Abstract
Safer and more efficient airport ground movements can be planned by routing and scheduling systems based on the 4-dimensional trajectory (4DT). In order to achieve the benefits envisioned in the planning stage, an effective taxiing guidance system is indispensable. The Follow-the-Greens (FtG) guidance concept provides an augmented means for 4DT based taxiing with pilot in the loop, which is expected to guide the piloted aircraft by dynamically adjusting the lit position of green ground navigation lamps according to the assigned 4DTs. This paper presents a simulation study to investigate the feasibility of FtG based on a control theoretic modeling of the taxiing system. The 4DT conformance errors with different navigation lamp control strategies are investigated. The key performance indices, including temporal constraint violation and fuel consumption, are analysed. The results demonstrate that it is feasible to follow conflict-free 4DTs through FtG if an appropriate lamp controller is available. The results also highlight the need to proactively handle the potential conformance errors in the routing and scheduling stage.
Highlights
In current airport surface operations, the green navigation lamps installed on the central or side lines of the taxiway are utilised to guide the aircraft moving along the assigned taxiing route
This paper presents a comprehensive investigation of 4-dimensional trajectory (4DT) based FtG guidance for trajectory-based taxiing operations
The taxiing system with FtG guidance is simulated by integrating the first-order control theoretic model of aircraft taxiing dynamics, the pilot driving model and the ground navigation lamp controller
Summary
In current airport surface operations, the green navigation lamps installed on the central or side lines of the taxiway are utilised to guide the aircraft moving along the assigned taxiing route. Different ground navigation lamp control strategies, including feed forward (FF) and proportional-integral-integral (PI2) control, were exploited to automatically decide the number of lit lamps Following this seminal study, a complete operational concept for a 4-dimensional taxiing guidance system based on FtG was developed and evaluated by airline pilots using a full flight simulator in Urvoy (2014). The results are expected to provide useful guidelines towards an integrated design of routing, scheduling and guidance for more robust planning and execution of the 4DTs. The main contributions of this paper are as follows: 1) The feasibility of FtG as an augmented means to provide 4-dimensional information for trajectory-based taxiing operations is studied.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
