Safety-critical decisions have to be taken by air traffic controllers, who have to monitor an ever-increasing volume of air traffic. In order to be able to manage this without compromising safety, they must have systems at their disposal that behave like intelligent assistants.
What is BeyondATM?
BeyondATM is a software component for air traffic management systems designed to assist controllers in directing traffic safely and efficiently. It uses real-time position, movement, and flight plan data to reason about the current air situation. Our focus is on efficient algorithms for tactical conflict detection and resolution.
Conflict detection and resolution
Tactical conflict detection means that our software analyses traffic as it flows or flies: it detects impending conflicts and makes recommendations to air traffic controllers on how to avoid them without creating new conflicts.
To generate significant utility, these calculations must be fast. Our algorithms are optimised for performance. On average, they need less than 20 milliseconds to analyse several hundred objects.
Conflict detection and resolution
Tactical conflict detection means that our software analyses traffic as it flows or flies: it detects impending conflicts and makes recommendations to air traffic controllers on how to avoid them without creating new conflicts.
To generate significant utility, these calculations must be fast. Our algorithms are optimised for performance. On average, they need less than 20 milliseconds to analyse several hundred objects.
Increasing capacity and safety
BeyondATM was developed for air navigation service providers and manufacturers of air traffic control systems.
The main benefits of BeyondATM are:
increased safety of air traffic,
reduced workload of air traffic controllers, and
increased airspace capacity.
References
Our algorithms for conflict detection and resolution have been implemented in the ATM (air traffic management) system component prototype CATo (Controller Assistance Tools) at DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH, the German air navigation service provider. The prototype has been validated twice, to find a mean increase in productivity of 20% while improving safety.