SIMULATION: Transactions of The Society for Modeling and Simulation International

Pritchett, Amy; Wieland, Fred

doi: 10.1177/0037549707084182pmid: N/A

Wieland, Frederick; Pritchett, Amy

doi: 10.1177/0037549707078851pmid: N/A

The future of air transportation modeling and simulation represents a grand challenge for both the air transportation and the modeling and simulation communities. In addition to its size and scope, air transportation has many technical, operational, organizational, policy, security and legal aspects contributing to its complexity, yet must ensure an un-rivaled level of safety throughout any transition to next generation systems. Thus, modeling and simulation must address not only technical challenges in representing a system of this complexity, but also institutional realities that prevent full data and model sharing between the many entities involved in air transportation. We outline the attributes of a shared repository of data, models and computational tools required to meet this challenge, including the coordination and administrative processes required to manage it, and provide an example of its potential application.

Clarke, John-Paul; Melconian, Terran; Bly, Elizabeth; Rabbani, Fabio

doi: 10.1177/0037549707063766pmid: N/A

In this article, the authors describe a model of the U.S. air transportation network in which air traffic service provider and airline decision making, the impacts of weather on airport capacity and decision making, the effects of stochastic phenomenon, and the movement of aircraft, crews, and passengers are simulated. The details of the underlying discrete event simulation framework and the constituent modules are presented, along with examples of the results that may be obtained.

Everdij, Mariken H. C.; Blom, Henk A. P.; Bakker, Bert G. J.

doi: 10.1177/0037549706063820pmid: N/A

Airborne separation assurance is seen as a promising option for the future air traffic management concept to provide an increase in capacity and flight efficiency while maintaining flight safety. So-far, studies or expectations are largely based on assumptions about the achievable spacing and separation criteria. These assumptions range from optimistic to reserved, when comparing these separation criteria to currently used radar surveillance-based values. In any case, there is a clear knowledge gap on this subject. Thus, it is important to assess the relationship between spacing and separation distances on one hand and safety on the other hand. This relationship directly affects the effectiveness of airborne separation assurance. The aim of this paper is to address this issue by conducting an accident risk assessment, including a bias and uncertainty assessment and an assessment of risk sensitivity to spacing and separation values. Each stage in the methodology used is illustrated by examples. It is shown that the methodology provides valuable feedback on both the airborne separation assurance operation and the accident risk assessment.

Félez, Jesus; Maroto, Joaquin; Romero, Gregorio; Cabanellas, Jose M.

doi: 10.1177/0037549707083109pmid: N/A

This paper describes a model for traffic simulation of an urban environment and its implementation in a driving simulator. The simulator is also able to reproduce realistic traffic accidents. In order to attain real-time simulation, the simulation environment has been partitioned considering the city as divided into segments of road, junctions, and sectors that minimize the interaction between the cars involved in the traffic simulation and the traffic simulation is considered only in a control zone centered on the driven vehicle. Simplified dynamic vehicle models have also been used when vehicles are not involved in the accident, allowing for a sufficiently realistic behavior. A traffic light regulation only in the area next to the driven vehicle is also included. A complex model for the vehicles involved in traffic accidents has been developed, including multibody components and different collision models. The developed model is then immediately applicable to large scale driving simulators.