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The airspace over the high seas is not a lawless domain. Although the theory of the freedom of the air has been challenged since the beginning of controlled flight, yet 'as regards the air above the high seas, the principle of freedom was never successfully challenged.' [...]

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ("UAV") have been a part of aviation from the infancy of manned aviation; yet, have not reached their fullest potential as they are not integrated into the national airspace system ("NAS"). However, we are at the edge of technological breakthroughs to make integration a reality. Nevertheless, the regulatory construct necessary to provide safe integration of UAVs is unfinished. This thesis looks at necessary regulatory changes within the United States to allow for integration of the UAV into the NAS. I will first define the UAV and look at its historical roots. Then, I will review existing regulations and directives of manned flight that would apply to UAVs, as well as various rules specifically for UAVs that now exist. Through this examination, I will review the gaps and offer recommendations to fill regulatory holes in hopes to provide a useful contribution to the eventual integrated flight of UAVs.

This study addresses a narrow but important facet of the war on terror: the interception of civil aircraft over the high seas without the consent of the state of registry, when such aircraft are suspected of transporting weapons of mass destruction or terrorists. It introduces the contemporary legal regime over the high seas, in particular the customary norms relating to freedom of overflight, jurisdiction over aircraft, and the 'Rules of the Air' adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The study also examines the legal status of military aircraft in international law as a symbol of a state's sovereignty. It explores the justifications for lawful interceptions as well as the legal obligation of states to show 'due regard' for the safety of civil air navigation. The ICAO standards for the interception of civil aircraft and their applicability to state aircraft are also discussed. In conclusion the remedies an aggrieved state may pursue for alleged violations of international law are addressed.

The current airspace configuration is highly structured, fixed and is less responsive to changes causing the overall system to lack the flexibility, adaptability, and responsibility needed to handle the increasing air traffic demands in the near future. The work presented in this thesis aims at improving the flexibility and adaptability of today's airspace management in Europe in a pretactical context. We focus on the development of a method to support a process of automatic generation of a sequence of sector configurations composed of predefined sectors. Airspace configurations should be dynamically adjusted to provide maximum efficiency and flexibility in response to demand fluctuations. We dynamically build configurations by combining existing elementary sectors. In this step, any sector combination which forms controllable airspace blocks is eligible and may be used during the day of operation. In this work, we developed efficient methods to solve DAC problem. We formulated and study the sectorization problem from an algorithmic point of view. We proposed methods based on a mathematical modeling and heuristic optimization techniques. We also introduced here an approach to evaluate the workload inside sectors.

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This thesis deals with the development of an Airspace Sector Occupancy Model (ASOM). The model determines the occupancy of Air Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) sectors for a given geometry of sectors and flight schedules, and can be used to study the impact of alternative flight schedules on the workload imposed on the sectors. Along with complimentary airspace analysis models, this can serve as an advisory tool to approve flight plans in the Free Flight Scenario, or to reschedule flights around a Special Use Airspace (SUA). ASOM is developed using Matlab 5.2, and can be run on an IBM compatible PC, Macintosh, or Unix Workstation. The computerized model incorporates the powerful features of graphics and hierarchical modeling inherent in Matlab, to design an effective tool for analyzing air traffic scenarios and their respective sector occupancies. / Master of Science

