„Elie Carafoli” Aerospace Sciences Department Emergency airspace reconfiguration in Europe MSc Project -DRAFT- Author: Felcher Andreea-Alexandra, Eng… [305319]

„Elie Carafoli” [anonimizat]-

Author: [anonimizat], Eng

Supervisor: [anonimizat], Eng.

1 Introduction

Aviation is a [anonimizat]. [anonimizat], to improve services and to reduce the costs. Despite all the improvements that have been made sometimes is difficult to forecast all the events that may lead to modification in the operations.

There are a lot of causes that cannot be predicted and can have a big impact on traffic such as: [anonimizat], war, and terrorism. [anonimizat] a case, in order to deal with the network disruption EUROCONTROL's Crisis and Contingency Management service will implement ATFCM measures and will ensure coordination between impacted stakeholders.

At the same time this unforeseen situations may point out the vulnerabilities of the system and the improvements that can be done. As an example following the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland in April and May 2010, [anonimizat], established the European Aviation Crisis Coordination Cell (EACCC) [anonimizat].

[anonimizat], the whole European airspace. [anonimizat]. Concerns appear when the airspace of the conflict zones is no longer safe to be flown. [anonimizat]. In France due to the terrorist attack the whole airspace of France has been closed for 12 hours.

[anonimizat]. As an example the effects of the crisis in Ukraine caused disruption and extra overflights over Eastern Europe.

[anonimizat] 24h, and to see the impact that it will have on the rerouted traffic. This will be done by using traffic and airspace data from 26 June 2014.

2 European airspace and route network

The Europe's air traffic management system is based on an air route network that is mostly based on national borders. The fact that the route network is not based on air traffic flow is actually constraining the air traffic management. The European Commission has addressed this issue by launching in 2000 the Single European Sky. The scope of this initiative is to come with a legislative approach is order to have a more efficient air traffic management.

Since July 2011 and until 31 December 2019 [anonimizat]. [anonimizat], standards as well as safety and environmental legislation.[3]

In order to improve capacity and efficiency, to enhance safety and lower costs of air navigation services the cooperation and integration across borders, and between ANSPs must be enhanced. In this regard measurements are being adopted gradually in Europe such as this functional airspace blocks (FABs), the concept of the flexible use of airspace(FUA) and free route airspace(FRA).

At the same time EUROCONTROL provides the latest situation of the European route network structure through the publication of EUROCONTROL Regional Charts and is updated at each AIRAC cycle.

2.1 Flexible use of airspace

As mentioned above one of the measurements that is being adopted is the concept of Flexible Use of Airspace (FUA). In order to meet the challenges raised by the growing air traffic the Transport Ministers of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) adopted an En-Route Strategy on 24 April 1990. A major Airspace Management objective was the implementation of the Flexible Use of Airspace Concept. This FUA Concept was introduced in March 1996 and is the result of the cooperation between military and civil representatives of the ECAC States together with representatives of Aircraft Operators.[4]

The basis for the FUA concept is that airspace should no longer be designated as either military or civil airspace but should be considered as one continuum and used flexibly on a day-to-day basis. As a result, any necessary airspace segregation should be of a temporary nature, for a more efficient use of the European airspace

The main ideas behind the concept of the Flexible Use of Airspace are:

– the airspace is no longer designated as purely "civil" or "military" airspace, but considered as one continuum and allocated according to users requirements.

-any necessary airspace segregation is temporary, based on real-time usage within a specific time period, thus it will be used more efficiently.

-continuous volumes of airspace are not constrained by national boundaries.

According to EUROCONTROL, the Flexible use of Airspace has been developed at the three Levels of Airspace Management that correspond to civil/military co-ordination tasks and each Airspace Management level has an impact on the others. The three Levels of Airspace Management, as presented on the EUROCONTROL website are [5] :

-Level 1- Strategic Airspace Management: national and international airspace policy and establishment of pre-determined airspace structures;

-Level 2 – Pre-tactical Airspace Management – day-to-day allocation of airspace;

-Level 3 – Tactical Airspace Management – real-time use of airspace;

This concept uses airspace structures and procedures that are particularly suited for temporary allocation and/or utilization, such as:

– the Conditional Route (CDR): is a non-permanent Air Traffic Services route or portion which can be planned and used under specified conditions. The CDRs permit the definition of more direct and alternative routes by complementing and linking to the existing Air Traffic Services route network. According to their foreseen availability, flight planning possibilities and the expected level of activity of the possible associated Temporary Segregated Areas (TSA), Conditional Routes can be divided into the following categories:

-Category One : Permanently Plannable CDR,

-Category Two : Non-Permanently Plannable CDR,

-Category Three : Not Plannable CDR.

– the Temporary Reserved Area (TRA): an airspace temporarily reserved and allocated for the specific use of a particular user during a determined period of time and through which other traffic may be allowed to transit under Air Traffic Control clearance.

– the Temporary Segregated Area (TSA):an airspace temporarily segregated and allocated for the exclusive use of a particular user during a determined period of time and through which other traffic will not be allowed to transit.

-the Cross-Border Areas (CBA):a temporary Reserved Airspace (TRA) or Temporary Segregated Airspace established over international boundaries.

– the Reduced Co-ordination Airspace (RCA):a specified portion of airspace implemented when Operational Air Traffic is light or has ceased and within which General Air Traffic is permitted to operate outside the Air Traffic Services route structure without requiring General Air Traffic controllers to initiate co-ordination with Operational Air Traffic controllers.

– the Prior Co-ordination Airspace (PCA):a given block of controlled airspace within which military activities can take place on an ad-hoc basis with individual General Air Traffic transit allowed under rules specified in Letter of Agreements between civil and military Air Traffic Services (ATS) units concerned.

The main objective of this concept is to have a more efficient use of the airspace by both civil and military users by allowing the maximum common use of airspace. At the same time this goal can be achieved only with proper coordination between civil and military users. Taking into consideration the existing differences between civil and military users the progress is slow, and is will be unreasonable to expect that this concept will ever embrace all "military" airspace.

Till now the Flexible use of airspace concept has increased the flexibility of airspace use and has provided ATM with the potential to increase the air traffic system performance and to use the available airspace in a more efficient way.

2.2 Free Route Airspace

Free Route Airspace (FRA) is a specific section of airspace in which users may freely plan a route between a defined entry point and a defined exit point, with the possibility of routing via intermediate way points thus giving the operator the possibility to choose their route subject to fewer limitations than in a conventional route network. At the same time the flights remain subject to air traffic control.

As a result, the implementation of Free Route Airspace concept will allow airline operators to fly direct routes, reducing fuel carriage, engine running time and gas emissions and vastly improving flight efficiency.[7]

The development and implementation of Free Route Airspace in Europe was initiated by EUROCONTROL in 2008 through a cooperative, partnership approach involving civil and military experts in airspace design, the ECAC member states, ANSPs, airspace users, flight planner organizations and relevant international bodies.

Regarding the implementation types Free Route Airspace operations can be:

-Time limited (e.g. at night) – this is usually a transitional step that facilitates early implementation and allows field evaluation of the FRA while minimising the safety risks.

-Structurally or geographically limitation limited (e.g. restricting entry or exit points for certain traffic flows, applicable within CTAs or upper airspace only) – this could be done in complex airspaces where full implementation could have a negative impact on capacity.[6]

The next step consists of implementing the Free Route Airspace concept in a Functional Airspace Block environment.

