The full benefits of Area Navigation arrival procedures are achieved when they are performed without interruption. However, current separation minima or miles-in-trail restrictions at terminal area boundaries are not sufficiently large in many instances to ensure uninterrupted execution of Area Navigation arrivals, and air traffic controllers have to frequently vector aircraft off the Area Navigation procedure to maintain separation. We present a theoretical framework, a separation analysis methodology, and a Monte Carlo Tool for the Analysis of Separation and Throughput (TASAT), which may be used to determine the target spacing at a selected intermediate metering point such that there is a desired probability that the procedure can be completed without controller intervention. TASAT includes stochastic models of various uncertainty factors such as pilot actions, aircraft weight, and winds. Numeric simulation and separation analyses were performed for a hypothetical Area Navigation arrival procedure to demonstrate the applicability of the methodology, and to investigate the relationship between target spacing, probability of uninterrupted procedure execution, and traffic throughput. Sensitivity analyses were also performed on the location of the metering point and different winds.

Separation Analysis Methodology for Designing Area Navigation Arrival Procedures

The maximum number of flights that the Air Traffic Management (ATM) system can safely and efficiently control over a period of time i.e. airspace capacity, has become a limitation over the last decade, due to a rapid increase in air traffic activity. Therefore, the ATM system in developed countries is undergoing a series of modernisation initiatives to ensure that the future ATM system is able to provide sufficient capacity to safely meet future air traffic demand. As a result, there is a need to assess if the proposed changes can effectively be translated into the desired increase in capacity. This thesis addresses this issue by developing an en-route airspace capacity estimation framework, able to measure the impact of future ATM system modernisation deployments on airspace capacity. In order to do this, it identifies the key airspace capacity drivers for current and future operations, focussing on three areas: air traffic controller workload, air traffic predictability and Air Traffic Control (ATC) centre cost-efficiency. In each of the three framework areas, the research develops methodologies that overcome the deficiencies of existing capacity estimation techniques. This leads to an innovative multidimensional approach to airspace capacity estimation, able to reflect the different relationships of airspace capacity with the framework areas. The framework quantifies the relationship between the ATC centre planning process accuracy and airspace capacity. It estimates the effect of increased predictability on airspace capacity through the performance of the Airspace Management and Air Traffic Flow & Capacity Management functions. Finally, it computes air traffic controller workload with considerable accuracy (up to 80% of the actual workload) during medium-low workload scenarios and reflects the workload trend (Spearman’s rank coefficient = 0.72) during high workload scenarios.

A framework to assess the ability of automation to deliver capacity targets in European airspace

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to design a new standard instrument arrival called the point merge system (PMS) for converging runways. The PMS enables controllers to handle traffic with no heading instruction, as well as aiming to reduce a controller's frequency occupancy time.Design/methodology/approach – The point merge model was designed for converging runways. Istanbul International Ataturk Airport, which has converging runways, was chosen as an application area for this model. The same 50 traffic arrivals per hour were used both for point merge and vectoring. Implementation was compared using a real time simulation.Findings – The simulation results show that the total average number of instructions is about 33 per cent less and the frequency occupancy is about 37 per cent less for point merge than for vectoring. In addition, in terms of trajectory dispersion, in point merge, traffic is within a narrower triangular area, while in vectoring large traffic dispersion occurs.Practical implications...

A new standard instrument arrival: the point merge system

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, arrivals, 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 arrivals 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 turn 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 Controller in the loop simulations indicate that 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 non-equipped 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 are presented in detail: reduced flying distances, reduced communications workload, reduced fuel burn and reduced variance in the inter-aircraft arrival times can all be correlated to increasing the percentage of the aircraft that are RNAV equipped These results argue that there are benefits of aircraft flying RNAV routes

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/9579/30294/01391263.pdf

Assessment of terminal RNAV mixed equipage

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) asked The MITRE Corporation to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing terminal area navigation (RNAV) procedures at Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (LAS) New RNAV procedures were implemented in November 2003 and have been in use for arrivals to runways at LAS since that time MITRE's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD) collected and examined flight track data from the FAAs terminal approach control facility at LAS for the purpose of this analysis This paper presents the results of analysis of the flight track data for operations before RNAV was in use at LAS (in the year 2000) and several months after RNAV was being used at LAS (in the year 2004) The paper describes operational effects of RNAV and provides insight into these effects

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/9579/30294/01391267.pdf

Evaluating operational benefits of terminal RNAV: Las Vegas case study

The MITRE Corporation's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD) has been working the past couple of years with the FAA, airlines, and other stakeholders to design and implement area navigation (RNAV) terminal procedures. Given that users have invested in equipping their fleet and that equipage levels continue to rise, the demand for terminal RNAV procedures is high. Recognizing that implementing procedures often took years, the FAA tasked CAASD to help bring about a speedier implementation - to develop generic implementation guidelines, track lessons learned, identify tool requirements, and facilitate working groups. Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) was the first facility chosen for developing the implementation guidelines for collaborative procedure development involving all stakeholders. Shortly after this initial project at PHL, working groups at additional airports started designing and implementing arrival and departure procedures. Now that a number of procedures have been implemented, post-implementation analysis of the benefits from these procedures can start. This paper reports on a first step at understanding the benefits of RNAV terminal procedures.

J.S. DeArmon

Papers

Benefits of RNAV terminal procedures: air/ground communication reduction and airport capacity improvements [ATC]