Air traffic management is essential in air transportation and a critical field in academic research. The demand for air transportation is set to rise, and various new forms of aircraft, such as autonomous flying vehicles and passenger-carrying flying taxis, will gain prominence. However, these forms of aviation remain in their early stages, both in Japan and globally. This book is designed to serve as a compass for navigating the basic body of knowledge in this field.
 
This book conceptualizes air traffic management not as hardware or software but as a sociotechnical system comprising many different components, like a community of various players involved in air transportation. Based on this conception, the book outlines the development of air traffic management systems and their current operation. It also discusses research and development involved in system design and evaluation, along with the processes and challenges in the path toward full societal implementation.
 
The book curates lecture notes for a course on air traffic management theory, which the author teaches at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Engineering. The structure and language have been formatted with the assumption that the book will be read by experts in various fields.
 
The book is divided into two parts; the first part consists of the first six chapters, while the second part comprises chapters 7 through 10.
 
Part 1 is titled “History of Air Traffic Management Systems.” Below are descriptions of the chapters in this part.

Chapter 1 traces the history from the Wright Flyer to modern-day air traffic management. It also describes the future outlook for air traffic management systems.
Chapters 2 and 3 provide the minimum expert knowledge required to understand an air traffic control system.
Chapter 4 details the aircraft dynamics model and the guidance and control law to enable a deeper understanding of aircraft movement within an air traffic system.
Chapter 5 presents the numerical model for simulating air traffic flow consisting of multiple aircraft.
Chapter 6 describes the design of air traffic management systems and the evaluation method for their societal implementation.
 
If you have no desire to delve into mathematical formulas, you may skip chapters 4 and 5; reading the first three chapters and then chapter 6 should be sufficient to learn the basics of the field.
 
If you are already familiar with the basics, you may skip the first part entirely and start with the second part. The second part is titled “New Aircraft Flight Operation and Air Traffic Management Systems.” This part focuses on R&D projects the author has been involved in. Below are descriptions of the chapters.
 
Chapters 7 and 8 provide examples of new air traffic management systems, including systems for autonomous flight and for increasing air traffic operation efficiency at large airports in terms of landing, take-off, and overall airport operation.
Chapter 9 discusses initiatives for mitigating the carbon footprint from the perspective of flight operation, such as reducing fuel consumption.
Chapter 10 explores a concept of operations for minimizing flight risks in autonomous aircraft such as drones.

Thus, while it is not possible to cover the field exhaustively in a single book, this book provides a general overview of the field. The author hopes that the key terms used and sources cited in this book will inspire further reading and contribute to interdisciplinary development and innovation in air traffic management.
 

(Written by ITOH Eri, Professor, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology / 2023)

Related Info

Author’s Interview:
Discover our people: Meet Eri Itoh – Safer skies above  (The University of Tokyo | YouTube　Dec 15, 2022)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcqXHfff1ZU
 
Related Article:
Professor Eri Itoh received the Best Session Award at the AIAA/IEEE Digital Aviation Systems Conference (DASC)  (Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo  Oct 5, 2023)
https://www.rcast.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/news/report/page_01581.html
 
Air Traffic Management: Eri Itoh at TEDxKyoto 2012  (TED x Talks  Oct 18, 2012)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6rSBO8B-58

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