A Study on Path Selection of Arrival Flow at Airport Landing Areas

It is subjective to manage path selection of arrival flights on basis of the controllers′experiences.In terms of path selection and scheduling of arrival flights in the landing areas,a mathematical model aiming at shortest total com-pletion time is thus developed based on time window and position constraints.This model uses a loop optimization,i.e., select a path then schedule a flight.By combining Tabu search (TS)algorithm and a scheduling algorithm,two new algo-rithms are proposed as Tabu Search-First Come First Service (TS-FCFS)and Tabu Search-Dynamic Programming (TS-DP).Neighborhood structure based on critical paths is created,and an effective RESTAR strategy is included to acceler-ate the convergence towards the optimal solution.A simulation platform (SIMMOD)is used to verify the feasibility of these algorithms.For a case study of 21 flights in Beijing Capital International Airport,simulation results show that com-pared with the path planning based on controllers′experiences,the TS-FCFS and TS-DP algorithms can reduce the total time for path selection by 149 s and 1 75 s respectively.These algorithms provide efficient path selection with reduced arri-val time for arrival flights in the landing areas.Optimizations of path selection and scheduling can not only balance the runway load,but also reduce the potential conflicts of the arrival flights.These algorithms should provide the controllers with reasonable and effective recommendations for path selection.