This work considers the management in the short run of aircraft departures from their parking stands at major airports where traffic congestion is noticeable. At the ground level, congestion is patent when carefully designed departure time tables become unworkable, causing ever increasing delays which penalize heavily passengers, airlines and the airport surrounding community. The study is composed of two parts: First an overall analysis of the considered problem is performed to provide background knowledge and to display basic principles for the management of aircraft ground movements at modem airports. Physical components as well as current operational rules are discussed and their interdependence is revealed. A particular importance is given to new and foreseeable developments in communication and guidance technology which allow an improved prediction of runway occupancy times or gaps. Capacity issues are also discussed with respect to aircraft ground activities and the airfield capacity is analysed. This first part of the work ends with the description of levels of fuel consumption and of pollution emission by aircraft ground operations and thus shows the relevance of the problem considered in this study. The second part of this work is devoted to the design of a just-in-time clearance policy which should minimise environment, fuel and pollution levels and made possible a delay-free ground traffic for departing aircraft A mathematical formulation of the considered decision problem, characterized as a real time scheduling problem, is built up. Then possible solution strategies are appraised and an "ad hoc" heuristic solution algorithm is designed. This solution is first compared in theoretical terms with a First Come First Served policy showing that in an error-free situation the proposed solution cannot be worse than its competitor. Then a simulation study is performed which confirms in practical terms the above result The influence of the main design parameters of the solution algorithm on its performance are also examined giving some insights in relation to necessary communication and prediction aids. Finally, possible extensions of the proposed method and its integration in a global aircraft traffic management system are discussed.

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A generalized dynamic programming based algorithm and a local search heuristic are used to solve the Two Runway Departure Scheduling Problem that arises at an airport. The objective of this work is to assign the departing aircraft to one of the runways and find a departing time for each aircraft so that the overall delay is minimized subject to the timing, safety, and the ordering constraints. A reduction in the overall delay of the departing aircraft at an airport can improve the airport surface operations and aircraft scheduling. The generalized dynamic programming algorithm is an exact algorithm, and it finds the optimal solution for the two runway scheduling problem. The performance of the generalized dynamic programming algorithm is assessed by comparing its running time with a published dynamic programming algorithm for the two runway scheduling problem. The results from the generalized dynamic programming algorithm show that this algorithm runs much faster than the dynamic programming algorithm. The local search heuristic with k − exchange neighborhoods has a short running time in the order of seconds, and it finds an approximate solution. The performance of this heuristic is assessed based on the quality of the solution found by the heuristic and its running time. The results show that the solution found by the heuristic for a 25 aircraft problem has an average savings of approximately 15 percent in delays with respect to a first come-first served solution. Also, the solutions produced by a 3-opt heuristic for a 25 aircraft scheduling problem has an average quality of 8 percent with respect to the optimal solution found by the generalized dynamic programming algorithm. The heuristic can be used for both real-time and fast-time simulations of airport surface operations, and it can also provide an upper limit for an exact algorithm. Aircraft arrival scheduling problems may also be addressed using the generalized dynamic programming algorithm and the local search heuristic with slight modification to the constraints.

Thesis (M.S.)--Air Force Institute of Technology, 2003. / Title from title screen (viewed Oct. 28, 2003). "March 2003." Vita. "AFIT/GOR/ENS/03-04." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-70). Also issued in paper format.

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