Investigating Untapped Capacity at Single-Runway Airports using Short Final Curved Approach, Dual Glide Slope, and Double Threshold

2020 ◽  
Vol 2674 (9) ◽  
pp. 1136-1146
Author(s):  
Vojin Tošić ◽  
Bojana Mirković
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Wake Vortex ◽  
Wake Vortices ◽  
Operation Rules ◽  
Final Approach ◽  
Glide Slope ◽  
Double Threshold

In Europe more than one third of the 100 busiest airports have only one runway and most of them have no possibility to build another one. Aircraft of all types and sizes must use that same runway which affects operational complexity. In such situations the problem of capacity appears since separation between aircraft is based on all of them following the same path and smaller aircraft following larger ones have to wait for the wake vortex to dissipate, in the case of both arrivals and departures. This paper offers a possible concept for increasing single-runway airport landing capacity. It is based on separating smaller aircraft to a final approach path that is not affected by the wake vortices produced by the larger aircraft. Published references dealing with this topic are included and discussed. The operation rules proposed are based on existing standards and some best practices. This paper does not discuss available technological solutions.

Modeling the Radar Signature of Raindrops in Aircraft Wake Vortices

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 470-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongxun Liu ◽  
Nicolas Jeannin ◽  
Francois Vincent ◽  
Xuesong Wang
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Control ◽  
Vortex Flow ◽  
Doppler Radar ◽  
Elevation Angle ◽  
Wake Vortex ◽  
Wake Vortices ◽  
Radar Signature ◽  
Radar Echo ◽  
Aircraft Wake ◽  
Resolution Cell

Abstract The present work is dedicated to the modeling and simulation of the radar signature of raindrops within wake vortices. This is achieved through the computation of the equation of raindrop motion within the wake vortex flow. Based on the inhomogeneous distribution of raindrops within wake vortices, the radar echo model is computed for raindrops in a given resolution cell. Simulated Doppler radar signatures of raindrops within wake vortices are shown to be a potential criterion for identifying wake vortex hazards in air traffic control. The dependence of the radar signature on various parameters, including the radial resolution and antenna elevation angle, is also analyzed.

Flight simulator study on the influence of vortex curvature on wake encounter hazard using LES wind fields

2012 ◽  
Vol 116 (1177) ◽  
pp. 287-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Vechtel
Keyword(s):  
Flight Control ◽  
Flight Simulation ◽  
Flight Simulator ◽  
Wind Fields ◽  
Wake Vortices ◽  
Large Eddy ◽  
Final Approach ◽  
Simulator Study ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Normal Law

Abstract A flight simulator study has been carried out to evaluate the performance of modern flight control systems encountering curved wake vortices. During the decay process the shape of wake vortices alters significantly which has an influence on the encounter characteristics and thus on the encounter hazard. To analyse most realistic wake encounters, flow fields of matured vortices have been generated with large-eddy-simulations. These were used for the determination of induced force and moment histories during the encounter. The force and moment histories have been implemented into the equations of motions of a 6 DoF flight simulation. For the sake of comparison encounters have also been simulated with straight vortices as they were mostly used for many other investigations. The most important goal of the study was to analyse the difference between these ideally straight vortices and vortices with a more realistic shape regarding encounter acceptance. The simulator study was conducted in an A330 motion-based full-flight simulator with pilots-in-the-loop. The analysed scenario was a wake encounter during final approach. The encounter conditions corresponded to a heavy-behind-heavy situation for Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations. The aircraft was flown either manually (in normal law) or with autopilot engaged. Altogether 93 encounters have been simulated, 38 with straight and 55 encounters with curved vortices. For encounters under manual control the simulator study revealed a potential risk of pilot induced oscillations (PIO) during encounters with curved vortices. With autopilot engaged not even one encounter with curved vortices was classified to be unacceptable. Although significant aircraft response was experienced the autopilot never disengaged automatically in any encounter. Altogether about 12 percent of the encounters were not accepted by the pilots. This is indeed a significant number, especially as the analysed scenarios can be regarded to be realistic situations which can occur in reality even if the applicable separation distances are applied.

