<p>Runway and taxiway configuration could affect airport capacity and safety, and airline taxiing time and fuel consumption. In this study, a discrete-event stochastic simulation model is created to explore the impact of four different runway and taxiway choices on a fictional airport with parallel runways that have End-Around Taxiways (EAT) at each end. Scenario 1 represent the conventional runway and taxiway choices used in parallel runway systems, while Scenarios 2, 3, and 4 mimic three new choices that become possible because of the usage of the EAT. Three designed experiments are used to explore the influence of the four scenarios in terms of taxi time, fuel consumption, and number of runway crossings during high traffic periods, as well as the ability to cope with increases in the load level. </p> <p>Some main findings are: 1) using the outboard runway to land and the EAT as the taxi-in path would yield the shortest average taxi-out time, while the average taxi-in time is similar or longer than that in the conventional choice; 2) if arrival aircraft are allowed to land over an active EAT, using the outboard runway to take off and the EAT as the taxi-out path would show advantages in both the average taxi-in time and the average taxi-out time; 3) if the EAT is operated under current FAA regulation, using the outboard runway to take off and the EAT as the taxi-out path could still show advantages in the average taxi-in time, while the average taxi-out time is the longest during high arrival period; 4) the results of the average fuel consumption indicate similar trends with the results of the average taxi time; 5) using the EATs could either eliminate the number of runway crossings or reduce it significantly; 6) the taxi times with the use of EATs are more stable against the increases in the load level in comparison with the conventional choice.</p> <p>Safety and human factor issues related to allowing arrival aircraft to land over an active EAT are discussed, as well as some future research topics. This study may encourage airport operators and researchers to explore how to make full use of existing EATs. This study, along with future cost-benefit analyses based on the results of this research, would be a valuable reference for airports that consider constructing EATs in the future. </p>

With the drastic increase in the demand for air travel, taxiway aircraft traffic scheduling is becoming increasingly important in managing air traffic. In order to reduce traffic congestion on taxiways, this thesis proposes a tool for air traffic controllers to use in decision making: a taxiway air traffic model developed using Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) that can be applied to a rolling time horizon. The objective of this model is to minimize the total taxi time, and the output is a schedule and route for each aircraft. This MIP model assumes that only the origin and destination of each aircraft is fixed; due to some uncertain factors in the air arrival and departure process, it allows for the departure time and arrival time to vary within a certain time window. This MIP model features aircraft type, and also incorporates runway crossings and runway separations. The model is programmed using C++ and Solved in CPLEX 12.1. Runways 26R and 26L of George Bush International Airport are used to find solutions. The author presents a rolling horizon method by dividing the large scheduling issue into smaller time interval problems according to the scheduled times of departure or arrival. A bound is also proposed based on the discretized time interval problems. By using partial data from George Bush International Airport (IAH), solutions are obtained. The results are compared with the bound and show fairly high optimality. Compared with the previous research, this thesis presents a model with more flexibility by considering different operations. By using the rolling horizon method, the problem is broken into smaller units that can be solved efficiently without losing much optimality.

The continues growth in aviation and passenger numbers is putting more pressure on airports to become more efficient in order to reduce the number of delays due to external factors such as weather, pilot deviation/errors and airport maintenance traffic. As major hubs (e.g. Heathrow, New York or Paris) expand in size to accommodate more traffic; aircraft surface movement and management become more complex and the margin for error is even lower. The traditional airport traffic management tools in large airports are increasingly stretched to the limit in meeting safety and traffic throughput requirements. This presents a huge challenge to the efficiency of airport operations because of the increased number of departures and arrivals at those airports. New technology for surface movement needs to be implemented in order to increase the safety and airport capacity. The federal aviation authorities in the USA was first to introduce the concept of Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS) to address this problem in commercial airdrome operations. The system facilitates pilot recognition of the route designated by the traffic controllers and uses warning information to make them aware of any potential deviations/incursions. The system is introduced to enhance the efficiency of surface movement by increasing the aircraft taxiing speed and reducing any pilot errors during bad weather conditions. This thesis focuses on the surface guidance system for aircraft equipped with head-up display. A simulation model of the virtual environment using FlightGear and Simulink is developed based on the study of a moving map and surface guidance system for Head-Up Display (HUD) to assign the route, guide the aircraft on the designated taxiway and avoid potential conflict with other aircraft. A method of generating an airport in FlightGear and driving an airport moving map to rotate and move is also illustrated which includes the data processing flow chart and system flow chart. The Ordnance Survey National Grid and world coordinate system is discussed and used to transform from GPS latitude and longitude data to the position on Nation Grid. There is also an explanation of the 3D viewing process to generate the virtual taxiway geometries on the HUD. The communication between the traffic console and airplane is also discussed.

<p dir="ltr">At airports, aircraft taxi time may have effect on congestion, engine pollutants, and aircraft fuel consumption. An End-Around Taxiway (EAT) improves airport runway efficiencies and safety by providing a path for aircraft to move from one side of the runway to the other side without crossing that runway (FAA, 2022). The EAT has been implemented in four airports in the U.S.: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (KDFW), Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (KATL), Detroit Metro Airport (KDTW), and Miami International Airport (KMIA) (Le, 2014). Currently, all the EATs are implemented at parallel runways. Previous research have shown that EAT on parallel runways has the potential to improve airport capacity and reduce fuel consumption (Fala et al., 2014; Feng & Johnson, 2021). There was no published application or research found about implementing EAT on crossing runways. This research is an explanatory study that focuses on analyzing the effect of EATs on airports with crossing runways. This research uses dynamic discrete event stochastic simulation software to build simulation models to analyze the effects of implementing EAT at crossing runways. Using a fictional airport loosely based on existing commercial service airports, the effect of EATs on a crossing runway airport was studied. The research has three experiments to measure the effects of the EAT in terms of taxi-in time, taxi-out time, and number of operations completed.</p><p dir="ltr">The major findings of the research are: 1) using EAT for taxi-in operations significantly reduces the taxi-in time and taxi-out time at the fictional airport with crossing runways; 2) using EAT for taxi-out operation significantly increases taxi-in time at the fictional airport with crossing runways; 3) using EAT for taxi-out operations significantly reduces taxi-out times at the fictional airport with crossing runways; 4) there is no statistical significance found when implementing EAT at the fictional airport with crossing runways in terms of number of operations completed per day. The configuration of the airport, the number of operations, the weather, and other factors may affect the transfer of these results to other airports with crossing runways.</p><p dir="ltr">Current EATs are only implemented and proposed at parallel runway airports. As aviation demand grows, this research may provide insights about a novel usage and operation strategy of EATs. The simulation model in this research is subject to assumptions and limitations. Future research is needed to improve the simulation model and further explore the effect of EATs on crossing runways.</p>

This thesis is focused on airport departure operations; its objective is to assign a value to surface surveillance information within a collaborative framework. The research develops a cooperative concept that improves the control of departure operations at busy airports and evaluates its merit using a classical and widely accepted airport departure model. The research then assumes departure operations are collaboratively controlled and develops a stochastic model of taxi operations on the airport surface. Finally, this study investigates the effect of feeding back different levels of surface surveillance information to the departure control process. More specifically, it examines the environmental and operational impact of aircraft surface location information on the taxi clearance process. Benefits are evaluated by measuring and comparing engine emissions for given runway utilization rates.