A Cascading Failure Model of the Air Traffic Control Network Based on the Theory of Interdependent Networks

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

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Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Page 1: Please include the full postal address of your University. In addition, I think that there is no need for a superscript in the names of the authors since they all belong to the same University.

Page 1, Keywords: My suggestion is to include “Cyber-Physical Systems”  in your Keywords.

Page 1, line 32, “…In recent years, traffic accidents that cause flight delays…”: My suggestion is to include some statistical data (together with their associated references) concerning traffic accidents and their impacts worldwide.

My suggestion is to include the structure (Sections) of the paper at the end of Section 1. Introduction (on page 3).

Page 4, Figure 1. Air Traffic Control Network: Could you please increase the size of the specific Figure? It is not so easy to read what is inside the boxes.

Page 9, line 305, “…the aviation network is a scale-free network…”: My suggestion is to include, within your manuscript, some more details concerning this statement for the benefit of the reader.

Page 15, lines 473-474, “…the North China air traffic control network…”: Is it possible to include a map (at an appropriate scale) for the area of the “North China air traffic control network”?

Section 5. Conclusion: My suggestion is to include your recommendations to the respective stakeholders (who and how will benefit from your work). For example, air traffic controllers, aviation authorities, airlines, passengers, society etc.

Please insert after the Conclusions all the necessary information according to the instructions for authors (e.g., Author Contributions, Funding, Conflicts of Interest etc.).

Reference list at the end of the paper: Please note that some references have both the name and the surname of the authors (e.g., 3, 12 etc.). In addition, I kindly ask you to include the names of all the authors in references 16, 21 and 30 (instead of “et al.”). Finally, please delete the extra dots between “Shankar, M.” and “Best effort…”. Overall, please check all your references for such inconsistencies.

 

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

A brief summary 

Safe and regular air transport rests on the pillars of safety, quality, and resilience of air traffic service providers, air carriers, airport infrastructure, and services, in the context of legal and operational standards. For this reason, attention is paid to the human factor, technology platforms, operating procedures, and the examination of risks, robustness, vulnerability, and resilience. The manuscript presents an exciting and current topic in the field of air traffic thinning in the form of an innovative design of a two-layer relationship of control dependency and service dependency between the control coordination network and the track equipment network. I perceive the study aimed to improve the operational characteristics of interdependent network systems within the provision of air traffic services as the authors' effort to expand knowledge and share experience from researching the issue.

General concept comments

Article:

The manuscript is clear, relevant to the investigation of issues in the field of providing air traffic services, to increase their safety and resilience. The manuscript is presented in a well-structured manner.

34 cited references are current and relevant. A very well-crafted literature review creates a basis for identifying and finding a solution to a deficiency situation based on the characteristics of cyber-physical systems and the actual operation of air traffic control networks.

The manuscript is scientifically based on a simulation experimentally verified design, which is suitable for a comprehensive and objective evaluation and analysis of the proposed model and results.

The problem-solving methodology, experimental design, and results of the manuscript are reproducible based on the details provided in the manuscript for other users or researchers.

The results of the study are based on the original design of the two-layer relationship of control dependency and service dependency between the control coordination network and the line equipment network. The results of the research also demonstrated the limits of the design, which has not yet taken into account the differences in control nodes in different sectors and the elasticity of the own renewal of the air traffic control network.

The results are supported by 3 tables and 11 figures that are convenient and present valuable data. Data are interpreted throughout the manuscript in a reasonable and comprehensible manner. The authors also appropriately used knowledge from the reference base about the current state of the issue at home and abroad.

In my opinion, the conclusions of the solution to the problem are consistent with the presented evidence and arguments. I found no ethical misconduct.

The authors demonstrated a creative approach to the creation of a model design and experimental verification of an algorithm for solving a research problem, within the framework of expanding the professional and academic discussion in the field of air traffic control.

I recommend minor corrections to improve the quality of the manuscript.

Specific comments 

Minor revisions:

In the Abstract section and in the Introduction section, clearly formulate the main goal of the scientific work.

In the Introduction section, I recommend formulating research questions to which researchers are looking for answers, or hypotheses that will be verified.

At the end of the Introduction section, I recommend stating the expected structure of the article, e.g.:

The rest of this article is organized as follows: Section 2 introduces ...

 

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf