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Serrano Mira, LidiaCorresponding AuthorSanz L.p.AuthorPérez-Castán JaAuthorAyra EsAuthorPreliminary Feasibility Study of the Ad Hoc Separation Operational Concept
Publicated to:Aerospace. 10 (6): 539- - 2023-06-01 10(6), DOI: 10.3390/aerospace10060539
Authors: Serrano-Mira, L; Sanz, LP; Pérez-Castán, JA; Netjasov, F; Moreno, IG; Ayra, ES
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Abstract
The expected growth of air traffic in the coming decades demands an increase in airspace capacity, which is already close to saturation in many scenarios. One of the limiting factors of this capacity is the separation minima. At present, the separation standards that apply in a given volume of airspace are fixed, and their values were determined decades ago. Therefore, in order to increase airspace capacity, this is an area in which improvement is sought, namely through the implementation of new operational concepts, which include the redefinition of separation minima and the way they are applied. A key issue in this redefinition of separation minima is the question of the possibility of reducing the current standards. However, a reduction in the separation to a fixed value may not be a valid solution, as not all aircraft and ways of operation are the same. In this paper, the authors propose a new operational concept, the Ad Hoc or Variable separation minima. Ad Hoc separation refers to the application of different separation minima values in the same volume of airspace, depending on a set of factors, e.g., aircraft model and encounter geometry, among others. In this research, the factors that define these Ad Hoc separation minima and their relationships are discussed. A model for their determination is presented. Simulations are performed to analyze the operational feasibility of the Ad Hoc separation minima. The results show that the application of this concept is operationally feasible.
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Quality index
Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel
The work has been published in the journal Aerospace due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2023, it was in position 14/52, thus managing to position itself as a Q2 (Segundo Cuartil), in the category Engineering, Aerospace. Notably, the journal is positioned en el Cuartil Q2 para la agencia Scopus (SJR) en la categoría Aerospace Engineering.
From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from the Field Citation Ratio (FCR) of the Dimensions source, it yields a value of: 1.38, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: Dimensions Sep 2025)
Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-09-21, the following number of citations:
- WoS: 1
- Scopus: 3
Impact and social visibility
Leadership analysis of institutional authors
This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Serbia.
There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Serrano-Mira L) and Last Author (SANCHEZ AYRA, EDUARDO).
the authors responsible for correspondence tasks have been SERRANO MIRA, LIDIA and Serrano-Mira L.