Thesis (MScEng (Electrical and Electronic Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / A radar system observes an aircraft once during each scan of the airspace, and uses these observations to construct a track representing a possible route of the aircraft. However when aircraft interact closely there is the possiblility of confusing the identities of the tracks. In this thesis multiple hypothesis techniques are applied to extract an identity confidence from a track, given a set of possible tracks and observations. The system utilises numerous estimation filters internally and these are investigated and compared in detail. The Identity Confidence algorithm is tested using a developed radar simulation system, and evaluated sucessfully against a series of benchmark tests.

The consequences of traffic congestion include increased travel time, fuel consumption, and the number of crashes. Studies suggest that most traffic delays are due to nonrecurring traffic congestion. Adaptive traffic control using real-time data is effective in dealing with nonrecurring traffic congestion. Many adaptive traffic control algorithms used today are deterministic and prone to human error and limitation. Reinforcement learning allows the development of an optimal traffic control policy in an unsupervised manner. We have implemented a reinforcement learning algorithm that only requires information about the number of vehicles and the mean speed of each incoming road to streamline traffic in a four-way intersection. The reinforcement learning algorithm is evaluated against a deterministic algorithm and a fixed-time control schedule. Furthermore, it was tested whether reinforcement learning can be trained to prioritize emergency vehicles while maintaining good traffic flow. The reinforcement learning algorithm obtains a lower average time in the system than the deterministic algorithm in eight out of nine experiments. Moreover, the reinforcement learning algorithm achieves a lower average time in the system than the fixed-time schedule in all experiments. At best, the reinforcement learning algorithm performs 13% better than the deterministic algorithm and 39% better than the fixed-time schedule. Moreover, the reinforcement learning algorithm could prioritize emergency vehicles while maintaining good traffic flow.

Este trabalho propõe um modelo de análise quantitativa baseado em simulação de eventos discretos para a determinação do nível de resiliência em sistemas de transporte. O nível de resiliência é avaliado considerando as funções de desempenho relacionadas a capacidade, ao nível de serviço e ao tempo de recuperação do sistema de transporte frente a um evento de ruptura. O modelo é validado através de estudo de caso aplicado ao sistema de tráfego aéreo brasileiro, considerando um espaço aéreo composto por 12 setores de uma região de informação de voo (FIR), suas demandas diárias de aeronaves, sua malha de rotas aéreas e sua rede de aeródromos instalada. O evento de ruptura é oriundo de condições meteorológicas adversas que afetam simultaneamente as operações de pouso e decolagem no aeroporto do Rio de Janeiro - Santos Dumont (SBRJ) e no aeroporto de São Paulo - Congonhas (SBSP). Conclui-se que o modelo de análise permite a plena determinação do nível de resiliência em sistemas de transportes, mesmo em situações de rupturas operacionais simultâneas. / This work proposes a quantitative analysis model based on discrete event simulation (DES) to determine the resilience level of transport systems. The resilience level is evaluated considering the performance functions related to capacity, service level and recovery time of the transport system in a presence of disruptive events. The model is validated through a case study applied to the Brazilian air traffic system, considering an airspace with 12 sectors of a flight information region (FIR), its daily aircraft demands, its air route network and its aerodromes network installed. The disruptive event comes from adverse weather conditions that simultaneously affect the landing and takeoff operations at Rio de Janeiro - Santos Dumont (SBRJ) and São Paulo - Congonhas (SBSP) airports. It is concluded that the analysis model allows the full determination of the resilience level in transport systems, even in situations of simultaneous operational disruptions.

