Assessing the Capacity of Novel ATM Systems

This paper describes a methodology for assessing the capacity of future Air Traffic Management systems that may have a radically different concept of operation from today’s. The methodology was developed by the EUROCONTROL CARE–INTEGRA Metrics and Methodologies Project. Designed to be generic with regard to operational concept, it involves the objective counting of observable events in a simulation of the system. It assesses sustainable throughput for a given maximum acceptable delay. It also addresses capacity at a whole-system level, providing the framework to ensure that the capacity of a sector is assessed within the appropriate network environment. Its major innovative elements are a new surrogate measure for capacity – information processing load (IPL) – and the use of defined traffic samples to ensure that capacity is assessed within the appropriate context. The detailed assumptions of the IPL model for particular simulation scenarios are parameterised, facilitating comparison of best and worse cases and of studies carried out by different simulation teams. An initial exercise to apply the methodology to real simulation data has given promising results, but further validation is required. _______________________________________