Airspace management systems and methods

A system for managing air traffic in an airspace, comprising:

• a processor configured to balance levels of anticipated air traffic controller workload between air traffic controllers in an air traffic control station, the processor being programmed to:
• define a first sector configuration of at least two adjacent sectors in the airspace, each sector, of the at least two adjacent sectors, being assigned to a station controller for managing movement of respective aircraft,
• collect a number of available air traffic controllers,
• wherein available air traffic controllers include at least a first air traffic controller and a second air traffic controller,
• collect flight characteristics and vehicle specifications for aircraft in the at least two adjacent sectors,
• for each sector, compute both a current level and an anticipated average level of air traffic controller workload for the available air traffic controllers over a selected time interval with an air traffic simulator and based on the number of the available air traffic controllers and the vehicle specifications and flight characteristics of the aircraft,
• detect a difference greater than a pre-selected threshold in the anticipated average level of air traffic control workload between the at least two adjacent sectors over the selected time interval,
• redefine the first sector configuration into a second sector configuration of the at least two adjacent sectors such that the difference in anticipated air traffic controller workload in the at least two adjacent sectors is below the pre-selected threshold,
• wherein redefining the first sector configuration into the second sector configuration includes adjusting the air traffic controller workload based on differing capabilities or differing experience levels of the available air traffic controllers,
• wherein a first workload, of the air traffic controller workload, of the first-air traffic controller is adjusted to be a smaller than a second workload, of the air traffic controller workload, of the second air traffic controller based on the first air traffic controller being less experienced than the second air traffic controller;
• and
• implement the second sector configuration.

A method of balancing air traffic controller workload, comprising:

• defining, by a device, multiple sectors in an airspace;
• for each sector, of the multiple sectors, assigning, by the device, a controller to manage movement of one or more aircraft in a respective sector of the multiple sectors;
• collecting, by the device, weather condition data for the airspace;
• collecting, by the device, a number of available air traffic controllers,
• wherein available air traffic controllers include at least a first air traffic controller and a second air traffic controller;
• collecting, by the device, flight characteristics and vehicle specifications for the one or more aircraft in the airspace;
• detecting, by the device, an imbalance in levels of anticipated air traffic controller workload in two or more sectors, of the multiple sectors, over a selected time interval with an air traffic simulator and based on the collected weather condition data, the number of the available air traffic controllers, and the flight characteristics and vehicle specifications of the one or more aircraft;
• and
• rebalancing, by the device, the levels of anticipated air traffic controller workload in the two or more sectors by redefining the two or more sectors,
• wherein redefining the two or more sectors includes adjusting the anticipated air traffic controller workload based on differing capabilities or differing experience levels of the available air traffic controllers,
• wherein a first workload, of the air traffic controller workload, of the first air traffic controller is adjusted to be a smaller than a second workload, of the air traffic controller workload, of the second air traffic controller based on the first air traffic controller being less experienced than the second air traffic controller.