Este trabalho aborda o problema decorrente da necessidade de realizar tráfego multicast em redes ATM. Para isto, foi proposta uma arquitetura para a estrutura de célula da chave, mais especificamente a estrutura de roteamento de células no interior da chave ATM. Como o ATM se propõe a atender a todas as exigências do B-ISDN, a necessidade essencial da chave ATM, é que o transporte de células entre suas portas de entrada e saída se faça o mais rápido possível. Para se conseguir isso, a arquitetura proposta não utiliza buffer nos seus elementos de roteamento. O trabalho não implementa no todo a chave ATM, deixando em aberto o problema da perda de seqüência de células no interior da estrutura de roteamento, que seria uma responsabilidade do módulo de saída da chave. A arquitetura proposta foi modelada e um simulador foi construído para a realização dos testes. Para as simulações foram levados em conta os tráfegos de células unicast e multicast. Como as células unicast e as cópias das células multicast disputavam por um mesmo link de saída, foi proposta uma estratégia para separar estas células. Isto resultou no projeto de posicionar a rede de cópia de células no segundo estágio da estrutura de roteamento, deixando o primeiro estágio para o roteamento das células unicast. O resultado disso foi um segundo estágio agora destinado para as cópias de células multicast absolutamente descongestionado, reduzindo \'drasticamente a possibilidade de disputa por um link de saída. Além disso, a estrutura incorpora os conceitos de TBSF (Tandem Banyan Switch Fabric), e duplicidade de rota, que tornam a estrutura extremamente modular e flexível. Para atender a preocupação em separar o tráfego, foi introduzido entre um estágio e outro da rede Banyan, uma saída de fuga, permitindo que células que tenham atingido a porta de saída desejada possam deixar a estrutura. São apresentados os resultados da simulação, objetivando a validação do trabalho proposto. / This thesis addresses the problem of accomplishing multicast traffic in ATM networks. An architecture is proposed for the cell structure of the switch, more specifically the routing of cells inside an ATM switch. Because ATM tries to satisfy all the demands of the B-ISDN model, an ATM switch must transport cells between its input and output ports as fast as possible. To achieve that, the proposed architecture does not use buffers in its commutation elements. This work does not implement a complete ATM switch, leaving the problem of the loss of sequence of cells inside the routing structure open. This problem must be solved by the output module of the switch. The proposed architecture was modeled and a simulator was built for testing purposes. For the simulations, both the unicast and the multicast traffic were taken into account. As the unicast cells and the copies of the multicast cells disputed for the same output link, a strategy was proposed to separate these cells. This resulted in the positioning of the cell copy network in the second stage of the routing structure, leaving the first stage for the routing of unicast cells. The result was a very free second stage used for copying multicast cells. This new stage reduced the contention for an exit link. The structure incorporates the concepts of TBSF, and route duplicity, which make it extremely modular and flexible. To separate the traffic, it was introduced between the two stages of the Banyan Network an escape exit, allowing cells that have reached the correct output port to leave the structure.

O objetivo desse trabalho foi avaliar os possíveis danos causados pelo tráfego acidental de veículos agrícolas sobre as soqueiras de cana-de-açúcar no momento da colheita mecanizada. Isto foi feito através da aplicação de diferentes cargas em soqueiras recém colhidas, sob condição controlada, tendo como referência as cargas típicas aplicadas ao solo por um conjunto trator-transbordo, identificando seus efeitos no solo e na planta. Foram conduzidos experimentos em duas áreas com características homogêneas, porém com diferentes texturas de solo, sendo uma área mais argilosa e outra mais arenosa. Foi utilizado um trator para reprodução das cargas de tráfego sobre a soqueira e foram definidos cinco tratamentos, sendo três deles simulando possíveis condições de tráfego sobre as soqueiras, um tratamento que simulou uma condição de perfeito controle de tráfego e a testemunha, sem tráfego. Após as simulações de tráfego foram avaliadas características de solo (compactação e densidade), da planta (falhas de brotação, perfilhamento, biometria e produtividade) além da análise tecnológica da matéria-prima. Os resultados indicaram forte influência do tráfego acidental sobre as soqueiras em relação ao aumento da compactação do solo. Na área experimental com maior teor de argila houve significativa redução da produtividade nos tratamentos onde houve tráfego sobre as soqueiras e na área experimental de textura arenosa as diferenças não foram significativas. Não houve influência dos tratamentos na qualidade da matéria-prima nem nas falhas de brotação e perfilhamento. Para as características biométricas, o tráfego sobre as soqueiras causou redução do comprimento dos colmos na área mais argilosa. O experimento permitiu concluir que o tráfego acidental sobre as soqueiras promoveu alterações no solo, que foram mais intensas no solo argiloso, gerando reflexos negativos nas plantas e que o controle de tráfego permitiu alta intensidade de tráfego de rodados sem nenhuma influência na dinâmica da cultura da cana-de-açúcar. / This work aimed to evaluate possible damages caused by accidental traffic of agricultural vehicles to sugar cane ratoon at the moment of mechanized harvest. The evaluation was carried out by applying different loads on recently harvested sugar cane roots, under controlled conditions, using, as reference, typical loads applied to the soil by a sugar cane transport system composed by a tractor and infield wagons and identifying their effects on the soil and plant. The experiments were performed in two areas with similar characteristics, however with distinct soil textures - clay and sandy. A tractor was used to apply the loads and five treatments were defined, in which three of them simulated possible situation of accidental traffic on sugar cane roots, one treatment simulated the perfect condition of controlled traffic and the control (no traffic). After simulations of traffic, characteristics of soil (cone index and density) and the plant (sprout failure, sprouting number, biometrics characteristics, yield and raw material quality) were evaluated. Results show strong influence of accidental traffic on the sugar cane ratoon due to the increase of soil compaction. In the clay soil, there was significant yield reduction in the treatments where there was traffic on the sugar cane ratoon and in the sandy soil, differences were not significant. There was no difference of the treatments on the raw material quality, sprout failure and sprouting number. For the biometrical characteristics, traffic on the sugar cane ratoon caused reduction of the stem length on the clay soil. The experiments allowed to conclude that accidental traffic on the sugar cane ratoon promotes modifications in the soil, that was more intense on the clay soil, bringing negative effects on the plant and that controlling traffic permits high intensity of wheeled vehicles without affecting the dynamics of the sugar cane crop.

