Simulation-Based Study to Quantify Data-Communication Benefits in Congested Airport Terminal Area (2008)
The scope of this study was to evaluate the impact
of the air traffic controller-to-pilot communication standard known as CPDLC
or Data-Communication on the future air traffic operations. The impact was
evaluated from the double viewpoint of airport delays and air traffic
controllers’ workload. RAMS simulation software is used to perform all the
runs and from its output data the values of terminal area delays and
controllers workload are obtained. The New York Metroplex terminal area was
used as a case study. Because of its complexity, where three major airports
(i.e. JFK, Newark, and La Guardia) interact and constraint each other, this
area was particularly interesting to be studied and the data analyzed gave a
valuable insight on the possible future impact of Data-Communication in
congested terminal areas. The results of the study, based on some previous
man-in-the-loop simulations performed by the FAA in the nineties, showed
that significant potential benefits could be obtained with the complete
implementation of such technologies in the workload experienced by air
traffic controllers. Moreover some small but not negligible benefits were
obtained in the total delays accrued by each airport studied. On the other
hand, the simulations of the future demand predicted by the FAA demonstrated
that without a significant increment in capacity or limitation on the traffic
growth intolerable delays would be recorded across the NAS in the future.
For the complexity of the simulation model calibration and for the very
time-consuming run time not all the scenarios described in the methodology
were tested, demonstrating the weakness of RAMS as a ground simulation model.
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