The ultimate goal of this concept is to be adopted in the Single European Sky.[6]

Implementation of Free Route Airspace involves changes for every part in the aviation industry such as: EUROCONTROL as Network Manager, airlines, ANSPs, etc. by cooperating regardless on national borders, adapting to the new concept, preparing systems and ensure safety.

Right now across Europe, every ANSPs is preparing and adopting different strategies in order to implement FRA and this comes with its difficulties as every country systems have to adapt to the new requirements.

At the moment Portugal ,Hungary and parts of Scandinavia are most advanced in Europe and are already operating 24 hour Free Route Airspace.

Implementing Free Route Airspace is the starting point in implementing Free Routing in European airspace which itself is an intermediate step on the road to SESAR business trajectories and 4D profiles.

The Network Manager Performance Plan target for 2014 was to fully or partially implement Free Route Airspace within 25 ACCs within the ECAC area. Until 16 October 2014 Free Route Airspace has been partially and/or fully implemented in the following ACCs: Belgrad ACC, Brest ACC, Brindisi ACC, Bordeaux ACC, Bucuresti ACC, Chisinau ACC, Karlsruhe UAC, Kobenhavn ACC, Lisboa ACC, London ACC, Ljubljana ACC, Maastricht UAC, Madrid ACC (SAN and ASI sectors), Malmo ACC, Malta ACC, Marseille ACC, Milano ACC, Padova ACC, Praha ACC, Prestwick ACC, Reims ACC, Roma ACC, Shannon ACC, Skopje ACC, Sofia ACC, Stockholm ACC, Tampere ACC, Warsaw ACC, Wien ACC and Zagreb ACC.[11]

Figure 1 Free Route Airspace Deployment until 06 March 2014[8]

Currently, the Network Manager coordinates the development and implementation of full free route operations for a large number of area control centers in Europe. During the year 2015 and at the beginning of 2016, implementation of full free route operations will take place as follows:

-NEFRA – full FRA in a borderless airspace between Norway, Finland, Latvia, Estonia together with Denmark and Sweden;

-Lithuania, Slovakia, Austria – full FRA

-United Kingdom – parts of Prestwick ACC – full FRA with DCT support

-Italy – full FRA in upper levels of the Italian Airspace

-Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina – full FRA during night

– Ukraine – full FRA during night

– Greece – full FRA during night

At the same time EUROCONTROL is working with all ANSPs and supports them in the implementation of Free Route Airspace. It is expected that the remaining States/FABs will implement full Free Route Airspace from the second half of 2016 and until 2019.

Figure 2 Free Route Airspace Implementation End 2019[8]

2.3 Functional Airspace Block

Another concept that is being implemented in order to use in a more efficient way the European airspace is the Functional Airspace Block concept. In this way the airspace fragmentation due to state boundaries will be reduced

Functional Airspace Block (FAB) means an airspace block based on operational requirements and established regardless of State boundaries, where the provision of air navigation services and related functions are performance-driven and optimized with a view to introducing, in each functional airspace block, enhanced cooperation among air navigation service providers or, where appropriate, an integrated provider.[13] The Single European Sky Service Provision Regulation requires that by 4 December 2012, all the Member States shall take all necessary measures in order to ensure the implementation of FABs within the Single European.

As a result nine FAB initiatives have been declared to the European Commission:

Figure 3 Functional Airspace Blocks[13]

Table 1 The Functional Airspace Blocks initiatives

Two of these have already been implemented: FAB UK-Ireland and Danish – Swedish FAB.

The objectives of this concept are :

– ensure an improved safety level despite civilian traffic growth

– meet the demand of civil air traffic foreseen to increase;

-balance the cost of operations within FABs by establishing more effective route structure and ATC service;

-improve flight efficiency through improvements in routes, flight profiles and distances flown;

-reduce the impact on the environment through improvements in routes, flight profiles and distances flown.

– improve military mission effectiveness through improved training capabilities and readiness postures as required by States.

Regarding Danube FAB, the airspace users have been benefitting from the FRA project since November 2013, when it became operational at night on a national basis. Since then ROMATSA, BULATSA and EUROCONTROL have been working closely to push forward the development and implementation of Free Route Airspace in the Danube Functional Airspace Block.

An important DANUBE FAB achievement for 2014 is the establishment of two Cross-Border Sectors (CBS) for Air Traffic Services, marking the first time such a step was undertaken within any FAB in Europe. The implementation of the two CBS was based on the operational requirements for optimal use of airspace, regardless of the national boundaries. The implementation of the CBS between Bulgaria and Romania represents a new stage towards defragmentation of the European airspace – a key objective of Single European Sky.

In October 2015 EUROCONTROL stated that a further intermediate step will take place early in 2016 when FRA will become operational at night throughout the Danube FAB , this being the Phase 2. The ultimate step of the FRA development and implementation is to gradually deploy 24-hour cross-border FRA by 2019.

In tandem with equivalent initiatives for the progressive deployment of full FRA operations across all of Europe’s airspace, the Danube FAB will make a substantial contribution to airspace performance improvements in the vital areas of capacity, efficiency and environment, while maintaining safety and military mission effectiveness.[14]

The solution proposed for the last phase in the Danube FAB has gone through a series of essential FRA enablers, including:

-airspace design activities;

-system evolutions including FRA enabling ATC tools and Controller-Pilot-Data-Link

Communication (CPDLC);

-ATM coordination procedures (civil-civil and civil-military);

-ATCO training.[14]

2.4 European and national authorities

2.4.1 EUROCONTROL

EUROCONTROL, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, is an intergovernmental Organisation with 41 Member States, committed to building, together with its partners, a Single European Sky that will deliver the air traffic management performance required for the twenty-first century and beyond.Offers suport for all the state members in order to run a safe, efficient environmentally-friendly air traffic operations throughout the European region.

European Commission nominated EUROCONTROL as Network Manager in July 2011 until 31 December 2019.

EUROCONTROL 's main areas of expertise are :

Table 2 EUROCONTROL areas of expertise

2.4.2 ROMATSA-Romanian Air Traffic Services

An Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP) is an organization that provides the service of managing the aircraft in flight or on the maneuvering area and which is the legitimate holder of that responsibility.

Romania is daily transited by an average number of 2,500 flights, having 16 authorized airports and a single Air Navigation Service Provider. The Romanian ANSP, Romanian Air Traffic Services Administration (ROMATSA), was founded on February the 1st, 1991. It is the body that performs the air traffic services for the civil aircrafts overflying the Romanian airspace, applying the regulations of the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL) of which Romania is a member since 1996.

ROMATSA task is to create a safe operational environment for the air traffic in the Romanian airspace, on the background of the dynamical development of the civil aviation industry and of the permanent changes occurring in the international transport.

The Autonomous Administration ROMATSA has the task to:

– manage the Romanian airspace allotted to the civil aviation ;
-provide the necessary technical facilities and air navigation services for the users of the Romanian airspace ;
-organize and provides the aeronautical and meteorological information and the aeronautical telecommunication services ;

ROMATSA provides the control and the unitary development of the air traffic control activity for the aircraft belonging to both the users and the operators, it promotes the harmonization and the integration with the European specialized system ( EUROCONTROL ). The joined concern of ROMATSA and the Ministry of National Defense provides the coordinated use of the Romanian airspace by both civil and military aviation.[15]

3 Possible causes

Unforeseen events in recent years have demonstrated the vulnerability of the European aviation system for emergency situations, in particular affecting safety. The level of disruption and impact on the air transport industry was unprecedented and required urgent action at both the European and global level.

There is a non-exhaustive list of possible threats adversely affecting, directly or indirectly, aviation and which can lead to airspace closure.

