Dataset-29: Air Corridors Emulation
Lead Experimenter
John Kesler, North Carolina State University
Link to Dataset
- Dataset Link:
This dataset includes a Docker-based Software-In-The-Loop (SITL) emulation of a multi-UAV air corridor traffic management system. It models autonomous UAVs navigating structured 3D grid-based air corridors with enforced minimum separation constraints and dynamic corridor opening and closure controlled by a ground coordinator. The full source code, multi-container deployment setup, and visualization support are publicly available on [IEEE DataPort]. - A demonstration video is available at: [YouTube].
Equipment and Software Used
ArduPilot Software-In-The-Loop (SITL), Docker and Docker Compose containerized deployment, Multiple UAV SITL instances, Ground coordination module, Real-time visualization via Google Earth
Description
This dataset provides an emulation framework for air corridor traffic management using UAVs. The system models a structured 3D airspace composed of discrete grid cells, where UAVs must coordinate to traverse narrow corridors safely.
Key system characteristics:
- The air corridor is modeled as a 3D grid.
- A UAV may move to any of the 26 adjacent grid locations, provided minimum separation constraints are satisfied.
- UAVs must maintain at least two grid units of separation from other UAVs.
- Only one UAV can safely pass through a narrow corridor at a time.
- Corridors can be dynamically opened or closed by a ground coordinator.
- UAVs autonomously re-route when corridor availability changes.
The emulation includes realistic timing and environmental parameters such as turbulence and asynchronous take-off commands. Because of this, repeated runs may produce slightly different trajectories and coordination outcomes.
The system architecture includes:
- A separate Docker container per UAV instance.
- One ground coordination container responsible for corridor state updates.
- Real-time 3D visualization of both UAV positions and corridor mesh.
This framework enables experimentation with decentralized coordination and adaptive re-routing under constrained airspace conditions.
Representative Results
Potential use cases for this dataset include:
- Urban Air Mobility Research
- Conflict Avoidance Algorithm Validation
- Dynamic Route Replanning Studies
