Application of Reachability Analysis for Stochastic Hybrid Systems to Aircraft Conflict Prediction

Aircraft conflict prediction can be naturally formulated as a reachability analysis problem in a stochastic hybrid system framework. In this technical note, a switching diffusion model is adopted to predict the future positions of an aircraft following a given flight plan, and the probability that the aircraft will enter an unsafe region of the airspace is estimated through a numerical algorithm for reachability computations. Simulation results are reported to illustrate the approach.