Conflict-free planning for en route spacing: A concept for integrating conflict probe and miles-in-trail

This paper describes a concept for a tool to help air traffic controllers conform to dynamic miles-in-trail (MIT) spacing restrictions. The tool will enable controllers to plan efficient spacing strategies resulting in reduced workload and fuel consumption. Integration of this tool with conflict probe will reduce the probe's false-alarm and missed-alert rates due to better knowledge of the controller's intended actions for spacing conformance. Integration will further reduce workload and fuel consumption by reducing the number of corrective clearances needed to achieve flow-rate conformance while avoiding conflicts. The purpose of this paper is to present a near-term concept for applying conflict-probe technology to enable conflict-fi ee planning with efficient MIT-spacing conformance. The paper describes the challenge associated with conflict detection and resolution under flow-rate restrictions, proposes a conflict-probe based concept for the MIT-spacing problem, and describes a prototype tool and its use through an example traffic scenario.