Airport Ground-traffic Surveillance Systems Data Feed Innovative Comprehensive Analysis

AbstractThe objective of this paper is to demonstrate the interest of the use of airport ground-traffic surveillance systems (also known as surface movement surveillance systems), combined with technical expertise, to respond efficiently to airport issues. Two studies conducted by STAC, one related to runway operations safety, the other dealing with airport capacity are presented for that purpose, highlighting different benefits of this innovative source of information. For each case study, airport ground-traffic surveillance systems data, identifying all the ground movements at an airport during a given period of time over several months, was correlated with additional information such as the recorded weather conditions. Large databases were constructed according to the specific needs of each study and analyzed with statistical tools. The case study on safety has led to the creation of software assisting the detection of atypical landings on a major airport; the case study on capacity has brought valuable elements of decision regarding the adequacy of the change of a large regional airport layout in order to increase capacity. Through illustrations from the two case studies, the quality of data from the airport ground-traffic surveillance systems is described in terms of accuracy, completeness, consistency, and richness, so as to establish how it can support various needs