Airport Control Research Articles

Development of airfield electrical power systems for military aircrafts

The article presents selected problems in the operation of airport power supply systems (LZE), resulting from the growing needs in terms of increasing power and ensuring the appropriate quality of electrical energy supplied to aircraft installations and receivers. The main stages of development of airport power supply systems for aircraft are reviewed. The basic technical structures of airport power supplies for aircraft were presented, divided into two groups: stationary (without the possibility of moving and with the possibility of moving) and mobile (placed on wheels that are an integral part of the LZE structure, including self-propelled with operator's cabin, self-propelled without operator's cabin, mobile but not self-propelled).The basic principles of cooperation of LZE systems with the aircraft's on-board electrical network and a description of the organizational and technical structure of military ground-based power supply systems are given. The main direction of current work is the results of technical analysis of selected damages to airport power supply systems and proposals to improve the situation on the example of airport control devices LUK-1 and LUK-2 built at ITWL, dedicated to diagnosing the technical condition of LZE systems.

Virtual/augmented reality-based human–machine interface and interaction modes in airport control towers

The concept of an innovative human–machine interface and interaction modes based on virtual and augmented reality technologies for airport control towers has been developed with the aim of increasing the human performances and situational awareness of air traffic control operators. By presenting digital information through see-through head-mounted displays superimposed over the out-of-the-tower view, the proposed interface should stimulate controllers to operate in a head-up position and, therefore, reduce the number of switches between a head-up and a head-down position even in low visibility conditions. This paper introduces the developed interface and describes the exercises conducted to validate the technical solutions developed, focusing on the simulation platform and exploited technologies, to demonstrate how virtual and augmented reality, along with additional features such as adaptive human–machine interface, multimodal interaction and attention guidance, enable a more natural and effective interaction in the control tower. The results of the human-in-the-loop real-time validation exercises show that the prototype concept is feasible from both an operational and technical perspective, the solution proves to support the air traffic controllers in working in a head-up position more than head-down even with low-visibility operational scenarios, and to lower the time to react in critical or alerting situations with a positive impact on the human performances of the user. While showcasing promising results, this study also identifies certain limitations and opportunities for refinement, aimed at further optimising the efficacy and usability of the proposed interface.

Agri-voltaics near airport facilities. Reconciling the risk of solar glare with power generation

The installation of photovoltaic systems on cultivated land enables both agricultural and green energy production simultaneously. The result is an efficient and inclusive use of land that promotes the rural economy, enables the recovery and maintenance of land and prevents its abandonment when it is considered not profitable. This intent is facilitated in semi-rural areas where there is already the presence of infrastructure connected to the national power grid, but at the same time is limited by other human activities. Runway approach and air traffic control operations impose very stringent constraints on the possibility that photovoltaic panels, reflecting solar radiation, may glare airport operators.This article provides a methodology for verifying such phenomena (control function) and mitigating them by maximizing solar power generation (objective function). Through a case study located in central Italy, positioned near an airport, it was possible to investigate the design variables to protect the landing air routes and the airport control tower.In this case study, with an azimuth angle of 47° and tilt angle of 25°, and thanks to a 5 m high tree screen placed on the edge of the land on which the agri-voltaic installation stands, it is possible to secure airport operations by eliminating all forms of solar glare. At the same time, 21.9 GWh of photovoltaic energy is produced annually, while avoiding the release of 8,773 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Compared with the optimal, unconstrained case, photovoltaic panels arranged in this way decrease their annual energy production by only 6.8 %.

Aircraft engine danger areas incursion detection using keypoint detection and IoT

