Advanced Surface Movement Guidance And Control System Research Articles

Safety Aspects of Supporting Apron Controllers with Automatic Speech Recognition and Understanding Integrated into an Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System

The information air traffic controllers (ATCos) communicate via radio telephony is valuable for digital assistants to provide additional safety. Yet, ATCos have to enter this information manually. Assistant-based speech recognition (ABSR) has proven to be a lightweight technology that automatically extracts and successfully feeds the content of ATC communication into digital systems without additional human effort. This article explains how ABSR can be integrated into an advanced surface movement guidance and control system (A-SMGCS). The described validations were performed in the complex apron simulation training environment of Frankfurt Airport with 14 apron controllers in a human-in-the-loop simulation in summer 2022. The integration significantly reduces the workload of controllers and increases safety as well as overall performance. Based on a word error rate of 3.1%, the command recognition rate was 91.8% with a callsign recognition rate of 97.4%. This performance was enabled by the integration of A-SMGCS and ABSR: the command recognition rate improves by more than 15% absolute by considering A-SMGCS data in ABSR.

Interpretable Tracking and Detection of Unstable Approaches Using Tunnel Gaussian Process

Approach and landing are phases of flight with the highest accident risk. Advanced instruments and procedures have been developed to provide precise navigation for a stabilized approach and landing. With the proliferation of sensing techniques, real-time 4D trajectories can be captured at higher spatial-temporal resolution and enable data-driven decision-making for air traffic controllers (ATCO). This research attempts to augment the existing rule-based stable approach criteria using data-driven and interpretable tunnel Gaussian process (TGP) models to probabilistically characterize the 4D approach and landing parameters. The TGP explicitly and continuously models the underlying distribution of approach and landing parameters and their interrelations. In addition, it provides a comprehensible probabilistic description of anomalies in approach and landing parameters. Based on the trained TGP, we infer the landing parameters of go-around tracks recorded by the advanced surface movement guidance and control system (A-SMGCS) and analyze their adherence to stabilized approach criteria. Empirical results show that anomalous scores were in line with the factors (as reported to ATCOs) in all go-around data in the test dataset, between 0.5 NM (missed approach point) to 7.6 NM from the touchdown threshold, and provides better probabilistic insights of non-compliance, comparing to existing work. Hence, the proposed TGP can provide a ground-based safety net for the compliance of stable approaches. Furthermore, the proposed TGP-based anomaly tracking methods can be directly applied to other types of landing systems (e.g., GNSS landing system and RNAV approaches).

Four decades of aviation visibility at Bhairahawa airport, gateway to Buddha's birthplace Lumbini, Nepal

Over four decades of visibility data at Bhairahawa airport (BWA), a recently upgraded international airport near Lumbini, a UNESCO heritage site in Nepal has been analyzed. In this study, we also investigated one of the important microclimatic behavior of fog i.e., onset and dispersal timings, and its implication on aviation. Temporal variations of poor visibility conditions at BWA are found to be primarily associated with variations in haze and fog. Haze at BWA accounts for the highest percentage (∼27%) of time and its annual occurrence is increasing (0.57% yr−1). There is a significant upward trend of hazy days in all seasons, the highest (1.46% day yr−1) being in post-monsoon. The overall seasonal poor visibility, too, has increased significantly in all seasons, with the highest trend in post-monsoon (1.57% yr−1). Similarly, fog frequency in the winter season has also increased noticeably for fog days (1.05% day yr−1), dense fog days (0.51% day yr−1), general fog hours (0.55% hour yr−1) and dense fog hours (0.20% hour yr−1). We found that fog at BWA is usually formed overnight and dissipates before noon. Daytime onset and late dispersion of fog are more common in the peak winter months of December and January. Further, we investigated the relationship between visibility and aerosol optical depth (AOD) and found a moderate negative correlation (r = − 0.66, p < 0.001) between them in the monsoon season. However, AOD is found to have a weaker correlation with visibility during winter (r = −0.36) and pre-monsoon (r = −0.23) seasons, when there is a more pronounced influence of meteorological conditions on the occurrence of visibility. We have observed a better correlation (r = −0.74) between fine particulate matter concentration (PM2.5) and visibility. Examining the effect of relative humidity (RH) on AOD (or, PM2.5) and visibility revealed that higher RH tends to lower visibility. Visibility at BWA airport is gradually worsening due to local and regional air pollution emissions and changing meteorological conditions. The degraded visibility at BWA airport will negatively impact flight safety and timeliness. Effective implementation of regionally coordinated air pollution mitigation measures can be a sustainable step towards the improvement of visibility in long run. However, the installation of ground equipment like CAT-II/III Instrument Landing System (ILS) for aircraft take-off and landings, and advanced surface movement guidance and control system (A-SMGCS) are highly advisable to lessen the damage potential to aviation.

