A stochastic hybrid model for air traffic control simulation

Abstract

A method for modelling the evolution of multiple flights from the point of view of an air traffic controller is developed. The model is multi-agent, hybrid and stochastic. It consists of many instances of flights, each with different aircraft dynamics, flight plan and flight management system. The motions of different flights are coupled through the effect of the wind, which is modelled as a random field. Estimates of the statistical properties of the wind field (variance and spatio-temporal correlation structure) are extracted from publicly available weather data. The model is coded in Java, so that it can be simulated to generate realistic data for validating conflict detection and resolution algorithms. © Springer-Verlag 2004.