Air Transportation Systems Engineering

Unlike the highway traffic engineering subdiscipline of civil engineering, the field of air transportation systems engineering is just emerging. Several good books are available on aircraft avionics, but they do not relate well to the overall air traffic management system. Other books on air traffic control do not discuss air traffic management or the new aspects of central flow control or collaborative decision making.

Air transportation is in a crisis and at a turning point. The world’s air traffic management system is showing the signs of being so successful that its growth is approaching the physical infrastructure capacity limits.

Drawn from research papers presented at two closed-forum research meetings sponsored by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the European Eurocontrol, this book explains the technical nature of a very complex international air transportation system. It reports on research that is furthering the evolution of the international air transportation systems. The book promotes our understanding of the technical attributes of delay and its economic effects on aviation-related business. The application of mathematical analyses and principles is a growing area of aviation. This book contributes to expanding our understanding of this area. It also provides approaches to airspace management and new roles for controllers and pilots.

Students, engineers, and policy makers will appreciate the use of real-world data, case histories, and extensive graphics of operations, airports, delays, flight tracks, etc.