Preliminary Parameter Investigation for Cellular Automata Air Traffic Flow Modelling

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2021-3012.vid New entrant integration into air traffic can only be evaluated through air traffic flow modelling and demonstrations. The ultimate goal of the current research is to model heterogeneous air traffic flow with cellular automata and reveal the mechanism in which congestions are formed (i.e. what traffic densities, aircraft speeds, separations, etc. cause congestions). As a first step towards the goal, this paper presents preliminary parameter investigation for this cellular automata modelling using past radar data available from Japan Civil Aviation Bureau, focusing on arrival traffic at Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport). This real traffic data is used to determine appropriate cell size and define a route analogous to a road in ground traffic. Vectored flights are modelled by mapping their trajectories on the route. Undisturbed flights which proceed at a constant speed (1 cell per unit time) are identified. Analysis shows that deceleration can be linked to the number of empty cells available ahead, i.e. the separation with the preceding vehicle. Merging traffic might play a significant role, however, and this needs to be considered prior to parameter tuning. Future work includes quantitative cellular automata parameter tuning based on the preliminary investigation presented here.