This disruptions can have different causes, such as: volcanic ash dispersions, nuclear emissions dispersions, armed conflict, hazardous chemicals events, security incidents (terrorism), airborne spread of diseases/pandemic, earthquakes, flooding, major failure of a pan-European function, industrial action or unavailability of several ANSPs, massive cyber attack, severe meteorological situations,etc. [1]

If we talk about volcanic ash disruptions we can take as an example the eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull  in 2010. It caused enormous disruption to air travel across western and northern Europe over an initial period of six days in April 2010 then additional localized disruption continued into May 2010. The eruption was declared officially over in October 2010. As a result 20 countries closed their airspace to commercial jet traffic and it affected about 10 million travellers.

As an example of armed conflict ,as a result of the increasing presence of rebel militants Libya was declared a red zone .Another example is Iraqi where planes cannot fly below 20,000 feet with the exception of immediate arrivals and departures from Erbil International Airport .This situation is affecting the air transport industry; airplanes are not allowed to overfly the red zone that is now considered the Iraqi territory. In Ukraine after the MH17 plane crash Eastern Ukraine and Crimea were declared red zones.

Figure 4 Closures and Warnings[1]

Security incidents such as terrorism tend to become a more actual problem. In 2015 after the terrorist attack in Paris, France has closed its airspace for 12 hours.

As for spread of diseases/pandemic, a sudden outbreak of Ebola determined the Network Manager and the EACCC to monitor the evolution of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and its potential impact on European aviation during August 2014-Spring 2015.

Another possible cause could be a strike of the air traffic controllers.The Spanish air traffic controllers strike began on December 3, 2010 when most air traffic controllers in Spanish airports walked out in a coordinated wildcat strike. Following the walkout, the Spanish Government authorized the Spanish military to take over air traffic control operations in a total of eight airports, including the country's two main airports, Madrid-Barajas and Barcelona-El Prat. On the morning of December 4, the government declared a 'State of Alert', ordering on the controllers back to work. Shortly after the measure was implemented on December 5, controllers started returning to work under the threats of jail sentences and the strike was called off.

Also regarding Air Traffic Control, another possible casuses could be:surveillance failure,fire, flight plan processing,power, fuel contamination.These can affect the equipment used by the ANSP, thus resulting in the incapacity of the ANSP to provide air traffic service.

4 Past cases

4.1 Eastern Ukraine and Crimea – MH17 Accident

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe, it borders Russia to the East and North-East, Belarus to the North-West, Poland and Slovakia to the West, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova to the South-West, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the South and South-East, respectively. It lies between latitudes 44° and 53° N, and longitudes 22° and 41° E and it has an area of 603,628 km2, making it the largest country entirely within Europe having a coastline of 2,782 kilometers. [16]

The Crimean Peninsula is a major land mass on the northern coast of the Black Sea that is almost completely surrounded by water. Covering an area of 27,000 km2, Crimea is located on the Northern coast of the Black Sea and on the Western coast of the Sea of Azov, the only land border is shared with Ukraine's Kherson Oblast Ukrainian region from the North.

Due to conflict in Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula civil aircraft were not allowed to fly at a lower altitude than 32000 feet (FL320). This was because of a shotdown of an Antonov aircraft.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that crashed on 17 July 2014 after being shot down, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board. The Boeing 777-200ER airliner lost contact about 50 km (31 mi) from the Ukraine–Russia border and crashed near Torez in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, 40 km (25 mi) from the border.[16]

Figure 5 MH17 Flight path[17]

After the accident Ukraine closed all routes in Eastern Ukrainian airspace(Dnipropetrovsk Flight Information Region), at all altitudes. NOTAMs which state that airplanes are not allowed to overfly the dangerous airspace at any altitude were emitted. As an effect all flight plans that were filed using these routes have been rejected by EUROCONTROL.

The incident dramatically heightened fears about airliner shootdowns, leading to a number of airlines announcing they would avoid overflying conflict zones.

As a response to the closure of the Eastern Ukrainian airspace, the European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas activated the EACC in order to coordinate the response to the impact of the airspace closure and to guarantee the safety of flights. At the same time the Network Manager started to work with surrounding countries to ensure that alternative routes are available and that there is sufficient capacity in the impacted air traffic control centres to manage the extra aircraft and ensure that there are as few delays as possible.

Before the accident the airspace over Ukraine used to be one of the most congested in the world beacause it serves as a major cross roads for flights connecting major hubs in Europe with cities in Asia.

In the pictures below we can see the impact on the air traffic flow. We can see the growth in traffic in the surrounding countries.

Figure 6 Impact on the air traffic flow[2]

The responsibility for closing airspace or routes lies with the relevant sovereign nation. In the case of Ukraine, the State took the decision to declare the airspace open where MH17 was lost in the form of a Notice to Airmen, or NOTAM, showing what airspace is available or which airports or routes at various altitudes are closed. Such information is made available to all airspace users via EUROCONTROL’s European AIS Data Base (EAD). Airlines decide on the route to fly, taking into consideration various criteria such as safety, time in the air, fuel burn, emissions, charges weather, capacity constraints, and arrival time.  Airlines may decide to avoid airspace even if the airspace is declared open by the respective State responsible for that airspace.

As a result the crisis in Ukraine caused disruption and extra overflights over Eeastern Europe. In 2015 EUROCONTROL stated that the effects are gradually fading. Four routes over the Black Sea airspace have been opened; however, there are still extra overflights over Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Turkey.

4.2 Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull

Eyjafjallajökull is one of Iceland's smaller ice caps located in the far south of the island. It's situated to the north of Skógar and to the west of the larger ice cap Mýrdalsjökull. The volcanic events starting in March 2010 were considered to be a single eruption divided into phases.

The airspace closures in Europe resulting from the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano from 14 April 2010 led to the disruption of some 100,000 flights and 10 million passenger journeys[18]The Eyjafjallajökull eruption on april 14th occurred beneath a layer of glacial ice, which contributed towards the transformation of lava into small glass particles believed to be harmful to aircraft engines. the glass-rich volcanic ash was carried by strong north-westerly winds, prompting european aviation authorities to shut down air traffic for fear of public safety . Scottish and Norwegian airspace was the first to close down on the evening of the eruption. By April 18th, the skies reaching from Norway to the Canary Islands, and Ireland to Ukraine were virtually closed, with less than a fifth of flights operating.

The main period of the crisis was 15th‐22nd April, though the effects started earlier and continued later, especially in Scandinavia and Iceland. 104,000 flights were cancelled during the 8‐day crisis. That is 48% of expected traffic over 8 days, peaking at 80% on 18th April.

On Wednesday 14 April 2010 and in the days which followed, an ash cloud spreading South and East from Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland triggered the progressive closure of much of European airspace by the respective national authorities. It was the role of EUROCONTROL to communicate these closure (and re‐opening) decisions and to coordinate the flow of traffic. Not until Friday 23 April 2010 did the number of flights get back to normal levels; and even this aggregate statistic concealed continuing local disruptions as well as a significant number of supplementary flights as airlines worked to repatriate stranded travellers and to restore their networks.[19]

Subsequently, the ash cloud returned on and off between 4th and 17th May, leading to an estimated 7,000 further cancellations. In May the effects were felt much more strongly in terms of delays (and re‐ routing of North Atlantic flows) than in cancellations

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimated that the airline industry worldwide would lose €148 million a day during the disruption. IATA stated that the total loss for the airline industry was around US$1.7 billion. The Airport Operators Association (AOA) estimated that airports lost £80 million over the six-and-a-half days.Over 95,000 flights had been cancelled all across Europe during the six-day travel ban, with later figures suggesting 107,000 flights cancelled during an 8-day period, accounting for 48% of total air traffic and roughly 10 million passengers

Figure 7 Traffic in Europe before and during the April crisis[19]

Figure 8 Airspace completely (red) or partially (orange) closed to IFR traffic on 18 April 2010[23]

The air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption caused the acceleration to integrate the national air traffic control systems into the Single European Sky and the immediate creation of a crisis coordination group to handle future transport disruptions.

