Comparison of Conflict Detection Capabilities for Well Clear and Critical Pair Identification

Shreyas Subramanian

Abstract: As air traffic management becomes increasingly automated, technologies for detecting and resolving conflicts are critical to maintain the safety of an airspace. There exists a need to understand how multiple conflict detection models may work together to provide deeper insights into the safety of an airspace with many aircraft interactions. Conflict detection capabilities can be improved by using two recently introduced models, Well Clear (WC) and Critical Pair Identification (CPI), which address separation assurance and detection of near mid-air collisions due to unexpected maneuvers, respectively. A procedure called Pairwise Sweep of a Pairwise Conflict (PSPC) is provided, which allows for the visualization of the response of WC and CPI for conflicts with a variety of initial aircraft states in the horizontal airspace.