O controle centralizado do tráfego tem como objetivo integrar e gerenciar informações, auxiliando na tomada de decisão em tempo real. Devido ao aumento da complexidade da malha viária, principalmente em grandes cidades, muitos estudos têm focado em sistemas de controle de tráfego, incluindo desenvolvimento de novas tecnologias e ferramentas. Para gerenciar essa complexidade, é necessário que as organizações públicas, onde estão inseridos os Centros de Controle de Tráfego (CCT), conheçam e melhorem seus processos, alinhando e integrando-os aos seus sistemas de informação, de maneira a possibilitar o atendimento das demandas de forma eficiente. Nesse sentido, esta pesquisa baseia-se nos conceitos e práticas do Business Process Management (BPM) com objetivo de propor um modelo de estruturação dos processos para a gestão inteligente das informações no controle centralizado do tráfego. O trabalho, portanto, se desenvolve ao longo das fases e etapas do ciclo do BPM, contemplando desde o planejamento até a modelagem de processos e apresentando como resultado final uma proposta para um plano de otimização de processos. Assim, para atender ao objetivo principal da pesquisa, o trabalho foi desmembrado em três artigos com níveis crescentes de glanuralidade: (i) Inicialmente foi apresentada, baseada em estudo de caso, uma aplicação abrangente da metodologia, percorrendo da primeira à terceira fase do ciclo de BPM em que a empresa está apta para executar os processos e seguir para a quarta fase, Controle e Análise de Dados. (ii) O segundo artigo apresenta o detalhamento da segunda fase do ciclo de BPM, que consiste na modelagem e otimização dos processos. Os processos As Is foram, então, modelados e analisados para que pudesse ser proposta a melhoria na forma de um macroprocesso To Be. (iii) Para embasar a proposição do macroprocesso To Be, foi realizada uma revisão sistemática de literatura, na qual foram compiladas as melhores práticas no tema e verificadas para a realidade brasileira através de entrevista com especialistas. O resultado foi o Mapeamento de Melhores Práticas associado a um Modelo Referência para o Processo de Controle de Tráfego. Em complemento, foram determinadas diretrizes a serem seguidas para a gestão inteligente das informações no controle centralizado do tráfego. Esses resultados definem, portanto, um modelo de referência To Be dos processos de trabalho em CCTs. A principal contribuição teórica desta pesquisa é, então, a consolidação de melhores práticas associadas a um Modelo de Referência do Processo de Controle do Tráfego, ajustado para a realidade dos CCTs brasileiros. Do ponto de vista prático, a metodologia e os resultados apresentados incentivam a implantação de BPM não só em CCTs, mas em qualquer setor de uma organização pública. / The centralization of traffic control aims to integrate and manage information, aiding decision making in real time. Due to the increasing complexity of the road network, especially in large cities, many studies have focused on traffic control systems, including development of new technologies and tools. To manage this complexity, it is necessary that public organizations, where the Traffic Control Centers (TCC) are inserted, understand and improve their processes, aligning and integrating them into their information systems in order to enable the fulfillment of demands efficiently. In this sense, this research is based on the concepts and practices of Business Process Management (BPM) in order to propose a structuring model of processes for the intelligent management of information in centralized traffic control. The work, therefore, is developed through the phases and stages of the BPM cycle, covering from planning to process modeling and presenting as the final result a proposal for a process optimization plan. Thus, to meet the main goal of the research, the work was divided into three articles with increasing levels of detail: (i) initially it was presented, based on case study, a comprehensive application of the methodology, that cover from the first to the third phase of the BPM cycle in which the company is able to run the process and move on to the fourth phase, Control and Data Analysis. (ii) The second article presents the details of the application of second phase of the BPM cycle, which consists of modeling and optimization of processes. The processes "As Is" were modeled and analyzed in order to propose improvements trough a Macro process "To Be". (iii) To support the proposition of macroprocess “To Be”, a systematic review of the literature was applied in order to compile best practices on the subject that were checked for the Brazilian reality through interviews with experts. The result was a Map of Best Practices in association with a Reference Model for Traffic Control Process. In addition to the map, the paper presents guidelines to be followed for the intelligent management of information in centralized traffic control. These results define a reference model "To Be" of work processes in TCCs. From a practical standpoint, the methodology and results presented encourage the deployment of BPM not only in TCCs, but also in any department of a public organization.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND AERO. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Shinsuke Endoh. / M.S.

