Assessing ATM performance with simulation and optimisation tools: The APACHE project

The work presented in this paper was partially funded by the SESAR Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No 699338, as part of the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme: APACHE project (http://apache-sesar.barcelonatech-upc.eu/en).This paper describes the objectives and methodology of the APACHE project, a SESAR Exploratory Research project proposing a new framework to assess European air traffic management (ATM) performance. This framework integrates an ATM simulator prototype used to synthesise scenarios for preops performance assessment, but also needed to compute some novel performance indicators, which require from optimisation or simulation capabilities. This simulator embeds a trajectory planner; an airspace planner; a traffic and capacity planner; and finally, a performance analyser module. An illustrative example is given, showing the successful integration of all these modules, where an initial performance assessment is done for a realistic data set of 24h of traffic over the FABEC airspace.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

The Influence of Traffic Structure on Airspace Capacity

Best paper award for the Network Management trackInternational audienceAirspace structure can be used as a procedural mechanism for a priori separation and organization of en-route air traffic. Although many studies have explored novel structuring methods to increase en-route airspace capacity, the relationship between the level of structuring of traffic and airspace capacity is not well established. To better understand the influence of traffic structure on airspace capacity, in this research, four airspace concepts, representing discrete points along the dimension of structure, were compared using large-scale simulation experiments. By subjecting the concepts to multiple traffic demand scenarios, the structure-capacity relationship was inferred from the effect of traffic demand variations on safety, efficiency and stability metrics. These simulations were performed within the context of a future personal aerial transportation system, and considered both nominal and non-nominal conditions. Simulation results suggest that the structuring of traffic must take into account the expected traffic demand pattern to be beneficial in terms of capacity. Furthermore, for the heterogeneous, or uniformly distributed, traffic demand patterns considered in this work, a decentralized layered airspace concept, in which each altitude band limited horizontal travel to within a predefined heading range, led to the best balance of all the metrics considered

Modeling of turnaround process using Petri Nets

International audienceThe paper presents a model of the aircraft turnaround process at airport apron. Airlines have an interest for an efficient and reliable turnaround process which allows them to maintain schedules. The process should also be as fast as required so that aircraft are flying rather than sitting on the ground, incurring losses and extra costs. This is the reason why the turnaround process needs to be studied, planned and executed in an efficient manner. This turnaround process model has been developed to investigate different resource allocation strategies (aircraft stands, equipment, personnel, etc.) and sensitivities to perturbations, their possible prevention or mitigation of their effects. The model is a rather sophisticated one, using Petri nets as a powerful tool for modeling and simulating discrete processes with concurrent events. This type of model could also easily be incorporated into a larger scale model of airport operation. The model's capabilities are illustrated using real life examples from the Belgrade airport

Systematic Validation of a Mathematical Model of ACAS Operations for Safety Assessment Purposes

International audienceCurrent international regulations and policies do not consider the effect of airborne safety nets in the analysis of safety risks. This widely accepted practice tends to create significant tension between the realization of the ambitious safety improvement targets of SESAR and NextGEN, and standing regulations. In order to close this gap, there is a need for systematic development of safety risk analyses of airborne safety nets within an Air Traffic Management context. The aim of the research described in this paper is to address the systematic validation of an unambiguous mathematical model of Airborne Collision Avoidance System (ACAS) operations, together with its interactions with own and other pilots and with air traffic controllers. The specific modelling formalism used for this is Stochastically and Dynamically Coloured Petri Nets (SDCPN); which supports both mathematical analysis as well as Monte Carlo simulation. In order to build confidence, the focus of this paper is on the performance of a systematic validation of the developed model. This validation includes both comparisons against " real data " and comparison with the results of Eurocontrol's ACAS simulation model. Initial application of this validation process to the novel model shows that it is at least as good as the existing ACAS simulation model. However, the added value is that the novel model defines both an unambiguous mathematical model as well as an unambiguous simulation model

Dynamic airspace configuration by genetic algorithm

International audienceWith the continuous air traffic growth and limits of resources, there is a need for reducing the congestion of the airspace systems. Nowadays, several projects are launched, aimed at modernizing the global air transportation system and air traffic management. In recent years, special interest has been paid to the solution of the dynamic airspace configuration problem. Airspace sector configurations need to be dynamically adjusted to provide maximum efficiency and flexibility in response to changing weather and traffic conditions. The main objective of this work is to automatically adapt the airspace configurations according to the evolution of traffic. In order to reach this objective, the airspace is considered to be divided into predefined 3D airspace blocks which have to be grouped or ungrouped depending on the traffic situation. The airspace structure is represented as a graph and each airspace configuration is created using a graph partitioning technique. We 2 optimize airspace configurations using a genetic algorithm. The developed algorithm generates a sequence of sector configurations for one day of operation with the minimized controller workload. The overall methodology is implemented and successfully tested with air traffic data taken for one day and for several different airspace control areas of Europe

