A Novel Air Traffic Management and Control Methodology using Fault-Tolerant Autoencoder and P2P Blockchain Application on the UAS-S4 Ehécatl

Abstract

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2023-2190.vid This paper presents a methodology for designing a highly reliable Air Traffic Management and Control (ATMC) methodology using Neural Networks and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) blockchain. A novel data-driven algorithm is designed for Aircraft Trajectory Prediction (ATP) based on Autoencoder architecture. The Autoencoder is used due to its excellent fault-tolerant ability when input data provided by the GPS is deficient. After conflict detection, P2P Blockchain is utilized for securely decentralized decision-making. The meta-controller composed of the Autoencoder and P2P blockchain performed the ATMC task very well. The validation studies were done relying on a comprehensive database of trajectories constructed using our UAS-S4 Ehécatl. The ATP accuracy was evaluated for a variety of data failures, and the performance index confirmed the Autoencoder’s excellent efficiency. Aircraft were considered in several local encounter scenarios, and their trajectories were securely managed and controlled using our designed Smart Contract developed on the Ethereum platform. Toward decentralized processing, the edge computing approach improved the P2P Blockchain performance in terms of computational complexity and processing time in real-time operations.