This thesis estimates potential runway throughput gains using a reduced wake separation based on the 123 most prevalent aircraft in the United States fleet. The analysis considers Runway Occupancy Time (ROT) constraint factors and existing geometric design factors. This research extracts the historic data from Airport Surface Detection Equipment Model X (ASDE-X) for analysis. The Runway Exit Design Interactive Model (REDIM) is used to optimize the runway exit locations and reduce ROT. The runway throughput and safety factors are generated from a Monte Carlo runway simulator. This thesis focuses on selected US airport runways that could benefit from geometric optimization. The study aims to estimate ROT improvements through improved runway exit locations and the changes in runway throughput considering ROT constraint factors. The results of the thesis show that Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) runway 35C and Denver International Airport (DEN) runway 16R have the potential to improve the ROT. After the optimization to locate runway exits, the ROT time of the RECAT group F and G aircraft (greater than 90% of the arrivals) was reduced by three to five seconds (a very significant effect). After the ROT reductions and with the application of reduced wake separation criteria with the ROT constraint factor applied, the arrival-only capacity of DFW runway 35C improved by 3.5 arrivals per hour. The arrival-only capacity on DEN runway 16R improved by 2.14 arrivals per hour. Both runways maintained a probability of violation between time-based separation and ROT time at around 1.5%. The study concludes that the application of reduced wake separation criteria alone is a necessary but insufficient condition to improve the efficiency of arrival runways. Through careful improvements of runway exit locations, reductions in ROT provide reliability and efficiency to the operation of runways. / Master of Science / This thesis estimates potential runway throughput gains using a reduced wake separation based on the 123 most prevalent aircraft in the United States fleet. The analysis considers Runway Occupancy Time (ROT) constraint factors and existing geometric design factors. This research extracts the historic data from Airport Surface Detection Equipment Model X (ASDE-X) for analysis. The Runway Exit Design Interactive Model (REDIM) is used to optimize the runway exit locations and reduce ROT. The runway throughput and safety factors are generated from a Monte Carlo runway simulator. This thesis focuses on selected US airport runways that could benefit from geometric optimization. The study aims to estimate ROT improvements through improved runway exit locations and the changes in runway throughput considering ROT constraint factors. The results of the thesis show that Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) runway 35C and Denver International Airport (DEN) runway 16R have the potential to improve the ROT. After the optimization to locate runway exits, the ROT time of the RECAT group F and G aircraft (greater than 90% of the arrivals) was reduced by three to five seconds (a very significant effect). After the ROT reductions and with the application of reduced wake separation criteria with the ROT constraint factor applied, the arrival-only capacity of DFW runway 35C improved by 3.5 arrivals per hour. The arrival-only capacity on DEN runway 16R improved by 2.14 arrivals per hour. Both runways maintained a probability of violation between time-based separation and ROT time at around 1.5%. The study concludes that the application of reduced wake separation criteria alone is a necessary but insufficient condition to improve the efficiency of arrival runways. Through careful improvements of runway exit locations, reductions in ROT provide reliability and efficiency to the operation of runways.

In response to the unparalleled growth of demand for air traffic during the past few decades, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) launched the Next Generation Air Transportation (NextGen) program to restructure the National Airspace System (NAS). Among the research is the focus on direct, wind optimal routing using geodesic routes and flight operations that do not depend solely on ground based navigation aids (NAVAID) and a fixed airspace structure. While technologies, such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), exist to locate an aircraft at higher degrees of resolution with a larger coverage, the way in which this information is conveyed is long and cumbersome. Therefore, new ways to describe the airspace is desired. The thesis presents the results of an experimental investigation into three alternatives to fix/route and GPS methods. The first method is the Navigation Reference System (NRS) using an absolute grid based strategy that has been recently implemented in limited portions of the United States airspace. The second method, the Military Grid Reference System (MGRS), is also a grid based system, and it is used by NATO, but it has not been applied to the air traffic control context. The third alternative is Point Relation Navigation (PRN), which uses a single point of reference within each Air Route Traffic Center (ARTCC) airspace and acts as a hybrid of coordinate and radial fixes. 21 airline dispatchers from a single major U.S air carrier participated in an online assessment of the five methods above through specific tasks. Results indicate that most participants prefer the fix/route system over the others, followed closely by the PRN method. However, there were varying results across all of the methods in terms of speed and accuracy of completing the tasks. This study incites further interest in strategies to describe aircraft routes operating in a more flexible airspace.

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