Airspace design for decentralized traffic separation

The current centralized en-route airspace design is nearing saturation. To increase airspace capacity, future plans for the modernization of Air Traffic Management (ATM) systems propose a transfer of the separation responsibility from the ground to the cockpit. Although most researchers agree that some form of decentralization, or ‘self-separation’ will increase capacity, there is no consensus yet on the level of traffic organization, or structuring, that is required to maximize capacity for such decentralized ATM concepts.

Contradicting evidence in literature on the benefits of structure suggests that the relationship between structure and capacity is not well understood, i.e., does more or less structuring lead to higher capacity? Or, is there a transition point, where a further increase in capacity will require a switch from one approach to the other?

My research aims to answer these questions by analysing and modelling the relationship between structure and capacity for decentralized separation.

Profile

Emmanuel Sunil comes from the southern state of Kerala in India. In 2011 he received the BSc degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands. Thereafter, he continued his graduate studies at the same university and received the MSc degree in Aerospace Engineering in 2014, for his work on a haptic control interface for unmanned aircraft collision avoidance. During his MSc program he did an internship at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tubingen, Germany. Currently, he is working as a PhD student at the Control and Simulation section of the faculty of Aerospace Engineering, TU Delft.

Publications

The Influence of Traffic Structure on Airspace Capacity
Emmanuel Sunil, Jacco Hoekstra , Joost Ellerbroek, Frank Busink, Andrija Vidosavljevic, Daniel Delhaye and Dennis Nieuwenhuisen
Accepted to the 7th International Conference on Research in Air Transportation (ICRAT) June 2016

The Relationship Between Traffic Stability and Capacity for Decentralized Airspace
Emmanuel Sunil, Jerom Maas, Joost Ellerbroek and Jacco Hoekstra
Accepted to the 7th International Conference on Research in Air Transportation (ICRAT) June 2016

How Do Layered Airspace Design Parameters Affect Airspace Capacity and Safety
Jacco Hoekstra, Jerom Maas, Martijn Tra and Emmanuel Sunil
Accepted to the 7th International Conference on Research in Air Transportation (ICRAT) June 2016

The Effect of Swarming on a Voltage Potential Based Conflict Resolution Algorithm
Jerom Maas, Emmanuel Sunil, Joost Ellerbroek and Jacco Hoekstra
Accepted to the 7th International Conference on Research in Air Transportation (ICRAT) June 2016

Metropolis Relating Airspace Structure and Capacity for Extreme Traffic Densities
Emmanuel Sunil, Jacco Hoekstra, Joost Ellerbroek, Frank Bussink, Dennis Nieuwenhuisen, Andrija Vidosavljevic and Stefan Kern
Presented at the 11th USA Europe Air Traffic Management Research and Development Seminar (ATM) 2015

Complexity Analysis of the Concepts of Urban Airspace Design for METROPOLIS Project
Andrija Vidosavljevic , Daniel Delahaye, Emmanuel Sunil, Frank Bussink and Jacco Hoekstra
Presented at ENRI International Workshop on ATM and CNS (EIWAC) 2015

A conceptual third party risk model for personal and unmanned aerial vehicles
Roalt Aalmoes, YS Cheung, Emmanuel Sunil, Jacco Hoekstra and Frank Bussnik
Presented at the International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS) 2015

Calculation of futuristic metropolitan noise due to aircraft
Michael Arntzen, Roalt Aalmoes, Frank Bussink, Emmanuel Sunil and Jacco Hoekstra
Presented at Internoise 2015

Validation of a Tuning Method for Haptic Shared Control Using Neuromuscular System Analysis
Emmanuel Sunil, Jan Smisek, Marinus M van Paassen and Max Mulder
Presented at IEEE Systems Man and Cybernetics (SMC) conference 2014