System Design and Engineering Implementation of Vehicle Transponder for A-SMGCS

Global aviation transport industry has entered the stage of rapid development, and the air traffic flow is exploding at an incredible rate. The Asia-Pacific region is the core of the future growth of the aviation industry. The growth of the fleet is expected to reach 50%, especially in China. Nearly 4,000 new aircrafts are expected to be delivered in the next 10 years, with the fleet increasing by more than 100%. The practitioners of modern aviation regard ensuring aviation safety and improving the efficiency of aviation operations as two important themes to promote the surge development of aviation. To solve the effective surveillance, guidance, and control of flights and vehicles operating on the surface in complex airports, the global airports are recommending Advanced-Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS) to realize the effective management of the airport scene and improve the safety of the surface operational capability. Airport surface security management objectives include aircraft, vehicles, and other moving targets, almost all aircraft has an operative transponder, and the vehicles need the similar function transponder to indicate its identification in A-SMGCS, so it can be guided effectively by a given procedures. This paper introduces a vehicle transponder system design from appearance structure and electrical performance and implements engineering modification on a vehicle. In an airport with A-SMGCS, two methods of fixed reference point and manoeuvre test are selected, and the performance indexes of the transponder are recorded and compared. Finally, it is concluded that the transponder meets the performance parameters specified by FAA technical standards; it can be used as a qualified vehicle transponder to provide vehicle positioning information for the A-SMGCS system.

Tunnel Gaussian Process Model for Learning Interpretable Flight’s Landing Parameters

Approach and landing accidents have resulted in a significant number of hull losses worldwide. Technologies (e.g., instrument landing system) and procedures (e.g., stabilized approach criteria) have been developed to reduce the risks. This paper proposes a data-driven method to learn and interpret flight’s approach and landing parameters to facilitate comprehensible and actionable insights into flight dynamics. Specifically, two variants of tunnel Gaussian process (TGP) models are developed to elucidate aircraft’s approach and landing dynamics using advanced surface movement guidance and control system (A-SMGCS) data, which then indicates the stability of flight. TGP hybridizes the strengths of sparse variational Gaussian process and polar Gaussian process to learn from a large amount of data in cylindrical coordinates. This paper examines TGP qualitatively and quantitatively by synthesizing three complex trajectory datasets and compared TGP against existing methods on trajectory learning. Empirically, TGP demonstrates superior modeling performance. When applied to operational A-SMGCS data, TGP provides the generative probabilistic description of landing dynamics and interpretable tunnel views of approach and landing parameters. These probabilistic tunnel models can facilitate the analysis of procedure adherence and augment existing aircrew and air traffic controller’ displays during the approach and landing procedures, enabling necessary corrective actions.

Taxiing Speed Intelligent Management of Aircraft Based on DQN for A-SMGCS

In view of ever-increasing air traffic, much attention has been paid to air traffic management research to improve efficiency. Normally, once two taxiing aircrafts may conflict in the hotspot area, one of them must wait in the holding point until the conflict is resolved. However, this method reduces the efficiency though it ensures sufficient safe distance between aircrafts. In this paper, we discussed the feasibility of the dynamic control of the taxiing speed to improve the efficiency under the A-SMGCS(Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control Systems). The conflict samples were trained based on actual operation data and AirTOp simulation operation data. Action spaces, state spaces and reward function were designed and DQN(Deep Q Network) model was used to make speed regulation decisions. The experimental results show that the model can adopt different strategies in different environments, which greatly improved the intelligent decision-making level of aircraft taxiing speed adjustment and the operating efficiency of the scene. The case study showed that the time of conflict solving and the main taxiway occupation length can be reduced by 13.16% and 47.9% separately when the conflict is released.

Airport Surface Modelling and Simulation Based on Timed Coloured Petri Net

In order to satisfy the requirements of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for aircraft taxi route planning in Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS), an airport surface operation modelling and simulation approach based on timed and coloured Petri net is presented. According to the layout of the airport surface and the features of surface operation units, a static Petri net model of the airport surface is established. On this basis, in line with the requirements on the aircraft taxiing velocity in ICAO DOC 9830, the dynamic Petri net model of the airport surface operation is established by adding the time attribute to the static model. Additionally, the method of defining the capacity of airport operation unit place is proposed and the constraints of the airport surface operation are incorporated using Petri net elements. Unlike other papers in the field, the airport surface Petri net model established in this paper can simulate conflict-free taxiing using a Petri net simulator without relying on other model-independent algorithms. Based on the CPN Tools software, taking Toulouse Airport as an example, the validity of the model has been verified by comparing the model running data with real flight data.

