Conflict prevention and separation assurance in small aircraft transportation systems

DOI: 10.2514/1.20586 A multilayer approach to the prevention of conflicts due to the loss of aircraft-to-aircraft separation that relies on procedures and onboard automation was implemented as part of the Small Aircraft Transportation Systems Higher-Volume-Operations concept. The multilayer system gives pilots support and guidance during the execution of normal operations and advance warning for procedure deviations or off-nominal operations. This paper describes the major concept elements of this multilayer approach to separation assurance and conflict prevention and provides the rationale for its design. All the algorithms and functionality described in this paper were implemented in an aircraft simulation in the Air Traffic Operations Laboratory at NASA Langley Research Center and on the NASA Cirrus SR22 research aircraft.