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Intelligent Systems

Airport Ground Movement

Airport Ground Movement

This project focuses on developing shortest path search algorithms for multi-objective multigraph applied to airport ground movement.

Multiple objectives which aim at minimising taxiing time, fuel consumption and pollution emission are considered in optimising aircraft taxiing performance to meet concerns from different stakeholders. 

Furthermore, to provide precise spatial and temporal control of aircraft movements on ground, trajectory-based operations are utilised to generate proactively planned 4-dimensional trajectories (4DTs) for each taxiway segment, where 4DTs represent alternative routes with different advantages linking the same nodes.  

The above realistic modelling approaches regard airport as a multigraph. That is, airport ground movement problem is modelled as multi-objective multigraph shortest path search. 

TopLeading-edge worldwide

Among the first studies worldwide to analyse the trade-off between taxi time and fuel consumption.

FundingBeyond £1M funds

Several ongoing EPSRC funded projects (EP/N029496/1, EP/N029356/1 and EP/N029577/1).

IndustryClosely connection

The results of this project have been applied in several well-known airports

Related program codes

Representative publications

  • Chen, J., Weiszer, M., Locatelli, G., Ravizza, S., Atkin, J. A., Stewart, P., & Burke, E. K. (2016). Toward a more realistic, cost-effective, and greener ground movement through active routing: a multiobjective shortest path approach.  IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems , 17(12), 3524-3540.

    31-10-2016

  • Weiszer, M., Chen, J., & Stewart, P. (2015). A real-time active routing approach via a database for airport surface movement. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies58, 127-145.

    11-07-2015

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