Safety certification of air traffic conflict resolution algorithms involving more than two aircraft

Many future air traffic control tasks will require online safety-critical optimization algorithms. Among these tasks, real-time air traffic conflict resolution involving more than two aircraft is one of the most challenging. Air traffic control systems based on online optimization algorithms must face safety-certification issues such as guaranteed feasibility and guaranteed time of computation. This paper deals with the question of guaranteed feasibility and presents an initial effort at developing an off-line procedure to prove the safety of such an algorithm. The procedure is based on convex optimization technology combined with the so-called S-procedure.