Stability and Performance of Intersecting Aircraft Flows under Decentralized Conflict Avoidance Rules

This paper considers the problem of two intersecting aircraft flows under decentralized conflict resolution rules. Considering aircraft flowing through a fixed control volume, new air traffic control models and scenarios are defined that enable the study of long-term aircraft flow stability. For a class of two intersecting aircraft flows, this paper considers conflict scenarios involving arbitrary encounter angles. It is shown that aircraft flow stability, defined both in terms of safety and performance, is preserved under the decentralized conflict resolution algorithm considered in this paper. It is shown that the lateral deviations experienced by aircraft in each flow are bounded.