scholarly journals DESIGN CONCEPTS OF AN ONBOARD EARLY WARNING SYSTEM OF PILOT ABOUT ENTERING WAKE VORTICES FROM ANOTHER AIRCRAFT

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 84-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. G. Golovnev ◽  
V. V. Vyshinsky ◽  
A. I. Zhelannikov ◽  
K. V. Lapshin
Keyword(s):  
Early Warning ◽  
Early Warning System ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Satellite System ◽  
Data System ◽  
Wake Vortex ◽  
Main Task ◽  
Software Complex ◽  
Wake Vortices ◽  
Design Concepts

An airborne aircraft forms a wake vortex behind itself dangerous for other entering it aircraft both piloted and unmanned. Wake vortex intensity depends on parameters of the aircraft creating it, so the greater the aircraft mass is, the higher its impact on other aircraft is. It is not possible to register visually the wake vortex, since in fact it is invisible. Introduction of wide-body aircraft like A380 into service leads to the revision of separation rules with the aim to increase admissible distance between aircraft. There is a quite demonstrative case when Challenger 604 got into the wake vortex after A380: though separation rules at the altitude were observed, Challenger performed an out-of-control rotating descent from the altitude of 10000 m to 3000 m. At present, in spite of multi-year research there are no real verified suggestions on wake vortex safety of aircraft flights. The paper presents the methodological basis and design concepts of an onboard early warning system of a pilot about entering wake vortices from another aircraft. The main task of the proposed system is to reveal wake vortices according to pressure decrease in their cores; to do it we perform on-line measuring of pressure in front of an aircraft. Measurements are done by a standard onboard air data system and an onboard inertial satellite system in order to control the consistency of “barometric” altitude readings and those of altitude defined by an inertial satellite system. The value of wake vortices rarefaction measured by an onboard air data system allows estimating the influence degree of wake vortices on the aircraft roll moment with the help of a special hardware and software complex and to determine the necessity to change the flight mode. It is proposed to use a missile bench for the dimensioning wake vortices on aircraft models in order to test computational methods of wake vortices dimensioning

scholarly journals Comparison and validation of wake vortex characteristics collected at different airports by different scanning lidar sensors

2018 ◽  
Vol 176 ◽  
pp. 06002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ludovic Thobois ◽  
Jean-Pierre Cariou ◽  
Valerio Cappellazzo ◽  
Christian Musson ◽  
Vincent Treve
Keyword(s):  
Ground Truth ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Wake Vortex ◽  
Operational Environment ◽  
Wake Vortices ◽  
Risk Monitoring ◽  
Airport Capacity ◽  
Wake Turbulence ◽  
Depth Analysis

Today, the demand for increasing airport capacity is high, in particular for increasing runway throughput from an ATM perspective. Runway capacity is often directly linked with the minima longitudinal separation between aircraft on approach phase or between aircraft on departure. The separation minima are based on surveillance capabilities and on wake turbulence (WT) in order to mitigate respectively collision risk and WT-induced accidents, therefore WT hazard becomes a major concern for ATM. For ten years, many research LIDAR systems have been used for better understanding wake vortices behaviors in the operational environment within large range of wind and turbulence conditions. All these studies[1][2] helped to design new concepts of wake separations between aircrafts thanks to the proven capabilities of LIDAR systems to assess the risks of wake vortex (WV) encounters through the circulation retrievals. The re-categorization project, called RECAT [8], has been launched by a joint EUROCONTROL – FAA initiative in order to renew and optimize the out-of-date currently applied ICAO regulations on distance separation. Nowadays, the first phase of regional RECAT projects, which consists in defining new distance separation matrices composed of six/seven static aircraft categories instead of three, entered the operational phase and is deployed in several airports in United States and Europe. In addition, other concepts like Time-Based Separation have also been studied and deployed in London Heathrow. The airports where these solutions have been deployed obtained significant benefits as increased runway throughput and improved resilience to disruptions. For implementing such new WT solutions at an airport, a local safety assessment before the implementation and a risk monitoring after are usually needed. Before implementation, it may be required to determine for the targeted airport the relative variations of risk of wake vortex encounters, given the local ATM rules, the traffic mix, the weather conditions and their impact on the wake vortex decay. After implementation, the risk monitoring might perform in-depth analysis of wake vortex encounter reported by pilots. For all the mentioned steps, the use of scanning Doppler LIDARs is the only experimental sensor capable of measuring the localization and the circulation of the wake vortices and to provide ground truth wake vortex measurements. Next generation operational LIDARs need to be developed to address in a cost effective way these operational needs. Furthermore, a specific configuration and methodology need to be developed to ensure the accuracy of the wake vortex data. Such a LIDAR based wake vortex solution has been tested at Paris Charles De Gaulle which implemented the RECAT-EU wake separation scheme. The wake vortex circulation, initial spacing and decay measured have been compared to the data collected in London Heathrow by a different LIDAR sensor. The results indicated that the initial circulation, the time to demise, the decay curve evolution and the vortex spacing are very coherent between the two databases.

