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F063-B07-037 © 2007 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved.
New Process for “Clean Sheet” Airspace Design and Evaluation
Brian SimmonsThe MITRE Corporation
McLean, Virginia, USA
July 2007
F063-B07-037© 2007 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved.2
BackgroundTraditional Airspace Design in the U.S.
• Purpose:– Reconfigure route and sector geometry to
enhance the safe and expeditious flow of air traffic
• Methodology:– Airspace Management Handbook– Airspace design teams– Management and union leadership
• Features:– Local expertise
• Robust design• Subjective
– Stakeholder Involvement• Political buy-in• “Analysis Paralysis”
– Thorough • Mature design• Cost and configuration management
F063-B07-037© 2007 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved.3
Clean Sheet Airspace Design ProcessOverview
• Purpose: – Make Conduct Airspace Study phase of
the Airspace Management Handbookmore efficient
• Methodology:1. Traffic and Airspace Environment
2. Airspace Partitioning
3. Workability Evaluation
4. Sector Audit and Remediation
• Features:– Balanced and benchmarked complexity
– Best practices of airspace design
– Unconstrained by current boundaries
– Objective
– Repeatable
– Transparent
– Efficient
F063-B07-037© 2007 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved.4
Clean Sheet Airspace Design ProcessStep 2: Airspace Partitioning
• Purpose:– Determine number, size
and orientation of partitions
• Tool:– airspacePartitioner
• Features:– Complexity benchmarking
– Recursive k-means clustering
– Boundary smoothing
– Can partition around non-negotiable regions (e.g., SUA)
Traffic Demand Profiles
Partition region airspace with airspacePartitioner
Airspace Partitioning
Partitions with equal & benchmarked complexity
F063-B07-037© 2007 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved.5
Clean Sheet Airspace Design ProcessStep 2: Airspace Partitioning
Traffic CountsProximity EventsTransitionsArrival Spacing
Complexity Map = A weighted combination of the four components
F063-B07-037© 2007 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved.6
Complexity per Volume
3 Volumes of Airspace
Complexity per Volume
7 Volumes of Airspace
Complexity per Volume
11 Volumes of Airspace
Complexity per Volume
15 Volumes of Airspace
Clean Sheet Airspace Design ProcessStep 2: Airspace Partitioning
F063-B07-037© 2007 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved.7
Clean Sheet Airspace Design ProcessStep 3: Workability Assessment
• Purpose:– Determine where configuration of
flows and boundaries are incompatible with ATC services
• Tool:– airspaceAnalyzer
• Features:– Fast-time simulation– ATC modeled as linear program
• Aircraft to aircraft separation• Aircraft to airspace separation• MIT spacing• Return to course
– Records effort needed to service traffic flows
Traffic Demand Profiles
Partitions with equal & benchmarked complexity
Identify problem partitions using airspaceAnalyzer
Workability Evaluation
Airspace requiring boundary analysis
F063-B07-037© 2007 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved.8
Clean Sheet Airspace Design ProcessStep 4: Sector Audit and Remediation
• Purpose:– Identify and rectify specific
airspace design problems
• Tool:– sectorEvaluator
• Features:– Knowledge-based system
– GIS implementation
– Computes key airspace design characteristics and compares against best practices
– Indicates design improvements
Airspace requiring boundary analysis
Refine partition boundaries using sectorEvaluator
Sector Audit
Final Design
F063-B07-037© 2007 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved.9
ConclusionsSelected Applications
• Airspace Design Projects– Flow-Based Design Concept
– Mid-Term Facility Concept
– Florida Airspace Optimization
• En-Route Sector Validation– Jacksonville/Miami
– Chicago
– Indianapolis
F063-B07-037© 2007 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved.10
ConclusionsLessons Learned
• Possible to capture and apply Principles of Airspace Design– Objective– Repeatable– Transparent
• Process is non-trivial– Efficient, but not a push button answer– Refinement during implementation– Human-centered design with computer assistance
• Particularly good for a regional airspace projects crossing facility boundaries– Unbiased– Provides a design to which
stakeholders can react – Focuses discussion on technical
(rather than political) issues
For information on the availability of these tools, contact:
Nancy KalinowskiDirector of System Operations Airspace & AIMFederal Aviation [email protected]
For information on the availability of these tools, contact:
Nancy KalinowskiDirector of System Operations Airspace & AIMFederal Aviation [email protected]
