Operational dynamic configuration analysis

Seventy-eight air traffic sector configurations, recorded in operational data for Kansas City Air Route Traffic Control Center on February 8, 2007, were analyzed. A method is used to select a sequence of configurations and trigger times from the operational sector combination data. The selection process considers two key characteristics of sector combining and splitting operations: controller familiarity and sector continuity. Based on a distance score, the method selects three representative configurations. Configurations selected from the clustering algorithm were compared with the actual operational configurations. The main findings of the study were: 1) on average 2.8 sectors were changed at each reconfiguration event, 2) on average, after a reconfiguration about two aircraft were handed-off, two aircraft were received, and five aircraft remained in the sector, and 3) aircraft density change is the best sector change metric to access new dynamic airspace designs using a simplified reconfiguration.