Performance Metrics for Tactical Aircraft to Aircraft Conflicts

An air traffic control system’s main function is to separate aircraft. The computer supporting the system assists the air traffic controllers by generating a conflict alert whenever it predicts that two aircraft are about to get too close to each other. The performance of the conflict alert function is a key element to the overall functioning of the air traffic control system. A set of metrics has been designed to measure the conflict alerting performance of an aircraft traffic control system. The key factors are the missed alert rate and the false alert rate. However there are several secondary factors that are essential to measuring the performance, especially in a simulation environment. This paper describes a set of metrics that have been developed to evaluate the performance of the FAA’s en route aircraft traffic control system. They have been applied to the existing system, the Host Computer System, and will be used to establish metrics for the new system now under development, the En Route Automation Modernization system. The metrics are calculated by post processing recorded data that has been produced by running a real time simulation of the air traffic system without controllers, using as input field recorded aircraft data that has been time shifted to induce aircraft-to-aircraft conflicts.