Assessment of terminal RNAV mixed equipage

Abstract

Airlines continue to acquire or equip existing aircraft with improved and more capable avionics. Improvements such as the Flight Management System (FMS) allow aircraft to fly preplanned paths with precision. Attempts to take advantage of improved aircraft guidance to make approaches, amvals, and departures in the terminal area more uniform and predictable are consequently a natural development in air traffic control. The use of Area Navigation (RNAV) routes is one example of exploiting the current avionics technology to improve/simplify operations. In this study we look at the consequences and implications for amvals of the fact that not all aircraft are yet RNAV equipped.The interplay of equipped aircraft (that fly the route according to the FMS) and non-equipped aircraft (which must be vectored) was studied in terms of controller technique, controller training and familiarization, controller comfort level, and the resultant impact on the efficacy of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) operation. The effects of specific factors such as variation in tum execution, variation in speed profiles and airspace use were objectively measured. Three arrival routes of increasing complexity were simulated. One complex route was examined using a varying mix of equipped and unequipped traffic at a fixed, steady state rate. the percentage of non-RNAV traffic that can be accommodated on a complex arrival route is about 20 percent, and show at the rates simulated, that it was not necessary to segregate equipped and nonequipped aircraft. The simulation results indicate that the tolerance for non-RNAV aircraft may be even higher for simple arrival routes. Other results of the controller in the loop simulations will be presented in detail: reduced flying distances, reduced communications workload, reduced fuel bum and reduced variance in the inter-aircraft arrival times can all be correlated to increasing the percentage of the aircraft that are RNAV equipped. Controller in the loop simulations indicate thatThese results argue that there are benefits of aircraft flying RNAV routes.

Human Factors Measurement for Future Air Traffic Control Systems

“…The availability of RNAV routes may reduce ATCO workload by (a) reducing communication time with the pilot and (b) reducing the need to monitor conformance of aircrafts, thereby reducing the cognitive load caused by the monitoring task. Research using RNAV operations has reported a reduction in ATCO communication workload (Barker, Haltli, MacWilliams, & McKee, 2003;Sprong, Haltli, DeArmon, & Bradley, 2005) and a change in SA with increased traffic levels (Smith, 2007). Future research should further assess workload and SA (as well as issues of ATCO stress, trust, and boredom) under RNAV conditions to ensure the safety and efficiency of future systems.…”

A new standard instrument arrival: the point merge system

“…In addition, the findings indicated that an explanation as to how RNAV had reduced flight time variation, lateral dispersion, airspace usage and inter-arrival times. Barker et al (2004) reported on issues associated with mixing of aircraft that were RNAV equipped with non-RNAV equipped aircraft. The simulation analysis confirms that there are benefits using RNAV equipage in TMA for arrivals.…”

A proposed solution for airborne delays: linear holding

“…Most previous studies related to the PM system have focused on providing a reduction in the total number of controller instructions, frequency occupancy time as well as fuel consumption and environmental impact by enabling Continuous Descent Approaches (CDA) (19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30) , which allow aircraft to descend continuously by employing minimum engine thrust, ideally in low drag configuration, prior to the final approach fix/final approach point (31) . LH has been applied in Dublin since 2012.…”