Operational safety at airports has long been a subject of active research, with a growing focus on the safety of aircraft stands in recent years. The phase during which an aircraft taxi into its designated stand with engines still running poses safety risks to surrounding vehicles. However, there is currently a lack of effective methods for detecting potential conflicts and hazards during this taxiing phase. To address this issue, this study utilizes apron activity videos as a monitoring data source and introduces an integrated Internet of Things (IoT) conflict detection model. This system combines object detection, engine keypoint detection, coordinate conversion, and conflict warning system to provide timely alerts when vehicles incursion into the engine danger areas. Firstly, the paper streamlines the fourth-level branch and network of HRNet, resulting in the HRNet-3stage network. This network is then compared with Lite-HRNet to determine the optimal choice. Secondly, Recognizing the limitations of traditional video conflict detection based on pixel distance, a fixed monitoring camera coordinate conversion algorithm is designed to convert pixel coordinates into actual coordinates on the aircraft stand, thereby improving the accuracy of conflict detection based on distance measurement. Thirdly, considering the risks associated with engine inlet and exhaust, engine design parameters, static spacing standards, and the dynamic anti-collision process within the aircraft stand, the study proposes a method for classifying four types of aircraft engine danger areas. Corresponding conflict detection models are designed for potential scraping incidents when vehicles incursion into these danger areas. Upon detecting a vehicle entering the aircraft engine danger areas, the IoT system sends warning messages through the airport control tower monitoring system. Finally, we construct an apron sandbox to validate the conflict detection model. This validation results in an impressive F1-score exceeding 90% and a detection delay of less than 100 ms. Our innovative approach, supported by keypoint detection networks and IoT, effectively addresses the detection of critical aircraft components within stands. It comprehensively analyzes incursion issues into engine danger areas, offering a novel perspective for understanding and mitigating potential conflicts arising from aircraft taxiing into stands.

A probabilistic model based on the peak-over-threshold approach for risk assessment of airport controllers' performance

Airport tower control plays an instrumental role in ensuring airport safety. However, obtaining objective, quantitative safety evaluations is challenging due to the unavailability of pertinent human operation data. This study introduces a probabilistic model that combines aircraft dynamics and the peak-over-threshold (POT) approach to assess the safety performance of airport controllers. We applied the POT approach to model reaction times extracted from a radiotelephony dataset via a voice event detection algorithm. The model couples the risks of tower control and aircraft operation to analyze the influence of human factors. Using data from radiotelephony communications and the Base of Aircraft Data (BADA) database, we compared risk levels across scenarios. Our findings revealed heightened airport control risks under low demand (0.374) compared to typical conditions (0.197). Furthermore, the risks associated with coupling under low demand exceeded those under typical demand, with the final approach stage presenting the highest risk (4.929×10−7). Our model underscores the significance of human factors and the implications of mental disconnects between pilots and controllers for safety risks. Collectively, these consistent findings affirm the reliability of our probabilistic model as an evaluative tool for evaluating the safety performance of airport tower controllers. The results also illuminate the path toward quantitative real-time safety evaluations for airport controllers within the industry. We recommend that airport regulators focus on the performance of airport controllers, particularly during the final approach stage.

ACCURACY ANALYSIS OF AIRCRAFT POSITION PARAMETERS PROVIDED BY GCA 2000 AIRPORT SURVEILLANCE RADAR

The aim of this article was to investigate the accuracy of determining the position parameters of an aircraft by the GCA 2000 airport control radar located at Deblin Airport (EPDE). In order to analyse the accuracy of determining the position of an aircraft by the GCA 2000 radar, a research flight was carried out. The position of the aircraft was recorded by the GCA 2000 radar and the Thales Mobile Mapper Pro GPS receiver on board the aircraft. The resulting position parameters were compared with each other to investigate the accuracy of the radar’s coordinate determination. In addition, a number of analyses and comparisons were performed to determine the reasons for the interruptions in the radar detection of the aircraft. Based on the study, it can be concluded that the GCA 2000 radar located at Deblin airport meets the requirements set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) for radar performance. According to ICAO, the standard deviation of the distance error should be 70–130 metres and the azimuth error for primary radars should be 0.15–0.2°, and for secondary radars 0.2–0.3°. The standard deviation of the distance error during a research flight by the GCA 2000 radar is 81.1 metres and the standard deviation of the azimuth error is 0.19°.

