Departure sequencing systems and methods

• US 9,437,114 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 09/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Airlines Incorporated (American Airlines Group Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: US Airways Incorporated (American Airlines Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Ince, Ilhan, Gumireddy, Lourdmareddy, Ergan, Hakan, Zhang, Bo
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Nga X
• Application Number:
  US13/833,761
• Publication Number:
  US 20140278036A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,271 Days
• Field of Search: 701120-121
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0034 Assembly of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0039 Modification of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0043 Traffic management of multiple aircrafts from the ground G08G5/003 takes precedence; data processing specially designed for resource management, e.g. scheduling or allocating time, human or machine resources G06Q10/06
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0065 for taking-off
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0082 for monitoring traffic from a ground station radar or analogous systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/065 Navigation or guidance aids, e.g. for taxiing or rolling

Abstract

A departure sequencing system models airport operations and provides suggested gate pushback times for aircraft. In various embodiments, a departure sequencing system includes an airport state analyzer, a taxi-out predictor, and a pushback optimizer. The departure sequencing system may utilize stochastic models, and resolve aircraft conflicts using a business rules engine. Via use of the departure sequencing system, taxi times may be reduced, taxi fuel burn may be reduced, and airport throughput may be increased.

Claims

1. A method for departure sequencing of aircraft at an airport, the method comprising:

creating, by a processor, a graph network representing an airport, the graph network comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of links,

wherein the plurality of nodes include a gate node, airlinks, a runway with an entrance node and an exit node, and a runway crossing with a crossing node and ground links;

associating, by the processor, business rules to a sequence of events, state transitions and an aircraft entity in the graph network,

wherein the business rules utilize real-time airport characteristics including rates and configuration to drive simulation parameters,

wherein business rules are associated with aircraft path, pushback time, taxi speed and runway procedures;

iteratively executing, by the processor, a graph network model to generate modeled results;

scheduling, by the processor, events multiple times to model the taxi procedure for the aircraft entity,

wherein the events for the aircraft entity that is departing include;

scheduling the aircraft entity departure time that is modeled on gate node business rules;

initializing the aircraft entity flight status that is modeled on gate node business rules;

moving the departing entity on a ground link;

calculating a time for the aircraft entity to pass a link distance that is retrieved from historical speed table business rules for the ground link;

in response to the aircraft entity approaching a node, the next ground link having available capacity and the node not being occupied by other aircraft, allowing the aircraft entity to occupy the node and enter the node area

checking potential future directional head-to-head aircraft conflicts with other aircraft to avoid gridlock;

removing the aircraft entity from a last ground link;

adding the aircraft entity to a next ground link;

in response to other aircraft waiting on the last ground link, triggering to move the other aircraft forward as more space is made available on the ground link;

releasing the node of the currently occupying aircraft;

in response to the other aircraft waiting for the node, creating a trigger to enter the node area for the other aircraft;

calculating and recording statistics of taxi time;

implementing business rules for checking runway blockage by arrival or crossings; and

after a take off, triggering another take off event in response to the aircraft entity waiting on the runway entrance node and no blockage is applied;

scheduling, by the processor, multiple times the time for the aircraft entity to pass the current runway node to model the runway crossing for the aircraft entity;

repeatedly executing, by the processor, the graph network to obtain suggested gate pushback times for a plurality of aircraft at the airport;

calibrating, by the processor, a parameter of the graph network model utilizing historical aircraft flight information for the airport; and

creating, by the processor, calibrated parameters based on different airport operating characteristics.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating, to a ramp controller, the suggested gate pushback times for the plurality of aircraft.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the suggested gate pushback times are configured to maintain an airport departing runway minimum queue size.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the suggested gate pushback times are configured to maintain an airport departing runway queue size that is smaller than an airport departing runway maximum queue size.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the suggested gate pushback times are configured to ensure the hold time of each aircraft in the plurality of aircraft does not exceed a hold time threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the calibrating comprises revising, by the processor, a speed zone distribution for a ground link in the graph network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the calibrating comprises revising, by the processor, a business rule associated with a state transition in the graph network.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating, to a pilot, an anticipated hold time associated with an aircraft in the plurality of aircraft.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein, for at least one aircraft in the plurality of aircraft, the suggested gate pushback time comprises no hold, and wherein, for at least one aircraft in the plurality of aircraft, the suggested gate pushback time comprises a hold exceeding three minutes.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating, to an airport ground control system, the suggested gate pushback time for each of the plurality of aircraft.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining suggested gate pushback times comprises assessing, by the processor, connection information associated with at least one of:

a passenger associated with an aircraft in the plurality of aircraft, or an item of luggage associated with an aircraft in the plurality of aircraft.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing, by the processor, an airport state analyzer, a taxi-out predictor, and a pushback optimizer.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the suggested gate pushback times for the plurality of flights are configured to minimize overall taxi time for the plurality of aircraft.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating, to an air traffic controller, a request for at least one of a ground stop program or a ground delay program responsive to the suggested gate pushback times.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the graph network further comprises:

a gate node;

a ground link;

an airlink;

a runway comprising multiple ground links, an entrance node, and an exit node; and

a runway crossing comprising multiple ground links and a crossing node.