Capacity improvement analytical tools and benchmark development for terminal operations

Oct. 25-29, 2009PDFProceedingshttp://ntl.bts.gov/lib/32000/32000/32040/Capacity_Improvement_Analytical_Tools.pdfRITA/VNTSC #FA7GB1 FD4RNAir traffic controlTerminal operationsAnalysisDevelopmentUnited StatesJohn A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)McGovern, Seamus M.John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)NTL-AVIATION-Airports and FacilitiesNTL-AVIATION-Aviation Planning and PolicyNTL-PLANNING AND POLICY-Aviation Planning and PolicyNTL-AVIATION-Air Traffic ControlVolpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference CenterWith U.S. air traffic predicted to triple over thenext fifteen years, new technologies and procedures arebeing considered to cope with this growth. As such, itmay be of use to quickly and easily evaluate any newtechnologies or procedures against a set ofbenchmarks, including best case and worst case. Inthis paper, theoretical upper and lower capacity boundsare formulated along with a performance indexequation to allow for the quantitative comparison andevaluation of different terminal area capacityincreasingenhancements. These benchmarks are thenused with a conventional stochastic queueing model(M/D/1) and a selected capacity improvement in orderto demonstrate how an example change impacts theterminal airspace capacity as compared to thetheoretical worst case and best case. Thesemathematical tools may hold value in quantifyingproposed technologies and procedures intended toimprove efficiency and to absorb the predicted increasein air transportation, prior to any actualimplementation