Research moves step closer to more efficient airport ground movements
New research which could have a profound impact on the routing and scheduling of traffic at airports around the world has been published in a leading technology journal.
Conducted by Dr Jun Chen and Dr Michal Weiszer from the School of Engineering at the University of Lincoln, UK, the study proposes a revolutionary new ‘Active Routing’ framework, with the aim of providing a more realistic, cost effective and environmentally-friendly ground movement system for some of the busiest international airport hubs.
At the heart of this concept is the generation of optimal speed instructions – or speed profiles – taking into account both time and fuel efficiency.
A paper based on their findings, Towards a more realistic, cost effective and greener ground movement through Active Routing: Part 1, is published in IEEE Transactions for Intelligent Transportation Systems. The top-ranked publication focuses on the design, analysis, and control of information technology as it is applied to transportation systems.
Dr Jun Chen said: “Ever-increasing air traffic, rising costs and tighter environmental targets create a pressure to minimise fuel burn on the ground. However, current routing functions almost exclusively consider the most time efficient solution and apply a conservative separation time to ensure there are no conflicts between aircraft on the ground. This approach may result in too tight planning for some aircraft so that fuel efficiency is compromised due to excessive acceleration, or may mean that performance could be further improved by reducing separation times.
“We therefore propose calculating optimal speed profiles using a physics-based aircraft movement model. This approach represents the first attempt to systematically address speed profiles with competing objectives, and our results reveal an apparent trade-off between fuel burn and taxi times, irrespective of fuel consumption modelling approaches.”
This research could prove crucial for ensuring efficient movement of aircraft on the ground, as airport stakeholders seek out ways of saving time, reducing costs and improving carbon emissions amid huge growth in air traffic and passenger numbers.
A recent report has predicted that the total number of flights will be 1.5 times larger by 2035 – increasing pressure on airport capacity and creating bottlenecks for the entire air traffic management system. Improving the efficiency of surface movement plays a key role in increasing overall airport capacity and with air traffic currently contributing around 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, a drastic reduction in the sector’s environmental impact will be necessary to meet the EU’s climate and energy objectives.
The research paper is available to view in full online, via: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=7321022