SUMMARY

In the future, air traffic controllers will most likely come to rely on decision-support tools and increased levels of automation to help manage aircraft. Conflict-detection and conflict-resolution are examples of two key areas where increased automation support and improved accuracy are considered imperatives to the future efficiency of airspace systems. The inclusion of decision-support tools for conflict-detection and resolution is expected to reduce controller workload by decreasing the mental effort associated with identifying potential conflicts and maintaining aircraft separation. Despite the potential benefits of such systems, there has been little study into the best methods to implement conflict-detection and resolution algorithms in practice, and what the resulting controller taskload is related to the conflict-resolution process. In this thesis, an abstraction of advisory conflict-detection and resolution tools is provided. The abstraction considers the capabilities, implementation, and policies used as part of the advisory system. The goal of the research is to understand how conflict-detection and resolution decision-support tools can best be designed and implemented to support human-based control of aircraft. Taking aim at such an analysis, this research seeks to understand how efforts into improved conflict-detection and conflict-resolution tools should be appropriated as part of a future research portfolio.