Future NAS-wide user gaming preliminary investigation

Abstract

This paper describes a preliminary study of user gaming concepts embedded in the traffic flow management. We design multiple experiments to evaluate the national airspace system (NAS) when both advanced traffic flow management (TFM) and user decision-making models are implemented. Special attention is directed at quantifying the impact of TFM user gaming. Our preliminary results suggest: (i) NAS performance improvements are possible through coordination of TFM users and providers. (ii) Negative effects can result from strategic gaming behavior. (iii) These negative effects can be monitored, limited and dis-incentivized.