Wing tip vortices dynamics with crosswind effect using the large eddy simulation (LES) theory

In the operational control of airports it is imperative to reduce the interval between landing and takeoff operations. To this end, it is necessary to address the risk of aircraft vortex wake encounter during these operations. This paper describes a refined numerical method developed to study the phenomenon of aircraft vortex wake interaction with the airport runway, employing the Lagrangian approach with accelerated processing by parallel computing.The numerical methodology relies on a vortex method incorporating the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) theory for the two-dimensional domain.The Image method is used to guarantee the condition of impenetrability on the airport runway. In this context, open multiprocessing (OpenMP) and an algorithm that subdivides the fluid domain into box structures to expedite the calculation of eddy viscosity locally are used in a Fortran code. Quantitative and qualitative results are presented at various Reynolds numbers, in dimensionless crosswind conditions. In addition, preliminary results are presented for a Boeing 757-200, representative of practical aviation problems. The results are in agreement with experimental results and other numerical simulations. It is possible to satisfactorily capture the centroid trajectories of the vortical structures shed from the wingtips, the temporal deformation of these structures, as well as the dynamics of the primary and secondary structures in interaction with the airport runway.

PPChain: A Blockchain for Pandemic Prevention and Control Assisted by Federated Learning.

Taking COVID-19 as an example, we know that a pandemic can have a huge impact on normal human life and the economy. Meanwhile, the population flow between countries and regions is the main factor affecting the changes in a pandemic, which is determined by the airline network. Therefore, realizing the overall control of airports is an effective way to control a pandemic. However, this is restricted by the differences in prevention and control policies in different areas and privacy issues, such as how a patient's personal data from a medical center cannot be effectively combined with their passenger personal data. This prevents more precise airport control decisions from being made. To address this, this paper designed a novel data-sharing framework (i.e., PPChain) based on blockchain and federated learning. The experiment uses a CPU i7-12800HX and uses Docker to simulate multiple virtual nodes. The model is deployed to run on an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 3090Ti GPU. The experiment shows that the relationship between a pandemic and aircraft transport can be effectively explored by PPChain without sharing raw data. This approach does not require centralized trust and improves the security of the sharing process. The scheme can help formulate more scientific and rational prevention and control policies for the control of airports. Additionally, it can use aerial data to predict pandemics more accurately.

Analysis of Aerodrome Tower Controller's Obstructed Visibility Due to Vertical Support (Pillar) in the Tower Cabin of Perum LPPNPI Branch in Medan

Tower controllers are air traffic control officers responsible for managing air traffic around airports to ensure safety, security, and efficiency in aircraft movements. They work in airport control towers, which serve as the central hub for air traffic control in the vicinity of the airport. Control towers are typically located near the runways and provide good visibility for monitoring aircraft movements on the ground and in the air. Within the control tower, the equipment and comfort of the air traffic controllers are important considerations. This research focuses on the control tower of Perum LPPNPI branch in Medan, where it has been found that wide-diameter pillars obstruct the view of the tower controllers. The aim of this study is to analyze the pillars as an obstruction and provide recommendations to Perum LPPNPI branch in Medan on how to address this issue. The research methodology employed is qualitative. The research findings conclude that the pillars indeed pose an obstruction, and the author suggests that Perum LPPNPI branch in Medan relocate the control desk.

Disaster for Darwin vs Australia on Fire—a Politico-Legal Review of Governments in Action

For two days in December 1974, from 24 to 26 December, Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia, killing 71 people, seriously injuring 145, causing minor injuries to 500, damaging buildings, tearing roofs from houses, sweeping up trees and rubbish bins, rending children’s playground equipment, and bending in half the anemometer needle in Darwin Airport control tower. The festive season ended with a damage bill topping AUD$800 million. From June 2019 through to March/April 2020, bushfires ravaged Australia, burning 10 million hectares, ending lives and destroying livelihoods, killing or injuring some three billion animals, with kangaroos leaping to avoid the inferno, while koalas whimpered as the oncoming flames sped towards them, filling the Australian bush with the agonised cries of animals in danger, distress, dying and death. Some 3,500 homes were burned out, almost 6,000 outbuildings demolished, 34 people killed, more injured, and the cost in monetary terms was estimated at over AUD$103 billion. During Black Summer, the Australian land expanse devastated was as if, were the conflagration to be experienced in England, the entire country would burn from Dover to the Scots’ border. These disasters found both serving prime ministers absent overseas at crucial times. Gough Whitlam, prime minister during the cyclone disaster, returned from Greece immediately. Scott Morrison, prime minister during the fires, left in the midst of the conflagration. Whitlam set up a Darwin Reconstruction Commission. No Bushfire Reconstruction Commission was established by Morrison. Two different leaders, two different responses from government. This paper explores the disasters and the differences, the politico-legal dimensions of the way governments can respond or fail, and the process of recovery.

