An air traffic and radar simulator, AMELIA, which has been developed at the University of Iceland, is described in this paper. The simulator has several application areas, as a training tool for air traffic controllers, as a test tool for radar data processing systems and as a tool for calculating costs/benefits associated with various types of airspace organization. Three case studies are then presented in this paper, in which the simulator is used to assess some of the costs or benefits associated with different future air traffic scenarios. The first case study addresses the operational benefit of locating radars in Greenland for air traffic control, thereby forming a continuous bridge of radar coverage across the North Atlantic. Scenarios associated with current traffic and separation standards, future traffic and current separation standards, and future traffic and RVSM (Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum) are compared with and without radar’s coverage in Greenland. Results indicate that substantial operational benefits can be expected, as aircraft can be given more economical flight profiles. The second case study is a comparison of communication option costs associated with ADS (Automatic Dependent Surveillance) implementation in the North Atlantic. Results here indicate that a combined VHF/satellite data link is much more economical than solely relying on satellite data link in areas with substantial VHF coverage. The third study is an ongoing one and addresses the benefits of the future CNS/ATM (Communications, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management).
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Hauksdóttir et al. (1998) studied this question.