Airports

Optimal Time Advance in Terminal Area Arrivals: Throughput vs. Fuel Savings

Sadovsky, Alexander V.
Swenson, Harry N.
Haskell, William B.
Jasenka Rakas
2011

The current operational practice in scheduling air traffic arriving at an airport is to adjust flight schedules by delay, i.e. a postponement of an aircraft's arrival at a scheduled location, to manage safely the FAA-mandated separation constraints between aircraft. To meet the observed and forecast growth in traffic demand, however, the practice of time advance (speeding up an aircraft toward a scheduled location) is envisioned for future operations as a practice additional to delay. Time advance has two potential advantages. The first is the capability to minimize, or at least reduce,...

Airport Performance Predictability Model

Jasenka Rakas
Zhang, Yu
Ramamurthy, Vivek
2012

This study explores dynamic behavior of an airport system by investigating changes in airport primary runway configurations and their intermediate transitions.

Airport Operations: Modeling and Analysis During Equipment Outages

Jasenka Rakas
Yin, Huifang
Mark Hansen
2012

This paper develops a methodology for examining the airport airside operational performance, during unscheduled equipment outage, under the assumption that air traffic control procedures are used to compensate for the lack of available navigational equipment.

Sustainability Feasibility: A Framework for Greenhouse Gas Emissions Mitigation for Midsized U.S. Airports

Monsalud, Andrew
Ho, Denny
Jasenka Rakas
2013

In recent years a significant amount of research has been conducted with the objective of improving efficiency of aircraft operations through optimized aircraft trajectories, thereby reducing harmful greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions such as CO2. However, as we look at the aviation system more holistically, we discover that there is a serious lack of comprehensive research that addresses reduction of GHG emissions at airports. Although the need for reduction in airport GHG emissions clearly exists, only a few US state or federal policies require airport operators to reduce such...

An Analysis of Air Traffic Controller-Pilot Miscommunication in the NextGen Environment

Skaltsas, Gerasimos
Jasenka Rakas
Karlaftis, Matthew
2013

This paper extends research on miscommunication between air traffic controllers and pilots by developing statistical models that predict the outcome of communications within the scope of controller-pilot data communications in the Next Generation Air Transportation environment. A database of controller-pilot voice messages from high and super-high altitude en-route sectors of US airspace is investigated. Emphasis is given to parameters that can be utilized in the voice-only communication, as well as in the mixed media, environment. This allows formulation of reasonable assumptions about...

New Aviation Vehicles in the NextGen Environment: Procedures Design in Congested Terminal Airspace

Dupont, Matthieu
Jasenka Rakas
2014

The purpose of this study is to design new departure and arrival procedures for the SF Bay area Terminal Radar Approach Control in a NextGen environment with five anticipated new vehicles (very light jets (VLJ), cruise-efficient short take-off and landing (CESTOL), unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), civil tiltrotor (CTR), and supersonic transport (SST)), and to provide a foundation to assess the impact of developed procedures on the Bay Area air transportation system performance.

Defining and Measuring Aircraft Delay and Airport Capacity Thresholds

Consulting, Futterman
Jasenka Rakas
2014

TRB’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Report 104: Defining and Measuring Aircraft Delay and Airport Capacity Thresholds offers guidance to help airports understand, select, calculate, and report measures of delay and capacity. The report describes common metrics, identifies data sources, recommends metrics based on an airport’s needs, and suggests ways to potentially improve metrics.

Methodology for Environmental Sustainability Evaluation Of Airport Development Alternatives

Fann, Jean-Christophe
Jasenka Rakas
2013

This study develops a new approach for the evaluation of greener airport systems. The proposed concepts demonstrate how to implement greener practices from the early stages of an airport infrastructure project in an economically rational and stakeholder-focused manner. Objectives of the proposed methodology are two-fold: (1) to promote greener design practices among airport planners, designers, and managers, and (2) to institute active communication among all airport stakeholders. The study contributes to the state of the knowledge in airport environmental management by proposing the...

Economic Impact of a Lightning Strike–Induced Outage of Air Traffic Control Tower: Case Study of Baltimore–Washington International Airport

Ding, Wenzhe
Jasenka Rakas
2015

This research investigates how lightning strike–induced outages of airport infrastructure and facilities affect airport performance from an economic perspective, using Baltimore (Maryland)–Washington (D.C.) Thurgood Marshall International (BWI) Airport as a case study. On September 12, 2013, lightning struck within 300 m of the air traffic control (ATC) tower at BWI, causing injury and ATC tower and airport closures. The study findings reveal that the economic losses of the outage-related delays from that single event were almost five times higher than the ATC tower refurbishment that was...

Analysis of Air Traffic Control Command Entries and the Impact on Decision Support Tool Performance

Jasenka Rakas
Seelhorst, Michael
Niu, Bona Bernard
Tom, Jeffrey
Santiago, Confesor
2014

In the en route environment, air traffic control is responsible for maintaining separation between aircraft with the assistance of many decision support tools (DSTs), such as Conflict Probe and Trajectory Predictor. Conflict Probe predicts potential airspace conflicts and notifies the controller of the impending separation violation, while Trajectory Predictor predicts more accurate aircraft position. In the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) environment, it is envisioned that Conflict Probe performance will be improved by adding more accurate aircraft and pilot intent...