ANALYSIS OF SEPARATION MINIMA USING A SURVEILLANCE STATE VECTOR APPROACH

Many proposed strategies for increasing airspace capacity call for a reduction in separation minima. Before they can be implemented, methods of modeling these procedural or technical changes are essential to ensure that safety is maintained. A surveillance state vector approach based on a combination of traditional dynamic states (position, velocity and acceleration) with higher order intent and goal states is presented. The relevance and implications of uncertainty in each of the states is discussed. Due to its fundamental importance to separation assurance, the concept of intent is presented in detail, along with examples of its interpretation and use in today’s ATC environment. Relationships between state uncertainty and current separation minima are presented to highlight the potential of this approach. By analyzing the effect of new technology or procedures on the surveillance state vector components, implications for the separation minima can be assessed.