Toward a benchmark for distributed real-time sensor fusion for air traffic control

Abstract

Given the overall increasing trend of airspace demand by commercial, military, and general aviation, researchers are developing new software tools to enhance the level of automation in air traffic control systems to alleviate the already-crowded airspace by allowing controllers and pilots more freedom in planning and conducting flights. These tools utilize high-performance commercial workstations that use high-speed networks and function together to form a distributed real-time computing system. As new equipment replaces legacy computer systems, new risks arise, specifically regarding their impact on performance, reliability, and security quality of service. Maintaining quality of service in distributed realtime systems is a significant research area of computer science involving designing and evaluating models and algorithms for specifying, monitoring, and maintaining performance, fault tolerance, and security requirements of applications. In order to evaluate such a design prior to deploying it on a real application, researchers use a benchmark to experimentally gauge its effects on a functional model of the application. This paper describes a three-dimensional air traffic control simulation benchmark developed by the author for the purpose of running simulations of air traffic scenarios, adding new capabilities, and gauging performance, security, and reliability quality of service management techniques on a variety of platforms