On Associated Data and Power Channels in the Cable Ring of an Airfield Lighting System

The benefits of the Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and control system (ASMGCS) are considered. The need for ASMGS-based renovation of existing airfield lighting systems through associated data and power channels is shown. The structure of the upgraded solution is proposed, and the unit functions added to the structure are described. A number of key tasks is determined. It is shown that the frequency properties of the combined power and data channel is need to be studied. Conclusions and recommendations are made for the further development of such a system.

Design and Implementation of A-SMGCS Based on ICE

This paper aims at the problems of safety and efficiency of airport, designs and implements an Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS) terminal, discusses the goals and key technologies about the system, including communication module design based on Internet Communications Engine, cache design of aircraft targets, and efficiency improvement of a large number of targets on the aerodrome. Finally, we give the test and conclusions of the system at a international airport in China.

A Runway Incursion Detection Approach Based on Multiple Protected Area and Flight Status Machine for A-SMGCS

A-SMGCS is a modular system defined in the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) Manual on Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS) .One of A-SMGCS goals is to provide enhanced safety and protection of the runway. This paper presents a novel runway incursion detection approach for A-SMGCS, in which a multiple protected area is proposed to decrease complexity of pre-treatment for incursion judgment, and a flight status machine is designed to specify the transitions of one flight from one target status to another. Additionally, an HMI (Human Machine Interface) independently developed by the Second Research Institute of CAAC (Civil Aviation Administration of China) was designed in order to validate the runway incursion detection approach, the result shows that the algorithm has the potential to significantly improve runway safety by early detection and alerting of runway incursions.

Design and Implementation of A-SMGCS Terminal

This paper aims at the problems of safety and efficiency of airport,designs and implements an Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS) terminal, discusses the goals and key technologies about the system,including cache design of aircraft targets, and efficiency improvement of a large number of targets on the aerodrome.Finally,we give the test and conclusions of the system at a international airport in China.

시스템 엔지니어링을 적용한 A-SMGCS 적합성 검증 방안 연구

A-SMGCS는 모든 기상조건에서 공항 이동지역 내 요구되는 안전수준을 확보하는 동시에 정해진 지상이동률을 유지하기 위하여 항공기와 차량에게 경로, 안내, 감시, 통제기능을 제공하는 시스템이다. 본 연구에서는 A-SMGCS 적합성 검증방안을 개발하기 위해 시스템 엔지니어링을 도입하였다. A-SMGCS 운용개념을 통해 레벨 IV급 A-SMGCS에 대한 요구사항을 정의하였으며, 기능분석과 할당을 통해 시스템 아키텍처와 시스템 규격을 도출하였다. A-SMGCS 개발을 위한 WBS와 IMS를 수립하였으며, 마지막으로 시스템에 대한 확인 및 검증을 위한 CCL과 TEMP를 개발하였다. Advanced surface movement guidance and control system (A-SMGCS) is a system providing routing, guidance and surveillance for the control of aircraft and vehicles in order to maintain the predetermined surface movement rate under all weather conditions while maintaining the required level of safety. In the present study, system engineering was introduced to develop the compliance procedure for the A-SMGCS. At first, requirements for the level IV A-SMGCS were defined and analyzed from the concept of operations (CONOPS). Then, system architecture and specifications were constructed through the functional analysis and allocation. After that, work breakdown structure (WBS) and related integrated master schedule (IMS) were established. Lastly, compliance checklist (CCL) and test and evaluation master plan (TEMP) were developed to verify and validate the system.

Airport Taxiway Head-On Conflict Prediction and Avoidance in A-SMGCS

The closed loop control architecture based on event feedback was proposed for airport taxiway head-on conflict prediction and avoidance in A-SMGCS (Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System). Firstly, resource-oriented controlled colored Petri net was proposed and used to model taxiway operation process. Secondly, the controlled taxiing segment concept was proposed, and rules for generating corresponding sub-model were provided. And then, using cycles and cycle chains contained in the sub-model, the sufficient and necessary condition for head-on conflict-free operation of taxiway was provided. The corresponding avoidance control strategies and algorithm for head-on conflict control were proposed. Finally, the example demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Modeling of binocular stereo vision for remote coordinate measurement and fast calibration

This research is intended for a super-size 3 dimensional scaling events sensing and positioning system based on binocular stereo vision. A model for computing the coordinates of targets in the physical world coordinate system is proposed and simulated. Constitution of a reference point for remote coordinate measurement is made for this purpose on condition that coordinates of both digital photogrammetric workstations are given, with the knowledge of the distance between the two workstations and the angles between optical axes of cameras and the base line connecting the workstations. A calibration method is presented. Applications of the results could be found in airport surface surveillance and runway incursion monitoring. Position data obtained in real time for aircraft and vehicles on the airport surface could be presented to an Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS).

