Stability of intersecting aircraft flows under decentralized conflict avoidance rules

This paper considers the problem of intersecting aircraft flows under decentralized conflict avoidance rules. Using an Eulerian standpoint (aircraft flow through a fixed control volume), new air traffic control models and scenarios are defined that enable the study of long-term airspace stability problems. Considering a class of two intersecting aircraft flows, it is shown that airspace stability, defined both in terms of safety and performance is preserved under specific decentralized conflict resolution algorithms. A performance bound is derived and examples show that this bound is tight. A comparison is made with centralized approaches to conflict resolution.