scholarly journals Analysis of potential wake vortex encounters at a major European airport

2017 ◽  
Vol 89 (5) ◽  
pp. 634-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Holzäpfel
Keyword(s):  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Wake Vortex ◽  
Detailed Knowledge ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
End Effects ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Final Approach ◽  
Using Data

Purpose In this study, 12 potential wake vortex encounters that were reported at a major European airport have been investigated. Because almost all encounters occurred in ground proximity, most pilots conducted a go-around. The primary purpose of this study is to discriminate between incidents caused by wake vortices or rather by effects like wind shear or turbulence. Detailed knowledge of real-world encounter scenarios and identification of worst-case conditions during the final approach constitute highly relevant background information to assess the standard scenario used for the definition of revised wake turbulence separations. Design/methodology/approach Wake vortex predictions using the probabilistic two-phase wake vortex model (P2P) are used to investigate the incidents in detail by using data from the flight data recorder, meteorological instrumentation at the airport and numerical weather prediction. Findings In the best documented cases, the flight tracks through the vortices could be reconstructed in good agreement with wake vortex predictions and recorded aircraft reactions. Out of the eight plausible wake vortex encounters, five were characterized by weak crosswinds below 1.5 m/s combined with tailwinds. This meteorological situation appears favourable for encounters because, on the one hand, weak crosswinds may compensate the self-induced lateral propagation of the upwind vortex, such that it may hover over the runway directly in the flight path of the following aircraft. On the other hand, tailwinds limit the propagation of the so-called end effects caused by the breakdown of lift during touchdown. Practical implications The installation of plate lines beyond the runway tails may improve safety by reducing the number of wake vortex encounters. Originality/value The conducted investigations provide high originality and value for both science and operational application.

scholarly journals Assessment of the GIS-Aided Precise Approach Using the GNSS-GBAS Landing Systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-65
Author(s):  
Ahmad Alhosban
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Management ◽  
Geographic Location ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Motivating Factors ◽  
Radio Frequency Radiation ◽  
Management Domain ◽  
Final Approach ◽  
Glide Slope

The radio navigational Instrument Landing Systems (ILSs) are currently intended to guide the aircrafts in  lateral and vertical dimensions to the runway surface safely and precisely. Therefore, they are strongly  related to the geographic location of an airport and  its runway(s). The ILS systems use the aids of the radio frequency radiation to achieve this purpose,  depending on the ground emitting stations, and providing the guidance to the runway centreline location along with the glide slope guidance during  the Final Approach Segment (FAS). Furthermore, the  new ILS systems are fully aided by the coordinates of  the Global Positioning System (GPS) instead of the ground radiations, they use the waypoint fixes during the landing phase of flight by means of transmitting their corrections to the on-board receivers. Those new invented Ground Based Augmentation Systems (GBAS) are more precise and trustable, they also increase the capacity of the huge air traffic demands nowadays by multiple and non-straight approaches.  As a result, the Geographic Information System (GIS)  of any airport supported by the GBAS system is intended to be fully used and implemented in both  instrumental and procedural aids. Many previous  studies had indicated that the old procedural approaches should be changed to the new GIS aided ones, but without pointing out when and how to  implement such important transfer. The purpose of this study is to assess the performance of the GIS aided precision procedures using the GBAS stations, and to identify to what extent they can enhance the  navigational aviation in the air traffic management domain. A special focus will be put on the Hungarian Budapest international airport in terms of both capability motivating factors and the current GIS infrastructure aiding. Results showed a promising chance for more investment in installing the GBAS stations in the airport. That will enable more capacity and easier approaches in all weather conditions.