Research of A-SMGCS System for Complex Airport

According the present complicated and lacks of high-leveled automation ground operation supporting system, based on the concept of ICAO'S A-SMGCS (advanced surface movement guidance and control systems) and the existed facilities of the airport, this paper focuses on the research of a new ground operation supporting system in accordance with A-SMGCS, including the basis system hardware, the surveillance ground monitoring subsystem and the lighting subsystem, etc. The system is capable of not only detecting and predicting the traffic conflicts on the ground but also providing solutions and suggestions. Meanwhile the system can help controllers to arrange and use the airport resources so as to reduce the ground holding time and delay time.

Towards Higher-Level Services of an Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS)

The high number of runway incursions and weather dependent airport throughput occurrences has led to the development of an Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS). A-SMGCS’s basic levels 1&2 support tower air traffic controllers through the provision of a weather independent complete traffic situation and a basic runway safety net. Level 1&2 are already validated and operational at nearly 20 European airports. Instead of the higher-level services of an A-SMGCS, such as routing, departure management (DMAN), clearance conformance monitoring, data link communication (TAXI-CPDLC), and onboard guidance are not fully developed so far. The A-SMGCS manual [ICAO, 2004] describes operational, functional and performance requirements for all services but for the higher-level services they are rather immature or nonexistent. Therefore, EMMA2 (European Airport Management by A-SMGCS, part two), an Integrated Project of the 6th European framework programme, was launched in 2006. In EMMA2 a holistic A-SMGCS concept, including the higher levels, was developed. This concept describes all A-SMGCS services including detailed procedures and operational requirements. It was tested in extensive simulation and field trials at four European airports (Prague Ruzyne, Milan Malpensa, Toulouse Blagnac and Paris Charles de Gaulle), using diverse technical solutions and test platforms. The most important results and recommendations are presented in this paper.

Safe airport operation based on innovative magnetic detector system

A novel magnetic sensing technology that forms the basis of an innovative system to monitor ground vehicle movements at airports is presented. The operating principle of this system is the detection of interaction of aircraft or ground vehicles with the earth's magnetic field using sensitive magnetic field detectors. After development and laboratory testing of the detectors, test sites have been set up at three European airports. Potential applications of the detectors were designed and demonstrated. Tests have shown that the system can be applied for ground movement surveillance. The approach can be used as a complementary surveillance system for existing and future advanced surface movement guidance and control systems (A-SMGCS) at large airports or as a cost-effective stand-alone solution for monitoring critical areas at medium and small airports. Furthermore, this system can be applied as well in road traffic and car park occupancy monitoring. Unaffected by weather conditions, interference and shadowing effects, the system provides reliable vehicle position, velocity and direction information without requiring any equipment in aircraft or ground vehicles and thus it increases airport operational safety.

European Airport movement management: The Italian challenge

Goods and people mobility is a basic need in the age of sustainable growth and globalisation of the world economy. Air transport and aeronautics are seen as key assets for the future of Europe to meet needs of society and to win global leadership. Airports are identified as the future bottlenecks of air transport. Advanced surface movement guidance and control system (A-SMGCS) is seen as a key R&D topic the most promising way to achieve the necessary shift. This paper points out how Italy is addressing the challenge of A-SMGCS implementation and shows the first Italian A-SMGCS test-bed and validation process deployed at Milan-Malpensa.

Magnetic signal processing &amp; analysis for airfield traffic surveillance

This paper presents an innovative system for airport surface surveillance based on a novel magnetic sensing technology. Ferromagnetic objects such as vehicle motors, aircraft engines, and landing gears are detected through their deformation of the Earth's magnetic field. Tests have shown that although the local changes of the Earth's magnetic field are extremely small, the proposed sensing technology is able to detect them reliably. The primary objective of the proposed approach is to provide a complementary surveillance system for existing and future Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control Systems (A-SMGCS) at large airports or a cost-effective surveillance solution for monitoring critical areas at medium and small airports. Unaffected by weather conditions, interference and shadowing effects, the system provides reliable position, velocity, and direction information without requiring any equipment in aircraft or ground vehicles. The outcome of a comprehensive market analysis is discussed and test results under real life conditions at two airports are evaluated analytically.

Video System for Surface Movement Surveillance at Airports

The Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control Systems (A-SMGCS) are intelligent transportation systems that provide routing, guidance, surveillance, and control to aircraft and vehicles in order to keep up the airport capacity under all local weather conditions, while maintaining the required level of safety; however, reflections, multipath, and shadows due to buildings, equipment, and other reflecting objects on the airport surface make it difficult, if not sometimes impossible, for existing A-SMGCS to reliably cover the whole aerodrome. In these cases another sensor must step in to fill those gaps. Digital video cameras not only can solve these kinds of problems filling blind spots in the existing A-SMGCS, but also provide a cost effective solution. This article presents an innovative system for airport surface movement control based on intelligent video cameras.