Following the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland in April and May 2010, the European Union, led by the European Commission (EC) supported by EUROCONTROL, moved swiftly in the institutional area and used the lessons learned in this crisis to establish the European Aviation Crisis Coordination Cell (EACCC). A legal basis was given to the EACCC in Commission Regulation (EU) No 677/2011 of 7 July 2011 on the ATM network functions which set the requirements for its establishment and the responsibilities of the Network Manager to support the EACCC[1].

5 Existing tools

The air transportation industry has experienced rapid growth in recent times and the demand for airport and airspace usage increases exponentially as the traffic increase. Moreover, congestion problem abounds almost on a daily basis as a result of unforeseen factors and these unforeseen factors that may lead to the closure of and airspace sector. As a result of the closure the traffic must be deviated from the affected sector. This is done by rerouting the existing and future traffic as long as the affected sector remains closed.

At the moment there are several software used to simulate the closure of airspace and the resulting traffic such as SAAM, NEST and RAMS.

5.1 SAAM- System for traffic Assignment and Analysis at Macroscopic level

System for traffic Assignment and Analysis at a Macroscopic level or more simply SAAM, is an European airspace design evaluation tool developed by EUROCONTROL. It is a modeling simulation tool used to model, analyze & visualize route network and airspace volume developments at local, regional and European-wide levels.

Its major functionalities are airspace design, analysis and visualization, simple ATC simulation, 3D animations and 4D flight trajectories calculation. The interface of SAAM is represented in the figure below:

Figure 9 SAAM interface

SAAM main functionalities, which all deal with airspace structure and traffic data, can be divided into:

-modeling

-simulation

-analysis

-visualization

Most often SAAM is used for operation planning activities such as: strategic optimization of traffic flows, designing route network and airspace, analysis of past and future traffic flows.

At the moment this tool is mainly used for:

-Airspace design (e.g. sectors)

-Calculation of 4D flight trajectories (e.g. shortest path)

-Airspace analysis (e.g. loads, flight efficiency)

-Airspace visualization & 3D animations

The software is based on BADA as an aircraft performance model.

The needed input data, more specifically the traffic files, used to perform an analysis can be taken from the EUROCONTROL’s DDR Project (Demand Data Repository Project). SAAM uses two sets of traffic data model 1 (.m1) and model 3(.m3) files. The model 1 traffic data file is last filed flight plan data, as filed by the airlines with vertical profile and time calculated by CFMU. The model 3 traffic data file is flight plan data compared and changed according to radar data, but the flight route is still described from navaid to navaid and it is also referred as "actual" trajectories.

Another data files used in SAAM are represented by the route network and airspace dataset, used to encode the network state at every AIRAC cycle.

To be able to close a sector in SAAM a modification of the existing airspace has to be done. In SAAM this is possible with the Rule Editor function, which allows the editing of rule files. The role of these rules is to create a more realistic environment taking in consideration various constraints imposed by country's different airspace, segregated zones, dangerous zones etc.

The rules that define the airspace are contained in a document called Route Availability Document (RAD).

The Route Availability Document is created based on:

– COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 255/2010 of 25 March 2010 laying down common rules on air traffic flow management.

– COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 677/2011 of 7 July 2011 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of air traffic management (ATM) network functions . Basically the Route Availability Document is a common reference document containing the policies, procedures and description for route and traffic orientation. It also includes route network and free route airspace utilization rules and availability. The information contained in the Route Availability Document is updated each AIRAC cycle following a structured standard process.

The document structure is the following:

-a general description

– six appendices

– a Network wide Pan-European Annex;

– a separate Annex for special events, if necessary, containing restrictions of temporary nature (i.e. European/World Sport Events, Olympic Games, large scale Military exercises, economic forums).

The 6 appendices contain information regarding: Area definition, Flight Level Capping Limits, En-route DCT limits, Flight Profile Restrictions and FUA restrictions.

The rules are organized in sections that can be identified with the name of the country for which the rules are implemented. A section can contain rules and subsections; the RAD Annex subsection represents the modifications published in the Route Availability Document, while the SAAM Required subsection contains the changes that are not yet found in the RAD document.

After closing a sector the rerouting of the existing traffic can be simulated. Mainly the rerouting is done by finding the shortest routes in terms of NM , between departure and arrival points. This process is based on the Dijkstra algorithm which solves the shortest path problem by picking the unvisited vertex with the lowest distance, calculates the distance through it to each unvisited neighbor, updates the distance if smaller and continues till the finish point.

During the rerouting process all restrictions mentioned in the Route Availability Document are taken into account. Due to all the rules that have to be respected there may be unassigned flights due to issues like trajectories which have a higher route length extension than acceptable or if the network offers no connection in that certain area. Usually a route length extension is considered unacceptable if is greater than 50NM.

The main advantage of SAAM, in comparison with other tools, is that is less complicated in realization of a simulation.

5.1.1 DDR – Demand Data Repository

In time the need to have access to a consolidated and integrated European strategic view of air traffic demand and distribution has become a necessity.

As a response, EUROCONTROL has developed the DDR Project (Demand Data Repository Project), which provides airspace planners and airspace users the past European traffic demand obtained from the CFMU, among other features such as future traffic, in order to provide accurate data regarding European traffic.

The Demand Data Repository project was developed in two phases, DDR1 and DDR2.

-DDR1 produced future traffic samples, mainly using historical traffic samples adjusted with STATFOR forecast data and the FIPS (Flight Increase Process). It is currently being phased out. The traffic sample for a specific day contains the flights departing on that day. No flight is duplicated from one day to the other. Airspace load calculated with such traffic will not be accurate at the beginning of the day (some flights departing the day before will be missing). [33]

-DDR2, now promoted as the DDR service, covers DDR1 functionalities and also collects early available flight intentions from airlines (SSIM/INNOVATA data) and from coordinated airports through the European Union Airport Coordinators Association (EUACA). The traffic sample for a specific day contains all flights flying within an enlarged ECAC area, during the day. Flights passing midnight in the large ECAC area will be counted twice in two consecutive days.[33]

Collected flight intentions are used to enrich historical traffic demand and to improve the accuracy of traffic demand forecasts.

The main beneficiaries of this project are:

– the Network Manager – EUROCONTROL (Central / FAB / Local) use DDR to develop the rolling Network Operation Plan (e.g. Route and Airspace design; strategic, seasonal and pre-tactical demand and capacity balancing; the planning of special events;

– the ANSPs use it to prepare and optimise their capacity plans;

-the Airlines use it to detect flight efficiency improvement opportunities, through the visualisation and comparison of flight plan trajectories for any period of time in the past;

– the ASM actors use it for airspace management and coordination processes for available airspace;

– the Airports use it to integrate their local plans with the Network Operations Plan.

In addition to traffic, DDR2 web portal makes datasets describing the European Route Network structure environment (ATS route network, RAD restrictions, Free Route Airspace implementation, Airspace Closure, Flight level constraints) available for download for Airspace Modeling tools such as SAAM and NEST.