Safety and Efficiency Evaluation Model for Converging Operation of Aircraft and Vehicles

To explore the mixed traffic characteristics of vehicles and aircraft on the airport surface and solve the problem of real-time conflict detection at key intersections. According to the actual taxiing procedures and airport control rules in China, this paper focus on abstracting the mixed motion process of aircraft and vehicles in the maneuvering area, defining the convergent cross-safety operation scenario. To quantify the driver’s attention to safety separation and the degree of conservatism in adjusting speed, the vehicle deceleration rate and acceleration rate are defined with α as the exponent. Under the same spacing, the vehicle deceleration rate is directly proportional to α, and α is named the vehicle safety sensitivity. At the same time, the rules of speed change of vehicles and aircraft will be designed, and a convergent operation model of aircraft and vehicles will be proposed. Based on real-time speed and separation dynamic assessment of safety and efficiency under different traffic strategies, the computer simulation results show that vehicle safety sensitivity and deceleration rules determine the sequence of vehicles and aircraft when they are passing through in the short term and can affect the proportion of mixed traffic flow in the long run. The safety probability of vehicles passing the intersection first is negatively correlated with vehicle safety sensitivity, while the safety probability of aircraft passing the intersection first is correlated positively with vehicle safety sensitivity. The efficiency of passing without conflict with mixed traffic has an inverse relationship with vehicle safety sensitivity. When the vehicle safety sensitivity takes the value in the interval [0.4, 0.6], a mixed traffic flow with higher safety and efficiency, better stability, and a balanced ratio of locomotives can be obtained.

Application Research of Virtual Reality Technology in Intelligent Civil Aviation Airport Visual Management

With the increasing development of science and technology, the increasing popularity of the Internet, and the increasingly widespread application of high-tech technology in various industries, profound changes have taken place in the operation mode of airports in China's civil aviation industry. Research on the development of smart civil aviation airports is also increasingly enriched. Airports are beginning to use information and intelligent technology to change their operating modes. From the current situation of China's civil aviation airport control, it is an unprecedented opportunity to apply VRT (Virtual Reality Technology) to the visual management of smart civil aviation airports. Utilize VRT to establish a real immersive visual management system that integrates operational dynamic display, virtual simulation, and simulation training that can be used for control and efficiency improvement based on the current situation of smart civil aviation airports. The system is mainly built through three-dimensional models that are highly close to the scene, thereby verifying and optimizing the operation mode of smart civil aviation airports, and obtaining the best scheme. Realized the application of VRT in the visual management of smart civil aviation airports.

Novel triple friction pendulum-tuned liquid damper for the wind-induced vibration control of airport control towers

The airport control tower has been widely constructed for rapidly expanding transportation demand, whose anti-wind performance and high-efficiency upgrading technology are attracting increasing attention. To provide an efficient liquid-incorporated solution for wind-induced vibration control of airport control towers, this study proposes a novel triple friction pendulum tuned liquid damper (TFPTLD) and establishes a control demand-oriented design framework to facilitate the design of TFPTLDs. The configuration and theoretical analysis model of the TFPTLD are introduced, based on which the TFPTLD-equipped tower-like structure is established. Stochastic response analysis is performed to obtain the responses under stochastic wind and white noise. Correspondingly, extensive parametric research is conducted to explore the optimal parameters and clarify the vibration control demand-oriented design procedure and easy-to-use fitted design formula for the TFPTLD. Furthermore, a robustness investigation is undertaken to quantify the advantages and sensitivity of the TFPTLD to the stiffness and damping components. Finally, the TFPTLD is applied to an airport tower subject to experimental wind loads to illustrate the effectiveness of the devices and proposed design method. The results show that the proposed TFPTLD yields a compact solution to the high-level performance upgrading of the airport control tower subjected to wind excitations, which significantly reduces the structural acceleration and displacement responses. Following the proposed demand-oriented design method, the TFPTLD exhibits higher effectiveness, larger frequency bandwidth, and more robust wind-induced vibration control than conventional TLDs with the same liquid mass. Benefitting from the triple friction pendulum, a small installation space is required, and the tuning effect of the liquid mass is independent of the change in liquid mass, which can be comprehensively utilized for vibration control to maintain the daily function of liquid tanks.

