The Vulnerability Analysis of the Multi-layer Air Transport System

The problem of aviation safety is the eternal theme in the air traffic system. With the recent advancement of network theorem and big data science, as well as taking into account of the unique operation procedures, more and more researchers have begun to take into account the air traffic system with interdependent complex networks. Firstly, in this paper, we propose a multi-layer network model which constituted by the airport network, the air routes network and the air traffic control sector network, and in which the operation relationships between every two networks can also been explained clearly. Second, based on this model, we analysis the rules of fault propagation among nodes and the different layers. Then, from the view of entropy, the structural entropy and traffic flow entropy are used to illustrate the structure vulnerability and the operation vulnerability of the air traffic system respectively. At last, the data of air traffic system in the North China area are chosen to prove the validity of the theoretic results.

I. Introduction

The system of air transport is an important part of the transportation system and plays an important role in the present society. The civil aviation is a key part of the air transport system, and the problem of aviation safety is the eternal theme in it. With the rapid development of aviation industry, the air transport system is facing a grand challenge [1– 2]. Flight delay and cancelation have become more and more common in China, which have brought serious impact on the development of the civil aviation system. In November, 2017, there were an average of nearly 936 flights canceled and 1103 flights delayed in China every day.