A State of the Art on Railway Simulation Modelling Software Packages and Their Application to Designing Baggage Transfer Services

There is a new baggage transfer service suggested in Newcastle Central Station. In order to prove that this service is feasible, a simulation model can be developed to test the concept and operating pattern behind. For the purposes of this paper, we intend to organize a literature review on simulation modelling software packages employed to study service design. Specifically, this paper has compared five different simulation software packages used by the railway industry to study service-related challenges. As a result, it is suggested that SIMUL8, a macroscopic discrete event-based software package, should be used among the five compared ones because of its simplicity and the ability to give practical results for the design and performance of such a baggage transfer system

The Technical Efficiency of UK Airports

In this paper, the innovative random stochastic frontier model is used to estimate the technical efficiency of UK airports. These airports are ranked according to their total productivity for the period 2000-2005 and homogenous and heterogeneous variables in the cost function are disentangled, which leads us to advise the implementation of common policies as well as policies by segments. Economic implications arising from the study are also considered.Airports; UK; efficiency; random frontier models; policy implications.

A systems design study introducing a collection point for baggage transfer services at a railway station in the UK

Railway transport has shown a steady growth in passenger numbers over the past 20 years across the UK. Passengers travel with luggage. It has been forecasted that there will be a reduction of “luggage racks-to-seats” ratio in the future passenger train fleet. There are currently no baggage transfer systems at any of the train stations as part of the urban rail transit system in the UK. Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate the possibility of having a baggage transfer service at Newcastle Central Station, which can serve different travel destinations. A simulation modelling study of different parts of the baggage check-in shop within the railway station is offered. Check-in point, movement of luggage around Newcastle Central, baggage reclaims and storage areas have been contemplated and evaluated using SIMUL8 event-based simulation package. The results for the simulation model developed show that a baggage transfer service at Newcastle Central Station is possible with a mixture of walk-in and online check-in options

Condition-based maintenance for major airport baggage systems

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to develop a contribution to knowledge that adds to theempirical evidence of predictive condition-based maintenance by demonstrating how theavailability and reliability of current assets can be improved without costly capital investment,resulting in overall system performance improvements.Methodology: The empirical, experimental approach, technical action research (TAR), wasdesigned to study a major Middle-Eastern airport baggage handling operation. A predictivecondition-based maintenance prototype station was installed to monitor the condition of ahighly complex system of static and moving assets.Findings. The research provides evidence that the performance frontier for airport baggagehandling systems can be improved using automated dynamic monitoring of the vibration anddigital image data on baggage trays as they pass a service station. The introduction of low-endinnovation, which combines advanced technology and low-cost hardware, reduced assetfailures in this complex, high speed operating environment.Originality/Value: The originality derives from the application of existing hardware with thecombination of Edge and Cloud computing software through architectural innovation resultingin adaptations to an existing baggage handling system within the context of a time-criticallogistics system.Keywords: IoT, Condition-based maintenance, Predictive maintenance, Edge computing, IoT,Technical Action Research, Theory of Performance Frontiers,Case Stud

Inference of resource-based simulation models from process event-log data

This research was focused on inferring resource-based simulation models from data. and has proven it is realistic to do so. The research has discovered a new Process Mining algorithm with superior performance and has developed methods to identify, quantify and discover resource attributes and resource-based decisions from data

Influences on aircraft target off-block time prediction accuracy

With Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) as a generic concept of working together of all airport partners, the main aim of this research project was to increase the understanding of the Influences on the Target Off-Block Time (TOBT) Prediction Accuracy during A-CDM. Predicting the TOBT accurately is important, because all airport partners use it as a reference time for the departure of the flights after the aircraft turn-round. Understanding such influencing factors is therefore not only required for finding measures to counteract inaccurate TOBT predictions, but also for establishing a more efficient A-CDM turn-round process. The research method chosen comprises a number of steps. Firstly, within the framework of a Cognitive Work Analysis, the sub-processes as well as the information requirements during turn-round were analysed. Secondly, a survey approach aimed at finding and describing situations during turn-round that are critical for TOBT adherence was pursued. The problems identified here were then investigated in field observations at different airlines’ operation control rooms. Based on the findings from these previous steps, small-scale human-in-the-loop experiments were designed aimed at testing hypotheses about data/information availability that influence TOBT predictability. A turn-round monitoring tool was developed for the experiments. As a result of this project, the critical chain of turn-round events and the decisions necessary during all stages of the turn-round were identified. It was concluded that information required but not shared among participants can result in TOBT inaccuracy swings. In addition, TOBT predictability was shown to depend on the location of the TOBT turn-round controller who assigns the TOBT: More reliable TOBT predictions were observed when the turn-round controller was physically present at the aircraft. During the experiments, TOBT prediction could be improved by eight minutes, if available information was cooperatively shared ten minutes prior turn-round start between air crews and turn-round controller; TOBT prediction could be improved by 15 minutes, if additional information was provided by ramp agents five minutes after turnround start

