Design Considerations for a New Terminal Area Arrival Scheduler

Abstract

Design of a terminal area arrival scheduler depends on the interrelationship between throughput, delay and controller intervention. The main contribution of this paper is an analysis of the above interdependence for several stochastic behaviors of expected system performance distributions in the aircraft's time of arrival at the meter fix and runway. Results of this analysis serve to guide the scheduler design choices for key control variables. Two types of variables are analyzed, separation buffers and terminal delay margins. The choice for these decision variables was tested using sensitivity analysis. Analysis suggests that it is best to set the separation buffer at the meter fix to its minimum and adjust the runway buffer to attain the desired system performance. Delay margin was found to have the least effect. These results help characterize the variables most influential in the scheduling operations of terminal area arrivals.

A pairing algorithm for landing aircraft to closely spaced parallel runways

“…Conducting research into paired arrival and departure scheduling has other practical long-term applications. The insights gained from these studies could help extend the capabilities of new and improved tools for terminal area scheduling such as those currently under development [5].…”

Design considerations for shortcut path-based time recovery

“…In either case, the level of precision with which the flight can be controlled to a given coordination point determines the scheduling buffer (extra padding added to required separation) and ultimately the maximum throughput of the coordination point. Thipphavong and Mulfinger [14] studied the relationship between flight arrival uncertainty, scheduling buffer, and controller intervention rate (percentage of flight pairs expected to lose separation without controller intervention). A suitable scheduling buffer can be calculated for a given arrival uncertainty and desired maximum controller intervention rate.…”

A Concept for Robust, High Density Terminal Air Traffic Operations

“…54 The use of demand buffers in the form of multiple terminal route options will enable greater numbers of OPDs, replacing demand buffers in the form of level powered flight with descending, albeit (sometimes) longer paths. While elimination of level, powered flight at lower altitudes is often viewed as the primary goal of procedural and scheduling improvements in NextGen, analyses by Robinson suggest reducing delay is a more important factor during peak arrival periods when path stretching is needed for metering or aircraft separation.…”

“…56 Time recovery refers to closing gaps in a schedule that have developed due to inherent operational variances, either by accelerating aircraft or delaying planned speed reductions. 54 CPS was first proposed by Dear 37 and was evaluated as part of TMA development. 38 CPS was subsequently removed from the TMA scheduling capability when simulation evaluations showed it resulted in unacceptable controller workload because of variation from the standard First-Come-First-Served processes.…”