Effects on Taxiing Conflicts at Intersections by Pilots’ Sensitive Speed Adjustment

The pilot is the main person in charge of taxiing safety while moving on the airport surface. The visual separation and speed adjustment are directly related to safety and efficiency of airport surface operation. According to the actual taxiing procedures and airport control rules in China, this paper proposes a novel microscopic simulation model based on the pilots’ visual separation. This model is also built by refining the aircraft taxiing procedures at intersections. The observation range, the separation judgment, pilots’ visual distance, rate of proximity and the intention for speed governing are discussed as parameters in the model. The rules for aircraft separation judgment, pilots’ autonomous speed governing, and position updates are also set up and discussed. The proposed simulation can accurately simulate the acceleration and deceleration intentions under different motion trends while reproducing the motion process including the following acceleration, following deceleration and delayed deceleration caused by separation changes. The results demonstrate that the number of conflicts can be reduced to 50% based on visual separation adjustment of 50 s when the convergence angle is 30°. The pilot’s visual distance is inversely proportional to the fluctuation range of the speed of the rear aircraft, the proximity rate of the front and rear aircraft and the probability of conflict. The simulation results of this model conform to the actual taxiing routes and control rules, which provides technical support for improving the safety level of airport surface operation and presents certain reference value and practicability.

Study on optimal design of airport control hall ventilation environment based on butterfly software——Taking the design of Sining air traffic control support building as an example

Airport control hall is the key organization of air traffic control system, mainly used to manage various flight activities of the airport. The control hall contains numerous control seats and control personnel. It is particularly important to create a comfortable indoor environment for the control personnel in a high-intensity working environment. But due to the current design code and standard lack for airport control hall and affiliated offices of the requirements of the physical environment, designers often excessive attention to functional requirements in the design and the facade, while ignoring the control hall indoor environment requirement, so the chaos such as plane layout, facade window problems such as unreasonable, As a result, natural ventilation is not smooth, air conditioning energy consumption increases, and indoor comfort is seriously affected.Sining AIR traffic control Support Building is one of the three major air traffic control projects in northwest China during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. In the preliminary design process of the scheme, the design team used Butterfly tool based on Grasshopper software to conduct computer simulation analysis on the natural ventilation condition of the scheme, comb out the optimization design method and conduct comparative verification. Improve indoor comfort, reduce building energy consumption, and finally summarize the air traffic control hall design strategy adapted to Sining’s unique natural environment, which provides reference for other air traffic control support building projects in northwest China.

The enlightenment of the cost control of regional tourism airports: Taking Airport A as an example

<p>Since the reform and opening up, the civil aviation industry has accelerated its pace of development and achieved world renowned achievements. It has been the world’s second largest civil aviation transportation market for many years. With the rapid development of the civil aviation industry, the construction of transportation airports has always maintained a rapid development trend, the number of airports and business volumes continue to increase, and the annual passenger throughput has basically maintained a double-digit rapid growth. However, at present, the popularity of China’s aviation market is not high, the situation of insufficient capacity of regional airports and large losses has not changed, and a balanced and coordinated development of the airport system has not really taken shape. If China is to move from a major aviation country to an aviation power, it must make up for the shortcomings of insufficient regional airport development as soon as possible. The regional tourism airport is the main component of the regional airport and the most active part of the development of regional airports. It complements the development of regional airports and focuses on accelerating the development of regional airports. Airport A was completed and opened to traffic in May 2017. It is a young and distinctive regional tourist airport. The annual passenger throughput has jumped from more than 100,000 passengers to more than 500,000 passengers in 2019. In the operation process, there are many worth learning from local. Especially in terms of cost control, Airport A creates “airport+” tourist traffic to improve passenger throughput, promotes a transition to management to adjust and optimize the cost structure, green planning and construction to reduce resource and energy consumption, and combines supervision with services to enhance the effectiveness of financial supervision, all of which give a good inspiration for other regional tourism airports to improve cost control.</p>

