Sector-Less Air Traffic Management: Initial Investigations

In the near future, modern communication technologies, together with satellite-based navigation and surveillance technologies, will enable aircraft to be monitored and controlled without necessarily relying on traditional radar-based practices. Based on this assumption, we present a new Air Traffic Management (ATM) concept that dispenses completely with today’s principle of sectorisation. Our work explores the possibility of controlling and monitoring aircraft individually, with no regard to today’s sectors through which aircraft fly. In this paper we discuss the concept referred to as “Sector-less Air Traffic Management.” This concept proposes a radical change in the way we traditionally control air traffic: instead of having, say, two controllers controlling a sector containing n aircraft, one controller will be responsible for a limited number of m aircraft, from departure to arrival terminal areas (TMA). It is believed the proposed concept will go a long way towards solving the current conflicting requirements for capacity, safety, and efficiency in the context of today’s continuous growth in air traffic.