An evaluation methodology for the level of service at the airport landside system

A methodology is proposed for evaluating the level of service within an airport landside system from the passenger's point of view using linguistic service criteria. The new concept of level of service for a transport system, particularly within the airports indicates that there must be strong stimulation in order to proceed with the current stereotyped service standards which are being criticised due to their being based on, either physical capacity/volume or temporal/spatial standards that directly incorporates the perception of passengers, the dominant users. Most service evaluation methodologies have been concentrated on the factors of the time spent and the space provided. These quantitative factors are reasonably simple to measure but represent a narrow approach. Qualitative service level attributes are definitely important factors when evaluating the level of service from a user's point of view. This study has adopted three main evaluation factors: temporal or spatial factors as quantitative measurements and comfort factors and reasonable service factors as qualitative measurements. The service level evaluation involves the passenger's subjective judgement as a perception for service provision. To evaluate the level of service in the airport landside system from the user's perception, this research proposes to apply a multi-decision model using fuzzy set theory, in particular fuzzy approximate reasoning. Fuzzy set theory provides a strict mathematical framework for vague conceptual phenomena and a modelling language for real situations. The multi-decision model was applied to a case study at Kimpo International Airport in Seoul, Korea. Results are presented in terms of passenger satisfaction and dissatisfaction with a variety of different values

Occupancy driven supervisory control of indoor environment systems to minimise energy consumption of airport terminal building

A very economical way of reducing the operational energy consumed by large commercial buildings such as an airport terminal is the automatic control of its active energy systems. Such control can adjust the indoor environment systems setpoints to satisfy comfort during occupancy or when unoccupied, initiate energy conservation setpoints and if necessary, shut down part of the building systems. Adjusting energy control setpoints manually in large commercial buildings can be a nightmare for facility managers. Incidentally for such buildings, occupancy based control strategies are not achieved through the use of conventional controllers alone. This research, therefore, investigated the potential of using a high-level control system in airport terminal building. The study presents the evolution of a novel fuzzy rule-based supervisory controller, which intelligently establishes comfort setpoints based on flow of passenger through the airport as well as variable external environmental conditions. The inputs to the supervisory controller include: the time schedule of the arriving and departing passenger planes; the expected number of passengers; zone daylight illuminance levels; and external temperature. The outputs from the supervisory controller are the low-level controllers internal setpoint profile for thermal comfort, visual comfort and indoor air quality. Specifically, this thesis makes contribution to knowledge in the following ways: It utilised artificial intelligence to develop a novel fuzzy rule-based, energy-saving supervisory controller that is able to establish acceptable indoor environmental quality for airport terminals based on occupancy schedules and ambient conditions. It presents a unique methodology of designing a supervisory controller using expert knowledge of an airport s indoor environment systems through MATLAB/Simulink platform with the controller s performance evaluated in both MATLAB and EnergyPlus simulation engine. Using energy conservation strategies (setbacks and switch-offs), the pro-posed supervisory control system was shown to be capable of reducing the energy consumed in the Manchester Airport terminal building by up to 40-50% in winter and by 21-27% in summer. It demonstrates that if a 45 minutes passenger processing time is aimed for instead of the 60 minutes standard time suggested by ICAO, energy consumption is significantly reduced (with less carbon emission) in winter particularly. The potential of the fuzzy rule-based supervisory controller to optimise comfort with minimal energy based on variation in occupancy and external conditions was demonstrated through this research. The systematic approach adopted, including the use of artificial intelligence to design supervisory controllers, can be extended to other large buildings which have variable but predictable occupancy patterns

An Application of the Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) Analysis to the Selection of a New Hub Airport

The paper illustrates the application of three Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM)methods to the problem of the selection of a new hub airport for a hypothetical EuropeanUnion (EU) airline assumed to operate within the EU liberalised air transport market. Thethree MCDM methods used are SAW (Simple Additive Weighting), TOPSIS (Technique forOrder Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution) and AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process),and they are applied to a preselected set of alternative airports. The attributes (criteria) aredefined to express the performance of particular alternatives (airports) relevant for aDecision-Maker (DM), in this case the EU airline in question.In addition to illustrating the three methods, this application of three different MCDMmethods is intended to lead to a preliminary judgment about their usefulness assupplementary decision-making tools for eventual practical use. The example in which sevenpreselected European airports are ranked according to nine performance criteria, indicatesthat all three methods, if applied to the same problem and using the same method fordetermining the importance of the different criteria, produce the same result