Air Traffic Management

The course gives an Introduction in Air Traffic Management and ATM research topics.

1. Introduction and history of Air Traffic Management, organisational en regulatory aspects

2. Airspace set-up, flight planning and navigation

3. Communication: Information services, Voice R/T, Data Link

4. Navigation: Great Circle calculations, WGS'84, approximations, beacons/navaids, landing aids

5. Surveillance: Radar basics, primary-secondary radar, radar types, ADS-B

6. Separation: Separation Minima, Near Misses, Closest Point of Approach Calculations, wind vortex categories

7. New concepts: Airborne separation assurance, 4D contract TBO, paired approaches, etc.

8. ATC Simulations: fast-time, human in the loop

9. ATC Research organisations and large scale programs (SESAR, NextGen)

10. ATM research topics: interactively discussed in class based on presentations by students

While the first part of the course is mainly lectures, the second part of the course is much more interactive. Here pairs of students get assigned a paper, project or case to study and form an opinion on. They should explain and review it in both a brief essay and during a short presentation in class, followed by a discussion with the class in which they need to defend their view on this study. In this way the students are familiarized with different aspects and opinions on the 'hot topics' in ATM research currently.