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In the past few years, there has been a growth in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) numbers in segregated airspace. However, although there is an interest in integrating large UAS into non-segregated airspace, the safety challenges on its integration arise from the inclusion of new ways of reaching unsafe states into the airspace. Furthermore, Air Traffic Controllers (ATCo) aim to o?er appropriate levels of safety and efficiency and to solve issues present in complex situations. Although the UAS technology may be used in di?erent situations and brings several advantages to the airspace (e.g. efficiency), it may bring uncertainties due to the fact that ATCos may not be familiar with them. Throughout the years, this impact may be lower then it is nowadays due to the fact that the present lack of familiarity in the relationship between UAS and ATCo contributes to higher workload levels. Furthermore, Terminal Maneuvering Area (TMA), which composes the controlled airspace and in which the final sector in contained, is a critical control area normally established at the confluence of Air Traffic Service (ATS) routes in which the aircraft tend to be closer to each other. Thus, operations in this particular area are conducted carefully and, in order to achieve desirable levels of safety and efficiency, standard procedures are established. In some cases, however, standard procedures cannot be followed and the sequencing of the aircraft during the approach, which is a highly challenging task due to complex maneuvers constraints, must be performed by the ATCo in a manner to respect the minimum separation of aircraft and to avoid flights through cumulonimbus (CB). Finally, the main goal of defining a final arrival segment is to deliver the set of aircraft from the final sector of the TMA to the final phase of its landing procedure, i.e., the final approach, considering the operation efficiency and safety. The main objective of this research is to propose a parallel swarm-based method for optimizing final aircraft arrival segments design, i.e., routes that connects the final sector to the Initial Approach Fix (IAF), considering the UAS presence. This is conducted from two perspectives: ATCo workload, which is related to safety, and sequencing duration, which is related to efficiency. Furthermore, di?erent phases of UAS integration are considered, i.e., from early stages of its integration to a mature stage of its operation by means of the Technology Maturity Level (TML) usage, which is a scale that measure the familiarity between the ATCo with the aircraft. Finally, the solutions consider airspace restrictions such as minimum separation between aircraft and bad weather conditions, i.e., the presence of cumulonimbus (CB). The experiments conducted show that this approach is able to build safe and efficient solution even in situations with a high number of aircraft. / Nos últimos anos, houve um crescimento, no espaço aéreo segregado, nos números do Veículos Aéreos Não-Tripulados (VANT). No entanto, embora exista interesse em integrar grandes VANT em espaço aéreo não-segregado, os desafios de segurança decorrem da inclusão de novas formas de alcançar estados inseguros no espaço aéreo (ATCo) tem como objetivo oferecer níveis adequados de segurança e eficiência e resolver problemas presentes em situações complexas. Embora VANTs possam ser usados em diferentes situações e trazem várias vantagens para o espaço aéreo (por exemplo, eficiência), podem trazer incertezas devido ao fato de que os ATCos não estão familiarizados com essa tecnologia. Ao longo dos anos, esse impacto pode ser menor, e atualmente a falta de familiaridade na relação entre VANT e ATCo contribui para níveis mais altos de carga de trabalho. Além disso, a Área Terminal (TMA), que compõe o espaço aéreo controlado, é uma área de controle crítico normalmente estabelecida na confluência de rotas do Servi¸co de Tráfego Aéreo (ATS), nas quais as aeronaves tendem a estar mais próximas umas das outras. Assim, as operações nesta área particular são realizadas com cuidado e, para alcançar níveis desejáveis de segurança e eficiência, os procedimentos padrão são estabelecidos. Em alguns casos, no entanto, procedimentos padrão não podem ser seguidos e o sequenciamento da aeronave durante a aproximação, que é uma tarefa desafiadora por conta das restrições de manobras complexas, deve ser realizada pelo ATCo de forma a garantir separação mínima entre aeronaves e evitar voos através de cumulonimbus (CB). Finalmente, o principal objetivo de definir um segmento de chegada final ´e entregar o conjunto de aeronaves do setor final, da TMA, para a fase final do seu procedimento de pouso, ou seja, a aproximação final, considerando a eficiência e a segurança da operação. O objetivo desta pesquisa é propor um método paralelo baseado em enxame para otimizar o projeto final de segmentos de chegada de aeronaves, ou seja, rotas que conectem o setor final com o Fixo de Aproximação Inicial (IAF), considerando a presença de VANTs. Esse processo ´e conduzido a partir de duas perspectivas: a carga de trabalho do ATCo, que est´a relacionada à segurança, e a duração da sequenciamento, que está relacionado à eficiência. Além disso, são consideradas diferentes fases da integração de VANTs, ou seja, desde os primeiros estágios de sua integra¸c~ao at´e um estágio maduro de sua operação por meio do uso do Nível de Maturidade Tecnológica (TML), que é uma escala que mede a familiaridade entre o ATCo e a aeronave. Finalmente, as soluções consideram as restrições do espaço aéreo, como a separação mínima entre aeronaves e condições climáticas adversas, isto é, a presença de cumulonimbus (CB). Os experimentos realizados mostram que essa abordagem é capaz de criar soluções seguras e eficientes mesmo em situações com um grande número de aeronaves.