Paper 89 -- Feasibility of Mixed Equipage Operations in the Same Airspace

The current study uses a human-in-the-loop simulation to examine the feasibility of mixed equipage operations in an automated separation assurance environment under higher traffic densities. The results show that mixed operations may be feasible, in the same airspace, if unequipped aircraft count is held to a workable level and that this level will decrease with increasing complexity. The results imply that integrated airspace configuration is feasible to a limit. The results also indicate that the conflict detection and resolution automation, equipage, and traffic density are important factors that will need to be considered for airspace configuration.