Traffic complexity analysis to evaluate the potential for limited delegation of separation assurance to the cockpit

Following the EUROCONTROL ATM2000+ strategy the Evolutionary Air-ground Cooperative ATM Concepts (EACAC) study is investigating the delegation by controllers of separation assurance tasks to the cockpit, as a near term application in managed airspace. EACAC relies on two key points: limited delegation and flexible use of delegation. However, conditions of applicability depending on traffic complexity are required. A preliminary study using fast-time simulations has been carried out to analyze traffic complexity and thus to evaluate the potential for delegation. New metrics integrating constraining and interfering environmental aircraft have been defined, extending the notion of “cluster”. The proposed traffic complexity metrics are applied to different traffic samples from year 2000 to 2015, with different scenarios (standard or direct routes, and standard vertical separations or RVSM) for the Maastricht Upper Airspace. These new metrics provide encouraging results concerning the opportunities for limited delegation of separation assurance. The proposed metrics of traffic complexity are thought to be generic enough to be applicable in different contexts