title: Multi-scale analysis of the European airspace using network community detection.
abstract: We show that the European airspace can be represented as a multi-scale traffic network whose nodes are airports, sectors, or navigation points and links are defined and weighted according to the traffic of flights between the nodes. By using a unique database of the air traffic in the European airspace, we investigate the architecture of these networks with a special emphasis on their community structure. We propose that unsupervised network community detection algorithms can be used to monitor the current use of the airspace and improve it by guiding the design of new ones. Specifically, we compare the performance of several community detection algorithms, both with fixed and variable resolution, and also by using a null model which takes into account the spatial distance between nodes, and we discuss their ability to find communities that could be used to define new control units of the airspace.
authors.affiliation: Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Gérald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gurtner
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vitali
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cipolla
authors.affiliation: Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy; Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy; Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States of America.
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lillo
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy; Center for Network Science and Department of Economics, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Rosario Nunzio
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Mantegna
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miccichè
authors.affiliation: Deep Blue s.r.l., Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pozzi
mesh_terms: D064870:Air Travel; D000465:Algorithms; D016208:Databases, Factual; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical