Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation of Coordination by Airline Operations Control

Abstract

Abstract-Motivated by the need to understand and further optimize coordination processes in the socio-technical air transportation system, this paper implements and compares four coordination policies through agent based modelling and simulation (ABMS). Three policies are based on established practices, while a fourth is based on the joint activity coordination theory from the psychology research domain. For each of these four policies, the relation with the literature on coordination is identified. The specific application of the four policies concerns Airline Operations Control (AOC), which core's functionality is one of coordination and taking corrective actions in response to a large variety of airline operational disruptions. In order to evaluate the four policies, an agent based model of the AOC and crew processes has been developed. Subsequently, this agent based model is used to assess the effects of the four AOC policies on a challenging airline disruption scenario. For the specific scenario considered, the joint-activity coordination based AOC policy outperforms the other three policies. More importantly, the simulation results provide novel insight in operational effects of each of the four AOC policies, which demonstrates that ABMS allows to analyze the effectiveness of different coordination policies in the highly complex socio-technical air transportation system.

An agent‐based model for improved system of systems decision making in air transportation

“…Agent‐based models have been proposed to analyze different coordination policies and provide the optimal policy based on the disruption scenario and the effects of these policies on the aviation system . Customers’ responses have also been factored into some of the models to better balance other stakeholders’ utilities for more overall system efficiency . Measuring the impact of airlines’ decisions includes scheduling flights, airframes, fleet assignments, routing, and market prices, and will help airlines better define their tactical and strategic decisions …”

Agent-Based Modeling: An Application to Natural Resource Management

“…Thus, the out- to deal with emergent phenomena is what drives the other benefits [6]. The use of ABM is quite versatile and extends to a variety of different settings, ranging from health care [7] to aerospace [8]. However, the spatio-intertemporal approach used here is relatively unique among known applications of ABM.…”

“…In other words, they represent the grazing area in which animals are exposed to a natural environment for approximately 180 days. 8) Pasture. The forage is represented through green patches that interact with the stocking rate when consumed.…”

Adaptation of Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA) to Dispatch Operations (DOSA)

“…The effect of different decision making processes by controllers was applied in six airline OCCs in the paper by Bruce (2011). Bouarfa et.al studied the different coordination policies between OCC and other sections of airline (Bouarfa, Blom & Curran, 2016).…”