APACHE - Exploitation plan

This document is the Exploitation Plan of the APACHE project. Its purpose is to identify, describe and assesses the different exploitable results and foreground generated by the project. The APACHE project proposes a new framework to assess European ATM (air traffic management) performance based on simulation, optimization and performance assessment tools that will be able to capture the complex interdependencies between KPAs at different modelling scales. In this context, a new platform (the APACHE Framework) has been developed in the project, which is the result of the integration (and enhancement) of different existing tools previously developed by some of the APACHE consortium members. The importance of this report resides in the description of the exploitation of the project results, as they are the basis for future research. Each partner has provided its own exploitation intentions identifying exploitable services and all the exploitable results of the project, which are foreseen to be further developed in the future. Also, each partner has identified the research challenges from lessons learnt to take into account for their own research activities and services

APACHE - Exploitation plan

This document is the Exploitation Plan of the APACHE project. Its purpose is to identify, describe and assesses the different exploitable results and foreground generated by the project. The APACHE project proposes a new framework to assess European ATM (air traffic management) performance based on simulation, optimization and performance assessment tools that will be able to capture the complex interdependencies between KPAs at different modelling scales. In this context, a new platform (the APACHE Framework) has been developed in the project, which is the result of the integration (and enhancement) of different existing tools previously developed by some of the APACHE consortium members. The importance of this report resides in the description of the exploitation of the project results, as they are the basis for future research. Each partner has provided its own exploitation intentions identifying exploitable services and all the exploitable results of the project, which are foreseen to be further developed in the future. Also, each partner has identified the research challenges from lessons learnt to take into account for their own research activities and services.Postprint (published version

APACHE - Exploitation plan

This document is the Exploitation Plan of the APACHE project. Its purpose is to identify, describe and assesses the different exploitable results and foreground generated by the project. The APACHE project proposes a new framework to assess European ATM (air traffic management) performance based on simulation, optimization and performance assessment tools that will be able to capture the complex interdependencies between KPAs at different modelling scales. In this context, a new platform (the APACHE Framework) has been developed in the project, which is the result of the integration (and enhancement) of different existing tools previously developed by some of the APACHE consortium members. The importance of this report resides in the description of the exploitation of the project results, as they are the basis for future research. Each partner has provided its own exploitation intentions identifying exploitable services and all the exploitable results of the project, which are foreseen to be further developed in the future. Also, each partner has identified the research challenges from lessons learnt to take into account for their own research activities and services

Capacity management based on the integration of dynamic airspace configuration and flight centric ATC solutions using complexity

This paper presents a new capacity management concept where Dynamic Airspace Configuration (DAC) and Flight Centric ATC (FCA) are dynamically applied together during the Air Traffic Flow and Capacity Management (ATFCM) pretactical phase. An airspace delineation methodology is also introduced aiming at identifying when and where DAC or FCA can perform better. This methodology entails the establishment of a dynamic vertical boundary that divides the airspace in two different parts where DAC and FCA are deployed. In addition, the geometrical complexity metric has been considered to measure the traffic demand and the sector capacity as an evolution of the current use of entry counts or occupancy countsPostprint (published version

APACHE - Final project results report

This report summarises all the research activities performed by the APACHE project and highlights the main project outcomes and contributions. The APACHE Project proposes a new approach based on simulation, optimization and performance assessment tools, which aim to better capture ATM performance (by means of new or enhanced performance indicators), as well as the complex interdependencies between key performance areas (KPAs). Besides performing a thorough review on the SESAR 2020 Concept of Operations and different Performance Frameworks, the main contributions of the Project are the integration of several background tools into a single platform, enabling the “APACHE Framework”; the proposal and validation of 73 new (or enhanced) performance indicators; and the assessment of ATM interdependencies by using this Framework. This report briefly describes these contributions, highlighting the progress done beyond state-of-the-art methodologies in ATM performance assessment. This report also describes the links with the SESAR programme, identifying the potential uptake of results to Industrial Research and outlines potential future research and innovation activities.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version