On the DDR platform all European flights from 2011 up to now are available, but only for registered users accredited by EUROCONTROL.

The last update on DDR has been made on 17th June 2016 and the main improvements are:

– Daily generation of NEST files

– Several Java processes transferred to the back end

– No restriction for the Airlines tab

– A few minor bug-fixing and minor enhancements

5.2 NEST- Network Strategic Tool

Although SAAM provides acceptable results at macroscopic level in terms of accuracy, at microscopic level the results provided by the tool are inaccurate.

As a solution to this problem, the SAAM and NEVAC tools were merged into one single, integrated tool. This integrated tool, NEST (Network Strategic Tool), is a stand-alone desktop application used by the EUROCONTROL and ANSPs (Air Navigation Service Providers) for airspace structure design and development, for capacity planning and post operations analysis, for strategic traffic flow organization, for scenario preparation for fast and real-time simulations and for ad-hoc studies at the local and network level. .[34]

The tool offers an intuitive, planner-orientated interface with a low barrier to entry for new users. It is a powerful scenario-based modeling engine, capable of running a broad range of complex, operationally-relevant analysis and optimization functionalities and accurate results at macroscopic and also at microscopic level. NEST can be used locally at the level of Area Control Centres (ACC) or airports and also globally for strategic planning at the network level. NEST can process and consolidate large quantities of data spanning multiple years, but also allows the user to drill down into the detail and analyse and observe 1-minute periods of data.

NEVAC (Network Estimation and Visualization of ACC Capacity) is a stand-alone desktop application using CFMU data for long-term ACC and ECAC network capacity planning. NEVAC offers an intuitive, planner-orientated interface with a low barrier to entry for new users. NEVAC is not another fast-time simulator using flight performance criteria to simulate flight trajectories. Instead NEVAC re-uses simulated or radar-generated 4D flight trajectories provided by external tools and focuses on complex operationally-relevant network analysis and optimisation functionalities.

By combining SAAM and NEVAC, NEST combines the powerful airspace design capabilities and route design of SAAM with the capacity analysis of sectors functionalities and user-friendliness of NEVAC.

Figure 10 NEST

In the same case as for SAAM, NEST uses datasets describing the consolidated European airspace and route network, the traffic demand and distribution at the end of each AIRAC cycle. All this data can be downloaded alos from the Demand Data Repository web site but only but accredited users as mentioned above.

NEST is mostly used for:

-designing and developing the airspace structure,

-planning the capacity and performing related post operations analyses,

-organizing the traffic flows in the ATFCM strategic phase,

-preparing scenarios to support fast and real-time simulations,

– ad-hoc studies at local and network level.

The results obtained with NEST are used by the Network Managers and ANSPs  to optimize the available resources and improve performance at network level.

This tool is scenario based. This means that users can make changes to the original dataset or reference scenario to model an unlimited number of different operational planning options. Future projects can be selected and combined as required using the layer system.

Figure 11 NEST interface

Regarding modeling and simulation, NEST uses the same algorithms as SAAM. Although the tool should have been friendlier user software than SAAM, it is considered more complicated to model in NEST than in SAAM.

An improvement, in comparison with SAAM, is represented by the visualisation and presentation functions. NEST provides a suite of data visualisation features including tables, charts and fully integrated capabilities for creating 2D/3D presentations and 4D time-based animations. A “real 3D” stereo mode is also provided for use with stereoscopic technologies (polarised screen and glasses). Customized movies can be recorded, including titles, labels, bitmaps, airspace, traffic pictures, time-based animations and the result can be displayed or recorded in a standard “avi”movie.

Scenario data can be exported as a single excel file or multiple text files: any change applied to these files with external editors can be easily imported back into the current scenario. Alternatively, changes can be made to an individual scenario by importing data directly from another scenario, allowing changes to be copied onto new datasets as they become available. Data can be exported in a range of formats for external simulators such as RAMS and IPAS.

Below we have a few examples of studies performed with NEST:

– Free Route Concept

– Flexible Use of Airspace (FUA)

– Terminal Airspace development

– Strategic network operations planning

– Functional Airspace Blocks (FABs) studies

– London Olympics, Football championships and other major events

– Network operations contingency plans

– Development of new versions of the ATS route network.

– European Capacity Planning Process at local and network level

– Fast and real time simulation scenario preparation

– Environment studies for European Commission

As a result of the combination of SAAM and NEVAC, NEST is considered a better software regarding visualization and presentation but at the same time a more complicated one to use in simulations, thus SAAM remains the preferred software regarding airspace closure.

5.3 RAMS – Reorganized ATC Mathematical Simulator

RAMS is a simulation engine that has been developed and enhanced since 1991, and is currently used around the world to analyse and answer ATM problems and concepts, including these principle players in the ATM domain: USA FAA Washington ,DC USA ,FAA Tech Center, New Jersey, USA NASA Langley, USA Mitre Corp., Virginia, EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre, France, EUROCONTROL HQ, Brussels, EUROCONTROL CRDS, Budapest , Africa ASECNA , Australia AirServices, Bulgaria Air Traffic Services , Italy SICTA, Italy ENAV Portugal NavPortugual, Korea KARI (Korean Airspace Research Institute), Korea Hankuk Aviation University , Spain AENA, Spain INECO , Sweden ATS,UK NATS ,UK Imperial College London.

RAMS is a complete turn-key, high-fidelity, cost-effective easy-to-use gate-to gate ATM fast-time simulation tool available on the familiar and powerful Windows NT/2000/XP platforms.

The tool provides a comprehensive range of ATM fast-time simulation capabilities, from en-route airways and speed/altitude restrictions, to TMA, SIDS/STARS, runway operations, shortest-path taxi paths, ground taxi capacity, and gate allocation. In addition, facilities to allow the modelling of future operational concepts such as free routes airspace or RVSM are fully supported in the RAMS Plus

model.

Tool's features include an integrated editor and display environment, rapid data development facilities, 4D flight profile calculation, 4D sectorisation, 4D spatial conflict detection, AI rule based conflict resolution, 4D resolution maneuvering, workload assignment, TMA runway and hold-stack operations, airspace routing, freeflight and RVSM zones, ground taxiing, airport gates, stochastic traffic generation, and graphical animation. It can even load external 4D flight profiles generated from other ATM tools, where these external 4D profiles can be fully simulated, including sectorisation and conflict separation violations, within the RAMS Plus™ environment.

The complete RAMS Plus gate-to-gate system consists of two components, the Airside and the Groundside component. Both components work together in the same environment to provide a global macro/micro gate-to-gate view of the air traffic system.

The primary functionalities of RAMS include:

– Traffic schedule

– Traffic profiles (routes, navaids)

– Airport delay model

– Runway occupancy and scheduling

– TMA (SIDs/STARs/Holdstacks)

– 4D Sectorisation

– Controller separations and rulebased resolution

– 4D Conflict Detection

– 4D Conflict Resolution

Some primary objectives using the RAMS Plus Airside component includes:

– Propose alternative sectorisation,

– Measure controller workload,

– Measure airspace complexity,

– Measure airspace safety in relation to separation violations,

– Impacts of concepts such as free flight or RVSM.

– Study an unlimited view of ATM concepts.

One of the advantages of RAMS is the fact that it offers the user the possibility to choose the reference geodetic system, thus providing a more realistic environmental adapted to the need of the simulation.

In comparison with the other software another advantage of RAMS is the fact that it uses weather data, such as wind data.

