Enroute airspace control and controller workload analysis using a novel slot-based sector model

A novel slot-based sector structure is introduced and applied to enroute airspace control. Aircraft entering a sector are assigned trajectories to safely align to an assigned slot. Aircraft move through the rest of the sector, maintaining their slot at nominal velocity. Safety is provided according to proper spacing and assignment of slots. Analysis of single-link sectors with periodic arrival flows shows the proposed alignment control strategies safely handle several aircraft at a given altitude; the vector-for-spacing strategy outperforms strategies utilizing only velocity changes. Wide variations in worst-case capacities are observed under more general arrival processes; capacities are observed to increase with reduced uncertainty and with increased outflow spacing. Finally, a controller workload metric is developed and its use illustrated; we see that complex alignment strategies and uncertainty in arrivals increases workload