Sudaar - 762 Protocol - Based Conflict Resolution for Air Traffic Control

This paper proposes a method for multiple-aircraft conflict avoidance. We assume that aircraft cruise at constant altitude with varying velocities and that conflicts are resolved in the horizontal plane using heading change, velocity change, or a combination thereof. We assume that each aircraft’s position, heading, and velocity are available to all aircraft involved in the conflict, we constrain the maneuver to be two straight paths of equal length, and we assume that all aircraft initiate conflict resolution maneuvers at the same time and that once an aircraft has initiated a maneuver, its velocity along the maneuver remains constant. Our multiple-aircraft conflict resolution methodology is presented in two steps; first, we consider an unrealistic but geometrically simple exact conflict, in which the original trajectories of all aircraft collide at a point, in order to derive a closed-form analytic solution for the required heading change, and then we consider a realistic inexact conflict, in which conflict points of multiple aircraft do not coincide. Heading change is a main control input for conflict resolution, yet velocity change is also used for an inexact conflict. We then construct a finite partition of the airspace around the conflict, and using our analytic solution, we derive a protocol for resolving the worst-case conflict within each partition. The result is a multiple-aircraft conflict resolution protocol, or a simple rule which is easily understandable and ∗Research supported by NASA Ames under grant NASA/NCC 2-5422, by an NSF Career Award, and by the DARPA Software Enabled Control program, under grant F3361599-C-3014 (administered by AFRL).