Also this software is not restricted to EUROCONTROL authorized users as SAAM and NEST. On the other hand is expensive tool and the simulations require more time than SAAM and NEST.

5.4 Advantages and disadvantages of existing tools

SAAM

-Advantages:

-easy to use

-acceptable level of accuracy at macroscopic level

-Disadvantages:

-although its capabilities also include performance analysis and route modelling, this program is focused to perform route network and airspace analysis at a macroscopic level. This fact requires treating with large amounts of data, which is achieved at the expense of accuracy in calculations.

– SAAM is also restricted to users accredited by EUROCONTROL.

– although SAAM has an acceptable level of accuracy at macroscopic level, at microscopic level the results tend to be more inaccurate.

-SAAM does not include a weather model, thus it will be hard to simulate the closure of an airspace due to unfavorable weather conditions.

-does not re-route all traffic

NEST

Advantages :

– more accurate results at microscopic level

Disadvantages :

– this tool is more complicated to use than SAAM

– access is restricted to users accredited by EUROCONTROL.

RAMS

Advantages :

– not restricted to users accredited by EUROCONTROL as SAAM and NEST

– more realistic simulation environment

Disadvantages:

– is considered an expensive tool.

-taking into consideration that RAMS uses a larger amount of data that SAAM and NEST, the simulations are done in a larger period of time

This research wants to address these problems by creating an application with a more realistic simulation environment and by trying to re-route all the existing traffic.

6 Input data

The first step in realizing the application is to collect the necessary input data. In our case the necessary data consists of traffic data, airspace data and network data.

6.1 Traffic data

In order to simulate the re-routing, traffic data is needed. For this project traffic files from DDR are going to be used. These are the same as the one used by SAAM and NEST.

Usually these traffic files contain information about the trajectory of single route or group of routes in a text format.

The files are actually text files with *.s06 extension.

The route information provided in these files consists of: origin and destination of the flight, route aircraft and call sign together with the route trajectory segmented in several parts. For each segment, the following data is presented:

− UTC time and date of the beginning and the end of the segment.

− Flight level begin and end.

− Corresponding latitude and longitude coordinates.

In the Demand Data Repository three different types of traffic files can be found:

m1(Model 1) traffic files which contain the last filled flight plan trajectory of the route. It corresponds to the scheduled flight, the route that the aircraft should follow established previous to its departure.

m2(Model 2) traffic files which contains restrictions which were imposed due to ATFCM reasons.

m3(Model 3) traffic files which contain the flight plan trajectory enhanced with radar data. As a consequence, it represents a more realistic route.

For our application Model 1 traffic files from year 2014 are going to be used.

In the picture below can be observed the traffic on 26 June 2014. The traffic file has been opened with SAAM.

Figure 12 Traffic data represented in SAAM

The information contained in the Module 1 file is sorted by flight segment sequence from origin to destination.

Each line in the file is composed of 20 columns.

The information contained in each line is shown in the table below:

Table 3 Structure of Module 1 file

Also a part of the data contained in the file describing the traffic on 26 June 2014 can be observed below.

Figure 13 Traffic data contained in an Module 1 file

With the information contained in these files is possible to simulate the traffic for a specific day.

6.2 Airspace data

Airspace is in fact a complex system which is partitioned for a series of reasons, mainly related to air traffic control. The European airspace is partitioned in a hierarchical way.

At the highest level, the space is partitioned into multinational areas, termed Functional AirBlocks (FAB). The FABs are not yet fully implemented, but their activation is planned in the near future as a mean to increase the capacity in terms of traffic. Then each country has its own National Airspace, which is typically partitioned into Air Control Centers.

Each of these is itself partitioned into sectors, which are the smallest unit of control, being under the direct supervision of air traffic controllers. Finally, inside the sectors we find the navigation points constituting the grid where the flights move. In fact, nowadays flight plans are defined as a set of consecutive fixed points that the aircraft is supposed to pass at predefined times. On the smallest scale, therefore, a flight plan is a path on a grid whose nodes are the navigation points.

In order to simulate the airspace sectors, the same files used by SAAM are going to be out airspace data input.

These files are Newmaxo ASCII Region files with extension * .are. In the figure below are displayed the sectors in the AIRAC cycle 1407.

Figure 14 European airspace sectors in the AIRAC Cycle 1407

Each line in the *.are files is composed of 15 columns.

The information contained in each line is shown in the table below:

Table 4 Structure of an ASCII region file

6.3 Network data

Another needed data is represented by the European route network.

The necessary data is contained in the ASCII Segment files with extension *.ase, used by SAAM.

The file describes a route network, each line representing a route segment.

The information contained in each line is shown in the table below:

Table 5 Structure of ASCII Segment files

In the picture below we have an example of data contained by an *.ase file.

Figure 15 Example of network data from an ASCII Segment file

7 Processing input data

In order to create the MATLAB application the system shall be able to read and process the following input data:

– *.are files which contain the needed airspace data in order to simulate the European Airspace.

– * .so6 files, Model 1, which contain traffic data.

– *.ase files, which contain the network data.

7.1 Processing airspace input data

As an input file for the airspace data we are using the same files used by SAAM. These files are Newmaxo ASCII Region files with extension * .are.

The first option was the file that contains the sectors in the AIRAC cycle 1407. The information in the raw file is structured in the following way:

– the first line describes the sector containing information regarding the number of lines of the following body, latitude, longitude, etc., as it can be observed in the above table were we have the first line of the file that contains the sectors in the AIRAC cycle 1407.

Table 6 Line extracted from Sectors_1407.are

– the body contains vertices coordinates in minutes (the polygon must be closed: first point = last point). In the table below we have the body for the sector described above:

Table 7 Data extracted from Sectors_1407.are

Then the file was processed in MATLAB and resulted the following:

Figure 16 Sectors in the AIRAC cycle 1407 plotted in MATLAB

Figure 17 Sectors in the AIRAC cycle 1407 in Europe plotted in MATLAB

As it can be seen in the right picture the map is too crowed thus, if we add the traffic is becomes unusable. Thus we decided to use the file that contains only the ACCs. The file has the same structure as the file that contains all the sectors in AIRAC cycle 1407.

After processing the file the results are the following:

Figure 18 ACCs plotted in MATLAB

Figure 19 Europe ACCs plotted in MATLAB

In the last picture, representing the ACCs in Europe, it can be observed that this map is less crowded and much easier to use because the sectors are clearly delimitated.

7.2 Processing traffic input data

For this project traffic files from DDR are going to be used. These are the same as the one used by SAAM and NEST. More specifically we are going to use the file that contains the traffic for 26 June 2014.

Usually these traffic files contain information about the trajectory split in segments in a text format.

The files are actually text files with *.s06 extension.

The route information provided in these files consists of: origin and destination of the flight, route aircraft and call sign together with the route trajectory segmented in several parts. For each segment, the following data is presented:

− UTC time and date of the beginning and the end of the segment.

− Flight level begin and end.

− Corresponding latitude and longitude coordinates, etc.

This file contains 33763 flights, each flight being represented in approximately 46 lines.

As an example, the flight from 26 June 2014 that is used as input data is represented like this:

Figure 20 One flight data from the traffic file

The filed was processed flight by flight, using the coordinated on columns 13,14,15,16 and the results are the following:

Figure 21 Traffic for 26.06.2014 plotted in MATLAB

Figure 22 Traffic above Europe plotted in MATLAB

7.3 Processing network data

Another needed data is represented by the European route network.

The necessary data is contained in the ASCII Segment files with extension *.ase, used by SAAM.

