Topology design for integrating and sequencing flows in terminal maneuvering area

The current overloaded airspace near large airports leads the stakeholders to develop more fundamental means to improve the use of available air capacity in dense traffic areas as terminal maneuvering area. A smart planning of aircraft trajectories and an appropriate designing of route structure can be a solution. Therefore, to analyze the capability of them, this paper proposes a novel approach to deal with the merging and sequencing problem of arrival traffic in terminal maneuvering area, and examines the performance of diverse conflict resolution strategies and different terminal maneuvering area route structure. An evolutionary algorithm is employed to resolve potential conflicts, altering one or more of the following decision variables: routes, speeds, and entrance time to terminal maneuvering area (slot). Two different fitness functions were developed. One aims to minimize potential conflicts and the other one aims to minimize at the same time potential conflicts and delay induced at runway. The performance of different combinations of decision variables, or conflict resolution strategies, is evaluated through a set of arrival aircraft to Grand Canaria airport. Also, four different route structures are tested by using the same set of incoming aircraft. The results showed that the slot and speed change and mix of all change strategies can successfully resolve all conflicts in an efficient manner. The results also suggested that topologies with one main merging point are more efficient than the ones that have two merging points. Finally, a significant abatement of delay was observed when minimizing conflicts and delay while achieving conflict-free solutions.