Investigating conformance monitoring issues in air traffic control using fault detection techniques

Conformance monitoring is a critical function in air traffic control to determine if aircraft are adhering to their assigned clearances so that safety, security, and efficiency can be maintained. Methods are needed to identify undamental conformance monitoring issues, to guide the development and use of new technologies that support the monitoring task, and to evaluate algorithms that could be employed in automated monitoring systems. An analysis framework has been developed to meet these needs based on classical fault detection techniques. Use of the approach for conformance monitoring research is demonstrated using simple implementations of the framework elements and flight-test data from different surveillance systems. Results suggest that significantly more effective conformance monitoring can be conducted in straight and level flight regimes when surveillance provides high-accuracy, high-update-rate, and high-order dynamic state information. In contrast, the use of high-order dynamic states can degrade conformance monitoring performance when aircraft are transitioning from one target state to another (such as at a waypoint or during an altitude change). Intent states offer an opportunity for improved conformance monitoring in these regimes in the future. Implications of these findings for conformance monitoring in air traffic control are discussed.