The file describes a route network, each line representing a route segment.

This type of data can be obtained by converting the traffic data into a network data file. In this way is obtained the load for each segment in a specific day.

The file containing the traffic fir 26 June 2014 was loaded in SAAM and converted into a network data file with *.ase extension, resulting the following:

Figure 23 Obtained network data in SAAM

The file is structured in the following way, bellow being a line in the text file representing the data for 1 segment:

Figure 24 First line from the network data file

The file was processed in MATLAB and the results are the following:

Figure 25 Network data plotted in MATLAB

Figure 26 Network above Europe

7.4 Analysis of processed input data

From the network file it can be extracted the load for each segment for the day of 26.06.2014. In the first column of the input file we have the number of flights that have flown through the segment in that specific day. This value is going to be used as a reference value when the rerouting will be done.

In the image below it can be observed the variation, with red being displayed the segments with the most traffic in that day.

Figure 27 Network with load data plotted in MATLAB

In this picture it can be observed that the large amount of segments with low traffic is given also by the traffic coming towards Europe and from the flights leaving Europe, segments for which we have only the flights managed by Eurocontrol.

In the picture below it can be observed the load in Europe for the day of 26.06.2014:

Figure 28 Network data with load Europe

In order to have a better understanding we have displayed the load.

Figure 29 Network Load

It can be observed also here that there are a large number of segments with low traffic. But the data that we are interested in is represented by the flights in Europe were we have a larger number of segments with a load between 100 and 600 flights.

Figure 30 Network data

In this way we have a better understanding of the load of the segments in the closed airspace and of the segments that are near the closed airspace that most probably will take over a part of the rerouted flights.

8 Closing the airspace and resulting route network

The next step is to simulate the closure of the Romanian airspace, represented by its ACC.

The .are file comes with an .sls file which contains the needed data to identify Romanian ACC. This file contains information regarding sector name, volume sign, volume bottom level, volum top level.

From this file we can identify the code for LRBB – the Romanian airspace. The code is 5192 and we have information for LOWER and UPPER airspace. After this, using this information the coordinates for Romania are identified in the .are file used to close the Romanian airspace.

Above it can be observe the European network after the closure of the Romanian airspace.

Figure 31 Europe network after closing the Romanian airspace

After the airspace is closed a number of 707 segments are closed for the traffic.

9 Rerouting

After closing the airspace the flights departing from Romania will be canceled, the flights that are supposed to land in Romania will be diverted to the nearest airport and the flight that are just passing through the Romanian airspace will be rerouted.

Below is presented the traffic that will be rerouted after closing the Romanian airspace.

Figure 32 Traffic that will be rerouted

Annexes

MATLAB Code Airspace

clear all

clc

%f=fopen('Sectors_1407.are','r');

f=fopen('ACC.are','r');

n=0;

figure

h=geoshow('landareas.shp', 'FaceColor', [0.5 1.0 0.5]);

while ~feof(f)

a=fgetl(f);

disp(a);

i=find(a==' ');

k=str2num(a(1:i(1)-1));

nume=a(i(end)+1:length(a));

j=0;

points=[];

while ~feof(f) && j<k

j=j+1;

p=fgetl(f);

points=[points;str2num(p)];

end

n=n+1;

geoshow(points(:,1)/60, points(:,2)/60)

end

fclose(f)

MATLAB Code Traffic

clear all

clc

f=fopen('20140626_m1.so6','r');

n=0;

zona={};

figure

h=geoshow('landareas.shp', 'FaceColor', [0.5 1.0 0.5]);

points=[];

n=0;

zbor1="test";

while ~feof(f)

p=fgetl(f);

i=find(p==' ');

zbor2=(p(i(1)+1:i(4)-1));

tf=strcmp(zbor1,zbor2);

if tf~=0

coordonate=str2num(p(i(12):i(14)-1));

points=[points;coordonate];

else

coordonate=str2num(p(i(14):i(16)-1));

points=[points;coordonate];

geoshow(points(:,1)/60, points(:,2)/60);

points=[];

coordonate=str2num(p(i(12):i(14)-1));

points=[points;coordonate];

coordonate=str2num(p(i(14):i(16)-1));

points=[points;coordonate];

n=n+1;

end

zbor1=zbor2;

end

fclose(f)

MATLAB Code Network

clear all

clc

f=fopen('20140626_m1_Network data.ase','r');

n=0;

figure

h=geoshow('landareas.shp', 'FaceColor', [0.5 1.0 0.5]);

tic

points=[];

k=0;

dela=[];

la=[];

load=[];

while ~feof(f)

p=fgetl(f);

i=find(p==' ');

dela=[dela; str2num(p(i(3):i(5)-1))];

la=[la;str2num(p(i(5):i(7)-1))];

load=[load;str2num(p(1:i(1)-1))];

% geoshow([dela(1),coordonate(1)]/60, [dela(2),coordonate(2)]/60,'Color', [load/325,0,(325-load)/325])

end

toc

tic

fclose(f)

%geoshow(points(:,1)/60, points(:,2)/60)

[~,idx]=sort(load);

for i=1:length(idx)

lat=[dela(idx(i),1), la(idx(i),1)]/60;

lon=[dela(idx(i),2), la(idx(i),2)]/60;

ld=log(load(idx(i)))/log(load(idx(end)));

geoshow(lat, lon,'Color', [ld,0,(1-ld)],'LineWidth',1.5)

%plot(lat, lon,'Color', [ld,0,(1-ld)],'LineWidth',1.5)

hold on

if mod(i,1000)==0

disp(i);

drawnow

pause(0.01)

end

end

toc

MATLAB Code Romanian airspace closure

clc

a=[2618.9200 1705.5800

2624.1300 1710.0700

2624.0000 1707.0000

2625.0000 1716.0000

2624.5000 1717.8000

2622.0000 1728.5000

2620.0000 1740.0000

2624.0000 1742.0000

2624.0000 1748.6000

2624.0000 1749.0000

2623.2800 1766.5800

2623.1000 1778.1300

2621.0000 1832.0000

2628.2000 1830.3000

2645.1800 1826.3200

2650.0000 1825.2000

2655.0000 1824.0000

2670.0000 1816.0000

2676.4200 1813.6700

2682.7300 1810.1700

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2776.8000 1689.0000

2778.9000 1692.3000

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2805.3000 1690.5000

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2826.2500 1671.5000

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2838.6000 1658.6000

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2844.4000 1655.0500

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2888.5000 1618.3000

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2872.0000 1510.0000

2864.1300 1502.8500

2864.0000 1493.0000

2877.5000 1475.0000

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2881.6000 1400.6000

2881.0000 1386.0000

2877.0000 1372.0000

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2854.4200 1326.4800

2843.7000 1321.3000

2834.9000 1311.6000

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2826.0000 1306.0000

2823.5200 1301.9000

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2812.0000 1297.0000

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2802.7500 1290.9700

2801.2500 1289.8000

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2791.0000 1276.0000

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2778.1300 1267.8200

2775.7700 1266.2700

2775.0000 1265.0000

2777.0500 1251.2200

2769.8000 1242.4800

2769.4700 1224.0800

2767.5800 1215.8500

2751.3500 1237.4000

2723.0000 1268.5000

2714.4000 1278.5000

2699.3000 1284.5800

2691.0000 1286.0000

2686.3000 1292.0000

2677.4200 1347.2000

2675.6000 1358.3000

2658.7200 1353.3200

2652.0000 1360.0000

2646.0000 1381.5000

2632.0000 1371.0000

2628.0000 1379.0000

2630.0000 1395.0000

2628.6700 1409.7300

2627.5500 1421.4800

2627.0000 1428.0000

2626.5500 1429.7700

2625.6300 1433.4200

2624.0000 1440.0000

2623.0200 1445.4200

2621.3300 1454.3500

2621.8800 1481.8000

2622.8800 1482.6800

2628.2700 1488.8300

2638.4000 1500.1500

2638.6700 1519.9800

2638.7000 1522.5300

2638.7300 1525.0800

2638.7700 1528.3000

2636.7800 1544.5300

2632.2200 1558.5500

2633.0000 1560.0000

2639.0000 1573.0000

2642.4000 1589.8200

2643.4000 1594.5000

2644.9300 1609.6000

2648.0000 1619.5000

2648.4300 1621.0200

2633.0000 1665.2500

2618.9200 1705.5800];

lat_border=a(:,1);

lon_border=a(:,2);

g=fopen('rute_fara_LR.ase','a');

f=fopen('20140626_m1_Network data.ase','r');

n=0;

zona={};

figure

h=geoshow('landareas.shp', 'FaceColor', [0.5 1.0 0.5]);

tic

points=[];

k=0;

dela=[];

la=[];

load=[];

kk=0;

while ~feof(f)

p=fgetl(f);

i=find(p==' ');

dela= str2num(p(i(3):i(5)-1));

la=str2num(p(i(5):i(7)-1));

nn=64;

trece_peste=0;

ii=0;

while trece_peste==0 && ii<nn

if gm_distance(dela(2)*ii/nn+la(2)*(nn-ii)/nn, dela(1)*ii/nn+la(1)*(nn-ii)/nn, lon_border, lat_border)<0

trece_peste=trece_peste+1;

end

ii=ii+1;

end

if ~trece_peste

fwrite(g,p,'char');

fwrite(g,[13 10],'char');

else

kk=kk+1;

end

end

toc

disp(kk)

fclose(f);

fclose(g);

clear all

clc

f=fopen(rute_fara_LR.ase','r');

n=0;

zona={};

figure

h=geoshow('landareas.shp', 'FaceColor', [0.5 1.0 0.5]);

points=[];

k=0;

dela=[];

la=[];

load=[];

while ~feof(f)

p=fgetl(f);

i=find(p==' ');

dela=[dela; str2num(p(i(3):i(5)-1))];

la=[la;str2num(p(i(5):i(7)-1))];

load=[load;str2num(p(1:i(1)-1))];

geoshow([dela(1),la(1)]/60, [dela(2),la(2)]/60)

end

fclose(f)

MATLAB Code Traffic to be rerouted

clear all

clc

a=[ 2618.9200 1705.5800

2624.1300 1710.0700

2624.0000 1707.0000

….. the same as the one used in the airspace closure

];

lat_border=a(:,1);

lon_border=a(:,2);

f=fopen('20140626_m1.so6','r');

g=fopen('trafic_afectat.ase','a');

dela=[];

la=[];

oldcallsign="test";

romania="LR";

k=0;

memp={};

trece_prin_romania=0;

nr_zboruri=0;

while ~feof(f)

p=fgetl(f);

i=find(p==' ');

callsign=p(i(9)+1:i(10)-1);

departure=(p(i(1)+1:i(1)+2));

arrival=(p(i(2)+1:i(2)+2));

if ~strcmp(oldcallsign,callsign) && k>0

nr_zboruri=nr_zboruri+1;

if mod(nr_zboruri,1000)==0

end

if trece_prin_romania>0

disp(oldcallsign)

for ii=1:k

fwrite(g,memp{ii},'char');

fwrite(g,[char(13), newline]);

end

end

oldcallsign=callsign;

k=0;

trece_prin_romania=0;

end

if strcmp(departure,romania) % incepe din LR

k=0;

trece_prin_romania=0;

oldcallsign=callsign;

continue

end

k=k+1;

memp{k}=p;

if strcmp(arrival,romania)

trece_prin_romania=1;

continue

end

dela=str2num(p(i(12):i(14)-1));

la=str2num(p(i(14):i(16)-1));

if gm_distance(dela(2), dela(1), lon_border, lat_border)<0 || gm_distance(la(2), la(1), lon_border, lat_border)<0 || gm_distance((dela(2)+la(2))/2, (dela(1)+la(1))/2, lon_border, lat_border)<0

trece_prin_romania=1;

end

end

fclose(f)

fclose(g)

References

[1] http://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/air/single_european_sky/eaccc_en.htm

[2] Eurocontrol," What can we learn from MH17 Disaster?", Joe Sultana, 12th November 2015

[3]Eurocontrol, http://www.eurocontrol.int/articles/regulatory-support-single-european-sky

[4] Skybrary,http://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Flexible_Use_of_Airspace

[5] Eurocontrol,http://www.eurocontrol.int/articles/flexible-use-airspace

[6] Skybrary, http://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Free_Route_Airspace_(FRA)

[7]Eurocontrol, http://www.eurocontrol.int/articles/free-route-airspace-maastricht-fram

[8]. http://www.rocketroute.com/blog/go-direct-free-route-airspace-changes-in-europe

[9] Eurocontrol,http://www.eurocontrol.int/articles/free-route-airspace

[10] Eurocontrol, http://www.eurocontrol.int/news/2014-free-route-airspace-target-met

[11] European Free Route Airspace Developments,Edition 1.0, 16 March 2015

[12] Eurocontrol,https://www.eurocontrol.int/functional-airspace-block-fabs-defragmenting-european-airspace

[13] Skybrary http://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/FAB

[14] Eurocontrol, http://www.eurocontrol.int/news/preparing-danube-fab-final-phase-free-route-airspace-implementation

[15]ROMATSA, http://www.romatsa.ro/en/Statute

[16] Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_17

[17] http://www.businessinsider.com/a-fateful-thunderstorm-may-have-doomed-flight-mh17-2014-7

[18]Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_eruptions_of_Eyjafjallaj%C3%B6kull

[19] Eurocontrol,Ash‐cloud of April and May 2010: Impact on Air Traffic,2010

[20] Airspace Closure and Civil Aviation: A Strategic Resource for Airline Managers

De Mr Steven D. Jaffe

[21] Eurocontrol http://www.eurocontrol.int/articles/european-aviation-crisis-coordination-cell-eaccc

[22] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_air_traffic_controllers_strike

[23]Wikipedia,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_travel_disruption_after_the_2010_Eyjafjallaj%C3%B6kull_eruption

[24] SAAM Reference Manual 4.8.1 Beta

[25] RAD APPENDIX 1

[26] DDR Quick2 Reference Guide

[27] RAMS Plus Simulation Solutions

[28] RAMS Plus data Manual, Release 5.23, March 2005

[29] NEST User Guide 1.5.0

[30] NEST Training Module 1&2

[31] EUROCONTROL SAAM, http://www.eurocontrol.int/saam

[32] EUROCONTROL DDR, http://www.eurocontrol.int/ddr

[33] EUROCONTROL RAD, https://www.nm.eurocontrol.int/RAD/

[34] EUROCONTROL NEST, http://www.eurocontrol.int/services/nest-modelling-tool

[35] RAMS, http://ramsplus.com/

[36] EUROCONTROL NEVAC https://www.eurocontrol.int/eec/public/standard_page/ NCD_nevac_home.html

[37] SAAM Reference Manual 4.8.1 Beta

[38] MATLAB Courses, https://matlabacademy.mathworks.com/