A multitude of wireless technologies are used by air traffic communication systems during different flight phases. From a conceptual perspective, all of them are insecure as security was never part of their design and the evolution of wireless security in aviation did not keep up with the state of the art. Recent contributions from academic and hacking communities have exploited this inherent vulnerability and demonstrated attacks on some of these technologies. However, these inputs revealed that a large discrepancy between the security perspective and the point of view of the aviation community exists. In this thesis, we aim to bridge this gap and combine wireless security knowledge with the perspective of aviation professionals to improve the safety of air traffic communication networks. To achieve this, we develop a comprehensive new threat model and analyse potential vulnerabilities, attacks, and countermeasures. Since not all of the required aviation knowledge is codified in academic publications, we examine the relevant aviation standards and also survey 242 international aviation experts. Besides extracting their domain knowledge, we analyse the awareness of the aviation community concerning the security of their wireless systems and collect expert opinions on the potential impact of concrete attack scenarios using insecure technologies. Based on our analysis, we propose countermeasures to secure air traffic communication that work transparently alongside existing technologies. We discuss, implement, and evaluate three different approaches based on physical and data link layer information obtained from live aircraft. We show that our countermeasures are able to defend against the injection of false data into air traffic control systems and can significantly and immediately improve the security of air traffic communication networks under the existing real-world constraints. Finally, we analyse the privacy consequences of open air traffic control protocols. We examine sensitive aircraft movements to detect large-scale events in the real world and illustrate the futility of current attempts to maintain privacy for aircraft owners.

La recherche d’aide est une stratégie qui peut améliorer l’apprentissage et la réussite scolaire. Malgré ce constat, la littérature montre que les étudiants ou élèves décident fréquemment de ne pas rechercher de l’aide. Par ailleurs, dans le domaine de l’aéronautique, peu d’études ont été consacrées à la formation des contrôleurs aériens, qui jouent un rôle central dans le système de régulation du trafic aérien. Étant donné que la performance humaine est classiquement considérée comme un facteur qui contribue à la majorité des incidents et accidents aériens, l’enjeu de ces formations est majeur. L’objectif de cette thèse est double: au plan général, comprendre pourquoi les étudiants décident de ne pas rechercher de l’aide alors que la tâche à réaliser n’est pas à leur portée. Cela relève-t-il d’une décision rationnelle? Quels sont les coûts impliqués? Au plan particulier, vérifier si ce problème existe aussi dans l’environnement d’apprentissage des contrôleurs aériens et si les mêmes conclusions concernant la décision de rechercher ou non de l’aide peuvent être tirées. En ayant pour base un modèle rationnel de prise de décision, dans lequel la décision est une fonction des coûts, de la probabilité et des bénéfices, quatre expériences ont été menées: trois dont les participants étaient des étudiants universitaires et une avec les élèves contrôleurs aériens. Les résultats montrent que les étudiants hésitent à demander de l’aide quand elle est objectivement coûteuse; que le temps consommé en l’utilisant n’est pas considéré comme un coût; et que les étudiants sont prêts à demander de l’aide même quand elle n’est pas assurément utile. En outre, il y a un coût social impliqué dans la décision de rechercher de l’aide: la présence d’un expert baisse les taux de recherche d’aide, notamment quand la tâche est considérée comme facile. Les données de la quatrième expérience suggèrent que le coût social n’impacte pas la décision des élèves contrôleurs d’utiliser les aides. / Learners who encounter difficulties can improve learning and achievement by seeking help. However, literature shows that students frequently decide to not seek help. In aeronautics domain, few studies were dedicated to the training of air traffic controllers, who play an important role in the air traffic regulation system. Given that the human performance is traditionally considered a factor that contributes to the majority of incidents and accidents in aviation, the challenge of their training is greater. This thesis has two goals: generally, understand why students decide not to seek help while the task they have to realize is beyond their reach. Is this a rational decision? What are the costs involved? Specifically, to verify if this issue also exists in the context of air traffic