Dynamic Airspace Configuration Concept

An exploratory human-in-the-loop study was conducted to better understand the implications of the Dynamic Airspace Configuration (DAC) concept. Three progressively more aggressive algorithmic approaches to airspace sectorization were selected to test and quantify the range of impact on the controller and sector operations. Results show that traffic count was more equitably distributed between the four test sectors and the duration of excessive aircraft counts was progressively lower as the aggressiveness of sectorization increased. However, taskload and workload were also shown to increase with the increase in aggressiveness while the acceptability of the boundary changes decreased. Overall, simulated operations of the DAC concept did not appear to compromise safety. Feedback from the participants highlighted the importance of limiting some aspects of boundary changes such as amount of volume gained or lost and the extent of change relative to the initial airspace design.