Abstract

The main objective of this project is to design an automation control system for a new arrival procedure at Palma de Mallorca airport, which is the Point Merge System (PMS). This new system, suggested by Cercle d’Economia de Mallorca, allows performing Continuous Descent Approach (CDA), reducing fuel consumption, CO2 and acoustic emissions, while safety levels are enhanced and arrival capacity is increased. Additionally, the fact of introducing the automation control would remove the air traffic controllers presence, only needing one person to monitor the system. The PMS concept was developed by Eurocontrol and is based on the merging of two arrival flows in one single entry point, which is afterwards linked to the airport runway. Nowadays, these flows are managed by controllers who give the “direct-to” instruction to pilots to fly towards the merge point, whereas in this project this will be done by the system. In order to achieve the aim of the project, the Network Strategic Tool (NEST) from Eurocontrol has been used, which allows traffic simulations, together with Matlab, in which the NEST files have been read and different time computations have been performed to determine when the aircraft gets the “direct-to” and in this way ensure safety. The obtained results are for two diferent scenarios. On one hand, real traffic data from summer 2018 has been considered, which are used to know the current behavior of the system. On the other hand, with the webpage Demand Data Repository (DDR) of Eurocontrol a traffic forecast for summer 2024 has been generated, which is used to estimate the behaviour and capacity of the system in a future with more traffic. With the results analysis, it is possible to check that nowadays most aircraft would be authorized with a direct entry to the merge point, without waiting. For the 2024 case, most aircraft would have to stay inside the system with a waiting time due to the increase of flights. Lastly, in both scenarios route length increases, while it is possible to perform CDA thanks to the predictability obtained with the system. L’objectiu principal d’aquest projecte és dissenyar un sistema de control automàtic per un nou procediment d’arribades a l’aeroport de Palma de Mallorca, el Point Merge System (PMS). Aquest nou sistema, proposat pel Cercle d’Economia de Mallorca, permet realitzar Continuous Descent Approach (CDA), reduint el consum de fuel, les emissions de CO2 i l’impacte acústic, mentre que es milloren els nivells de seguretat i s’augmenta la capacitat de trànsit d’arribada. A més a més, el fet d’introduir el control automàtic eliminaria la presència dels controladors, necessitant únicament una persona que supervisés el sistema. El concepte de PMS va ser desenvolupat per Eurocontrol i es basa en la fusió de dos fluxos d’arribada en un únic punt d’entrada, que després s’enllaça amb la pista de l’aeroport. Actualment aquests fluxos són gestionats pels controladors que donen la instrucció “direct-to” als pilots perquè es puguin dirigir cap al punt final, mentre que en aquest projecte ho farà el propi sistema. Per aconseguir l’objectiu del projecte s’ha utilitzat el programa Network Strategic Tool (NEST) d’Eurocontrol, que permet fer simulacions de trànsit aeri, juntament amb Matlab, amb el qual s’han llegit els arxius del NEST i s’han realitzat diferents càlculs de temps per determinar quan l’avió obté el “direct-to” i així garantir la seguretat. Els resultats obtinguts són per dos escenaris diferents. Per una banda, s’han considerat dades de trànsit real de l’estiu de 2018, amb les quals sabem el comportament del sistema a dia d’avui. Per altra banda, a través de la pàgina web Demand Data Repository (DDR) d’Eurocontrol s’ha generat una previsió de trànsit per l’estiu de 2024, amb la qual s’estima el comportament i la capacitat del sistema en un futur amb més trànsit. Amb l’anàlisi dels resultats, es comprova que actualment la majoria d’avions serien autoritzats amb una entrada directa al punt final, sense necessitat d’esperar. En el cas de l’any 2024, la majoria d’avions hauria d’estar dins del sistema amb un temps d’espera degut a l’augment dels vols. Per últim, en els dos escenaris la distància recorreguda augmenta, mentre que es pot fer una aproximació CDA gràcies a la predictibilitat obtinguda amb el sistem

Abstract

International audience; 4D Trajectory optimization in dense terminal control area is one of the most challenging problems in air traffic management research. In order to efficiently and robustly land more aircraft at Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA), one of the busiest airport in the world, a novel trajectory operation model is proposed, i.e. Multi-layer Point Merge (ML-PM) based Autonomous Arrival Management System. This paper aims at the evaluation of its potential operational benefits in terms of flight efficiency and runway throughput. Horizontal and Vertical profiles of ML-PM route network are introduced, the objective and constraints of this optimizing mathematical model are analyzed, especially the speed change profile and the conflict detection mode for merging zone. Then a case study is made by simulating arrival flows under three different operational modes: baseline, traditional point merge, and the ML-PM. Finally, the results show that rational arrival sequence and conflict-free trajectories are generated in ML-PM system, the benefits gained are very positive. Comparing with baseline and the traditional point merge system, ML-PM system shows good performance on flight time, fuel consumption, CO2 emission. The saving of fuel with ML-PM system is expected around 26838 Yuan per hour at BCIA compared with baseline scenario by numerical simulation. Furthermore, more flexible sequence position shift and continuous descent are possible in ML-PM system, and it is capable to handle the high-density operation environment.

Abstract

International audience; In this article we present recent work towards the development of an autonomous system with point merge (PM) that performs sequencing, merging and spacing for arrival aircraft in the busy terminal area. This autonomous arrival management system aims to safely solve the major arrival flight scheduling problems currently handled by human controllers. With PM, it has the potential to handle higher traffic demands without more workload on controllers, consequently increasing capacity and reducing delay. The main objective of this paper is to introduce the framework of this autonomous system with PM. Based on analysis of classic PM route structure, a novel PM-based route network is firstly designed for Beijing Capital International Airport. Vertically, this PM system consists of multi-layers on the sequencing legs for different categories of aircraft with Heavy and Medium, horizontally, it is shaped as a lazy “8”. Then, a multiple-objectives function is discussed for this aircraft scheduling problem, operational constraints and conflict detection and resolution are analysed in detail, a modelling strategy with sliding time window and simulated annealing algorithm is proposed for solving this real-time dynamic problem. Experimental results verify our algorithm is well adapting the high-density traffic optimisation, and finally a conclusion is made and future work is pointed ou