Centralized and Decentralized Approaches to Advanced Air Mobility Traffic Management

Abstract

Advanced air mobility (AAM) is an emerging air transportation concept that leverages new types of aircraft, such as electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, to carry passengers or cargo in urban or rural settings. Initial AAM operations will be low-volume, so traffic can be managed with existing air traffic control rules, procedures, and designated routes. However, projected levels of AAM demand will require new traffic management procedures. We focus on three key considerations of AAM traffic management. First, we desire a traffic management system that efficiently utilizes limited airspace and vertiport resources and minimizes delays. Next, given the diverse set of possible AAM applications, we desire a system that is fair across different operators and flights. Finally, we must be cognizant of the level of information sharing required from operators, as AAM operators can have preferences on when, how much, and with whom information is shared. Current concepts of operations envision a federated architecture in which multiple thirdparty service suppliers manage AAM traffic rather than regulatory agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration. We first consider how a single service supplier can manage traffic. To maximize efficiency, we start with a centralized optimization that requires operators to share full trajectory information. We consider the trade-off between efficiency and alternative fairness metrics, study the impact of operator preferences for fairness, and evaluate how to handle dynamic demand. We then turn to a decentralized setting since AAM operators may be unwilling or unable to share information with a central traffic manager. We develop a decentralized traffic management protocol that requires less information sharing. We show that the protocol with backpressure prioritization maximizes efficiency in one timestep, even with limited information sharing. We then consider federated airspace configurations where different regions of airspace can utilize different traffic management methods. We show that ideas from the decentralized protocol can be leveraged to coordinate traffic in a federated setting. The methods developed in this dissertation can help service suppliers manage AAM traffic while directly addressing many considerations of AAM operations, like operator fairness and information sharing.