Modeling Complex Air Traffic Management Systems

In this work, we propose the use of multi-agent system (MAS) models as the basis for predictive reasoning about various safety conditions and the performance of Air Traffic Management (ATM) Systems. To this end, we describe the engineering of a domain-specific MAS model that provides constructs for creating scenarios related to ATM systems and procedures; we then instantiate the constructs in the ATM model for different scenarios. As a case study we generate a model for a concept that provides the ability to maximize departure throughput at La Guardia airport (LGA) without impacting the flow of the arrival traffic; the model consists of approximately 1.5 hours real time flight data. During this time, between 130 and 150 airplanes are managed by four en- route controllers, three TRACON controllers, and one tower controller at LGA who is responsible for departures and ar- rivals. The planes are landing at approximately 36 to 40 planes an hour. A key contribution of this work is that the model can be extended to various air-traffic management scenarios and can serve as a template for engineering large- scale models in other domains.