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Capacity Improvement Through Automated Surface Traffic Control
Domain: Surface
Principle Investigator: Metron Aviation
The Need
The airport is the source of the most significant constraints on system throughput and capacity of the air transportation system. The number of available runways, wake vortex separation requirements, runway occupancy time requirements, surface congestion, and gate availability can all play a dominant role at a given airport at any given time. Thus, it is not just one constraint that must be relaxed to improve the capacity of the national airspace system, but there are many constraints that must be relaxed simultaneously.
Automated control of taxiway lights deliver clearances directly to pilots - based on surface-wide flow and constraints.
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The Concept
Automate the ground and local control functions via "Follow the lights" taxiway guidance.
Key Features
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Control clearances to manage traffic on the airport surface will be automatically generated by computer systems and conveyed directly to the pilots via surface lighting - thus avoiding new aircraft equipage requirements.
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Appropriate human-computer interfaces will balance the efficiency of the computer-generated clearance process with needs for overall human oversight and handling of anomalous situations.
Research Focus Areas
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Develop algorithms to create complete, de-conflicted motion plans for all aircraft on and around the airport surface. Particular emphasis is on development of solutions that are robust to variations in input data (e.g., non-fragile).
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Study the human factors associated with the shift in roles and responsibilities on both "sides" of the automation. This includes the "tracking" of the lighted paths by pilots as well as the transition from direct control to monitor for the human tower controllers.
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Integration of separate safety logic running in parallel with the planning algorithms for detection of blunders or other instances in which the intended paths are not or cannot be followed by pilots.
Key Benefits Anticipated
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Airport Surface Buffer Reduction
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Simultaneous Clearances
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Runway Usage Optimization
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Use of Additional Departure Runways
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Congestion Management
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Increased Safety of Surface Operations
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Increased Predictability of Arrival/Departure Operations
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