Dynamic Airspace Sectorization Via Airspace Information

With the rapid development of the air transport industry, the contradictionbetween the limited airspace resources and the growing demand for transport hasbecome increasingly prominent, air traffic management faces new challenges. Themethods about how to improve the quality of air traffic service become the focus ofthe present study. One of the solutions is the improvement of the sector structure onthe basis of air traffic condition. Under the premise of airspace traffic safety, scientificand rational dynamic sectorization means balancing the traffic control workload andputting it within a reasonable threshold. This not only optimizes the air trafficcontrol resources, but also increase airspace capacity, and avoid the crowdedfrequency of air-ground communications.Firstly we outline the research background, status and significance of dynamicairspace sectorization. The study of dynamic airspace sectorization is divided intothree categories according to the use of airspace traffic information, and the strengthsand weaknesses are analyzed. Then introduced the airspace management controlprocess, define the object of this paper is the area control, and clear the researchcontent.The conventional dynamic sectorization researches focus on the study of thedivision method, tends to ignore the meaning of the "dynamic". Based on controlmechanisms and dynamic airspace management features, the influence of "dynamic"changes in security is analysed, and we study the variable of dynamic sector structure.Dynamic sector by "dynamic" is mainly reflected in the adaptability of the sectorstructure of traffic in the airspace changes. In accordance with the requirements of thedynamic sectorization, the airspace information should be analyzed completely.According to the sources of information and features, airspace information is dividedinto the airspace static structure and airspace dynamic information. Based on thetheory of network topology, airspace information database is set up by the two typesof information. The controller workload is quantized on the basis of airspacecomplexity, then create a database of the controller workload. The database above willbe used as the basis of the sectorization.According to the problem of low algorithm efficiency, bad optimization resultsand weak satisfactory of sector constraints, we presented an improved airspaceweighted graph model and a sector optimization algorithm based on the improvedgenetic algorithm. The weighted graph model is established on the basis of the basicairspace information (i.e. airspace static structure and controller workload). Thismodel reflects some important air traffic characteristics, such as the distribution of air-route and traffic flow. Then a hybrid coding genetic algorithm acts as the sectoroptimization algorithm. Crossover operator, repair strategy and boundary optimizationis added to the improved genetic algorithm to increase the global search ability, getbetter sector result which is well accord with the sectorization rule.Then, further research on the sector division method is done basing on thedynamic sector, and a new sectorization method is proposed. The sectorization resultsobtained by this method can reduce controller workload, increase airspace capacity,and ensure the stability of the sector structure in the dynamic process of sector change.The basic idea of this method is as follows: a airspace convex cell model isestablished on the basis of air traffic characteristics. And the sectorization result is gotby applying a multi-population genetic algorithm.Finally, data extraction and programming terms of real traffic data of Beijingcontrol center is operated. An airspace information database is established. On thisbasis, the simulation is carried out on the two sectorization method, and we get thesectorization result in different time interval. Full comparative analysis ofsectorization result is done by the security indicators and load balancing indicators.Experimental results show that the sectorization method presented in this paper notonly balance each sector controller workload, ensure regulatory security, but alsoreduces the collaboration workload, obtain a more stable sector structure. All thismeet the requirements of the airspace dynamic sectorization.