scholarly journals The Generation and Detection of Sound Emitted by Aircraft Wake Vortices in Ground Effect

2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 543-554 ◽  
Author(s):  
William L. Rubin
Keyword(s):  
Ground Effect ◽  
Aircraft Noise ◽  
Wake Vortex ◽  
Wind Noise ◽  
Vortex Sound ◽  
Wake Vortices ◽  
International Airport ◽  
Aircraft Landing ◽  
Aircraft Wake ◽  
Noise Spectra

Abstract Sound recorded by the author in March 2002 at JFK International Airport shows that wake vortices in ground effect emit infrasound that is 1) more than 40 dB stronger than audible wake vortex sound; 2) substantially stronger than the infrasound component of wind noise and airport noise; and 3) comparable to, and often stronger than, the infrasound component of aircraft noise. Spectra and time plots of the magnitude of wake-vortex-generated sound are presented for aircraft landing on JFK runway 31R.

Approximation of pilot operational behavior affecting noise footprint in steep approaches

2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-198
Author(s):  
Bengt Mosberg ◽  
Johan Rignér ◽  
Pernilla Ulfvengren ◽  
Per Näsman
Keyword(s):  
Noise Reduction ◽  
Slope Angle ◽  
Landing Gear ◽  
Practical Reasons ◽  
Flight Data ◽  
Final Approach ◽  
Glide Slope ◽  
Pilot Behavior

Landing aircraft create noise that disturbs residents living close to airports. One method to reduce such noise is to fly the final approach at a steeper glide slope than the normal 3.0 glide slope, thus increasing the distance between the source of the noise and the ground. If this is performed, there is a risk that the operational behavior of the pilot counteracts the noise reduction possible to achieve, due to the fact that the pilot must manage the aircraft's speed on a steeper glide slope. For practical reasons, there are few live trials and studies on pilot behavior during steeper approaches. In this project, a method to approximate pilot operational behavior during slightly steeper approaches, using flight data recorder data from standard approaches, was developed. The method exploits the fact that flying an approach in tailwind conditions creates the same operational challenges for a pilot as flying a steeper than normal approach does. The method was applied to 1159 flights. The results indicate that the pilots' operational behavior will change when glide slope angle increases. Extension of final flap and landing gear in steeper approaches will take place at a greater height but closer to the airport than for standard 3.0 ILS approaches. The result can be a reduction of the noise from arriving aircraft by up to 2 dB in some areas beneath the approach path if a 3.5 glide slope angle is used.

RUNWAY DETECTING AND TRACKING OF AN UNMANNED AERIAL LANDING VEHICLE BASED ON VISION

2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (08) ◽  
pp. 1225-1244 ◽  
Author(s):  
HONGQUN WANG ◽  
JIAXIONG PENG ◽  
LINGLING LI
Keyword(s):  
Clustering Algorithm ◽  
Detection Algorithm ◽  
Constraint Condition ◽  
Single Frame ◽  
White Spots ◽  
Final Approach ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Position And Orientation ◽  
Glide Slope ◽  
Airport Runway

When a monocular vision-based unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is flown to the final approach to intercept the glide slope, the position and orientation of the airport runway in the image must be detected accurately for a host of suitable procedures to be followed. The approaching marking on the runway is showed as some white spots of high intensity as well as the complicated backgrounds. In our paper, we use pin-hole perspective principle, the constraint condition of the rectangle in inertial space, the front shot constraint condition of the target, as well as the clustering algorithm to identify the runway and output its position and orientation in image space. The results of the experiments show that by this algorithm, even from a place far away from the runway with marks being unclear, effective detection is possible. After all, single-frame detection errors exist, so we extend the basic runway-detection algorithm to the runway tracking. A full filtering strategy using particle filter can guard against potentially catastrophic results and improve the detection rate. Apparently, the whole algorithm of our paper can be treated as a special vision sensor for landing equipment of UAV.

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