controller training and if we find the same conclusions about help-seeking decision. Based on a rational decision model, where the decision is a function of costs, expectancies and benefits, four experiences were conducted: three of them in a general context, having university students as participants, and an experience with air traffic controllers’ students. Results show that students hesitate to seek help when it is objectively costly; the time consumed to seek help is not considered as a cost; and that students are ready to seek help even when its utility is not assured. Besides, there is a social cost implicated in the decision to seek help: the presence of an expert reduces the levels of help-seeking, particularly when the task is considered easy. The results of the fourth study suggest that the social cost adversely do not have an effect in the decision of air traffic controller students of using all help tools, but the difficulty of the exercise may affect the decision of seeking some kinds of help.

Emerging connected and autonomous vehicle technologies (CAV) provide an opportunity to improve highway capacity and reduce adverse impacts of stop-and-go traffic. To realize the potential benefits of CAV technologies, this study provides insightful methodological and managerial tools in microscopic and macroscopic traffic scales. In the macroscopic scale, this dissertation proposes an analytical method to formulate highway capacity for a mixed traffic environment where a portion of vehicles are CAVs and the remaining are human-driven vehicles (HVs). The proposed analytical mixed traffic highway capacity model is based on a Markov chain representation of spatial distribution of heterogeneous and stochastic headways. This model captures not only the full spectrum of CAV market penetration rates but also all possible values of CAV platooning intensities that largely affect the spatial distribution of different headway types. Numerical experiments verify that this analytical model accurately quantifies the corresponding mixed traffic capacity at various settings. This analytical model allows for examination of the impact of different CAV technology scenarios on mixed traffic capacity. We identify sufficient and necessary conditions for the mixed traffic capacity to increase (or decrease) with CAV market penetration rate and platooning intensity. These theoretical results caution scholars not to take CAVs as a sure means of increasing highway capacity for granted but rather to quantitatively analyze the actual headway settings before drawing any qualitative conclusion. In the microscopic scale, this study develops innovative control strategies to smooth highway traffic using CAV technologies. First, it formulates a simplified traffic smoothing model for guiding movements of CAVs on a general one-lane highway segment. The proposed simplified model is able to control the overall smoothness of a platoon of CAVs and approximately optimize traffic performance in terms of fuel efficiency and driving comfort. The elegant theoretical properties for the general objective function and the associated constraints provides an efficient analytical algorithm for solving this problem to the exact optimum. Numerical examples reveal that this exact algorithm has an efficient computational performance and a satisfactory solution quality. This trajectory-based traffic smoothing concept is then extended to develop a joint trajectory and signal optimization problem. This problem simultaneously solves the optimal CAV trajectory function shape and the signal timing plan to minimize travel time delay and fuel consumption. The proposed algorithm simplifies the vehicle trajectory and fuel consumption functions that leads to an efficient optimization model that provides exact solutions. Numerical experiments reveal that this algorithm is applicable to any signalized crossing points including intersections and work-zones. Further, the model is tested with various traffic conditions and roadway geometries. These control approaches are then extended to a mixed traffic environment with HVs, connected vehicles (CVs), and CAVs by proposing a CAV-based speed harmonization algorithm. This algorithm develops an innovative traffic prediction model to estimate the real-time status of downstream traffic using traffic sensor data and information provided by CVs and CAVs. With this prediction, the algorithm controls the upstream CAVs so that they smoothly hedge against the backward deceleration waves and gradually merge into the downstream traffic with a reasonable speed. This model addresses the full spectrum of CV and CAV market penetration rates and various traffic conditions. Numerical experiments are performed to assess the algorithm performance with different traffic conditions and CV and CAV market penetration rates. The results show significant improvements in damping traffic oscillations and reducing fuel consumption.