Emergent features of self separation in flight - Results from a Monte-Carlo study

Changes in Air Traffic Management, exemplified by the NextGen and SESAR projects, intend to achieve ATM systems with a higher capacity and also higher efficiency, through more direct routing. At the same time, air traffic safety should continue to increase. An important step in this process can be the partial or full transfer of responsibility for separation to the flight deck, using Airborne Separation Assurance Systems (ASAS). In previous work, our group has developed flight deck displays that enable pilots to perform the task of self-separation through the visualization of conflicts on the displays. In various tests with these displays, pilots successfully performed the task of self-separation, using only the implicit coordination based on conflict geometry as presented on the display. In order to further investigate the emergent features of the use of such displays, a set of rules was created to mimic the behavior observed in the experiments. Using this simulation, a Monte Carlo experiment was run, in which the properties of encounters between two aircraft were further investigated. The simulations results indicate that the implicit coordination used in our set-up is not always successful. Furthermore, instructions for solving the conflict that emphasize quick resolution can be detrimental to safety.