulate the self-separation operations of the aircrafts in the corridor and the operation performance parameters from the User Manual for the Base of Aircraft Data are used in this research in order to improve the reliability. Simulation results indicate that the aircrafts can self-separate from each other efficiently by adjusting their velocities, and rational setting the value of some variables can improve the rate and stability of the corridor with low risks of loss of separation.