The uneven geography of US air traffic delays: Quantifying the impact of connecting passengers on delay propagation

Sustained airport congestion periods translate into delays, especially in hub-and-spoke networks in which delay propagation is more evident.We examine the impact of connecting passenger arrival delays on network delay propagation by using passenger level data combined with flight delay data that allow us to analyse the correlation between delayed incoming flights and departure delays at the 21 U.S. airports with most delays, in July 2018.Results show that correlation between daily arrival delays and daily carrier induced departure delays are statistically significant only for flights carrying high proportions of connecting passengers. Correlation values are also higher for short-to-moderate arrival delays. In addition, a Neural Network model was trained for six major airports to build a delay prediction model and map the potential delay propagation. The results of the propagation scenarios suggest that the presence of a unique dominant carrier at an airport translates into a stronger correlation between arrival and carrier delays than that at airports where different carriers compete for connecting passengers. Furthermore, airline hubs located near the areas of the network with more traffic density, independently of the hub's volume of traffic, are more likely to propagate the delay than hubs located in the periphery. The results of this study can be relevant for airline, airport, and traffic control policies aimed at mitigating airport and network congestion.

Evaluation of an Antigen Detection Rapid Diagnostic Test for Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Clinical Samples

Antigen detection rapid diagnostic tests have been developed for first-line large-scale screening given their rapidity, simplicity, and accuracy. This study evaluates the diagnostic performance of an antigen detection rapid diagnostic test (BLOK BioScience, London, UK) detecting SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein. Serially diluted SARS-CoV-2 isolate and 110 NPS from COVID-19 patients were tested to determine the test’s sensitivity, and other viral isolates and 20 NPS from non-infected individuals were, for specificity, also tested. Ten clinical samples from COVID-19 patients with SARS-CoV-2 variants, including alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and eta variants, were collected to evaluate the test’s potential application in detecting emerging variants. Overall sensitivity was 92%, and stratifying into viral loads yielded 100% for Ct < 25 samples including SARS-CoV-2 variants, but 11.11% for Ct ≥ 30 samples. The analytical sensitivity of log10 TCID50/mL 2.0 was identified for SARS-CoV-2. Ninety-seven percent specificity with only SARS-CoV cross-reactivity lead to the Youden index of 0.89. The rapid diagnostic test has a high sensitivity for detecting SARS-CoV-2 in high viral load samples, possibly including emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, but reduced sensitivity in low viral load samples suggests its optimized usage as a complementary testing method to other tests, including RT-PCR or a point-of-care test for large-scale screening, particularly for pandemic areas or airport border infection control.

Multi-Objective Route Planning for Aircraft Taxiing Under Different Traffic Conflict Types

Aircraft taxiing in large airports is often delayed by traffic conflicts. The increased fuel consumption and pollutant emission lower the efficiency of airport surface operation and bring potential safety hazards. Previous studies on route planning for surface taxiing seldom involve refined delay analysis under different traffic conflict types and discussions on route planning at airports with various environmental parameters and under diverse aircraft types. In this study, dynamic models of crossing, head-on, and trailing conflicts during aircraft taxiing were constructed, and delays of these three conflict types were determined. The shortest route set of restricted routing was determined by the Yen algorithm according to the topological network, conflict-induced delay, and spatial distributions of taxiing at airports. Considering the three optimization objects, the aircraft route planning was optimized and determined from the shortest route set according to the differences in the environmental parameters and aircraft types. Experiment results show that the proposed method achieves 9.6–12.1% higher route planning precision in all traffic periods compared with previous route planning with considerations to taxiing conflict. This method also provides support to the dynamic decision of airport operation and control departments according to the environment and performance of aircraft.

Research on Key Technology of Intelligent Control of Airport Integrated Energy

Research on Key Technology of Intelligent Control of Airport Integrated Energy