Artificial Intelligence To Aid Airport Traffic Flow

A: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has a contract with the Australian Artificial Intelligence Institute (AAII) to study and investigate the application of artificial intelligence to the problems of air traffic flow management. This study is not related to services such as the separation of aircraft, but concerns the management of arriving and departing aircraft streams to increase capacity and minimise delays. This function is, at present, handled by a manual system.

Q: At what stage is the development of such a system in Australia?

A: AAII have developed computer programs to optimise sequences of arriving aircraft to the runways and have a test system running with synthetic data at their offices in Melbourne. They will shortly commence the development of a final prototype system which the CAA plans to install for tests and evaluation at Sydney Airport by the end of 1991. The prototype will be able to accommodate the new air traffic control procedures (SIMOPS) introduced at Sydney and also aircraft using the proposed third runway.

Q: What countries use the system and what is the air traffic density in each?

A: The only overseas airports known to the CAA that have automated flow control systems are Frankfurt, Germany and Orly, France. These are simpler systems than that being developed in Australia in that there is normally only one arriving stream of aircraft to Frankfurt and Orly. Additionally, the Australian system will, unlike those at Frankfurt and Orly, provide advice to air traffic controllers on optimum aircraft speeds.

The latest information available to the CAA indicated that in 1988 Frankfurt Airport had 281,500 movements, Orly Airport had 193,000 and Sydney Airport had 219,075.

Q: What would be the cost of introducing such a system to Australia?

A: Cost to the CAA over the three years to 1991/92 to achieve the prototype system in Sydney will be in the range of $980,000 to $1. 13 million. In addition, the project has attracted a grant of $250,000 from the National Procurement Development Program administered by the Industry Research and Development Board of the Department of Industry, Technology and Commerce.

If the trials on the prototype in Sydney are successful, the CAA will have a working system. The CAA will then need to decide between the alternatives of maintaining the prototype for operational use or seeking commercial support for the manufacture of an operational system. In the longer term the system could be integrated into The Australian Advanced Air Traffic System (TAAATS) currently planned by the CAA. The cost of the latter two options cannot be estimated at this stage.

Q: Air traffic density, especially at Sydney, sufficient tojustify introducing such a system?

A: The flow control system being developed will help reduce delays and delay costs to the users of Sydney Airport. The benefits are likely to be worth several million dollars per year and justify the modest outlays in the project