The 1st International Conference on Information Science and Engineering (ICISE2009)

Aircraft Departure Sequencing Method Based on Integer Quadratic Scheduling Programming Algorithms
Lei Zheng, Jun Zhang, Yanbo Zhu Department of Electronics and Information Engineering Beihang University, Beijing, China Abstract With the increase of the fight flow at airport, the runway capacity cant satisfy aircraft transportation so as that the airplanes on the taxiways will queue to wait for taking off. The paper proposed an innovative model, the integer quadratic programming algorithm (IQPA) to solve taxiway departure scheduling on the airport. The method can realize sequence optimization considering the flight interval of fore-and-aft aircraft type. As compared with traditional measures, the total departure time and the algorithm optimization time is decreased, which is simulated in the paper. In the end, simulation results demonstrate the availability and practicability with two scenarios.
Keywords-departure scheduling; integer quadratic sequencing programming algorithm; the flight interval of fore-and-aft aircraft type

Some methods have been proposed by many researchers. In [1], through Compromise Immune Algorithm (CIA), optimization of flight departure and arrival is achieved on the basis of ensuring security and considering airport capacity limit. In addition, the Departure Enhanced Planning and Runway/Taxiway Assignment System (DEPARTS) in [2] has been developed by CAASD as fast departure optimization sequencing algorithms at busy airports for a future short term. Some effort has been made to use genetic algorithms (GA) [3] to tackle departure scheduling problem for global optimality. Christopher suggested Collaborative Airport Surface Metering (CASM) [4], [5], which concerns environmental benefits through detailed advanced planning and management of airport surface departure operations. The paper formulates a new resolution for airplane departure scheduling that can be translated to integer quadratic programming scheduling problem. With this method, significant delay reduction benefits can be achieved. It will lead to more efficient utilization of current airport capacity to alleviate aircraft congestion. This paper has been organized as follows. In Section 2, the new model foundation and analysis are presented. Section 3 describes integer quadratic programming sequencing model establishment. The departure scheduling examples simulation study is reported with GA and integer quadratic programming algorithms (IQPA) in Section 4. Then comparisons and analysis between two methods are made, which is followed by some conclusions in Section 5. II. DEPARTURE SCHEDULING CONSTRAINT

I.

INTRODUCTION1

With the increase of the fight flow on airport, the efficiency of air transportation management need be improved to increase the capacity of airport. At present, the case of aircraft accumulation occurs at times due to the inefficient arrival and departure sequencing. Many maneuvers have been presented in order to make valid use of the airport resources, such as arrival and departure sequencing algorithms, airport capacity resource equilibrium and so on. Current and predicted levels of air traffic demand raise the need for air traffic management and airport capacity enhancements, as well as reduction of the environmental impact (engine emissions) and the costs incurred by operational inefficiencies (fuel burn). Some solutions should be taken to reduce aircraft delay and lower engine emissions at the airport. When scheduled flights exceed the airport departure capacity, the take-off airplanes need go through taxiway departure waiting queuing in the aerodrome. But the waiting turn time can not be longer so as to delay the passenger travel, to accumulate the flights at the airport and to increase the fuel burning release. In waiting queues, airplanes in every queue fly into runway with certain sequence. The favorable flight departure order can influence the efficiency of airport operation and aircraft delay. Under limited airport capacity, the sequencing algorithms make sure the minimize departure time to take full advantages of the taxiway resources.
The National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.60672181) and The National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program: No.2006AA12A101 and No.2006AA12Z312)

When airplanes plan to take off, the demands of airplanes departure will be sent out. If the request instructions exceed the maximum departure capacity, aircraft will queue in departure taxiway waiting queues for sequencing flight. Once the airplane on the runway accomplishes departure, another airplane in taxiway queues may be chosen to take off in turn. At present, the runway set is generally single at the airport. The rest may be deduced by analogy, one by one, all aircraft ordinal departure. However, the interval between two airplanes in sequence is influenced by airplane types. Suppose that the whole intervals equal. Then the chance of every airplane chosen to take off firstly is balanced so as not to need to sequence. For flight intervals (see Table 1) between different fore-and-aft aircraft

978-0-7695-3887-7/09/$26.00 2009 IEEE

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types due to aircraft trail whorl, aircraft scheduling in taxiway waiting queues ensures to decrease departure time.
TABLE I.
After-flight Fore-flight Heavy (H) Large (L) Medium (M) Small (S) 1.2m 1.0m 0.8m 0.5m 2.0m 1.0m 0.8m 0.5m 3.0m 1.2m 1.0m 0.8m 5.0m 1.5m 1.2m 1.0m

0 d0,1 1 d1,0

d0,2

AIRCRAFT TRAIL WHORL INTERVAL BETWEEN DIFFERENT FORE-AND-AFT AIRPLANE TYPES

Heavy Large Medium Small

d1,2 d2,0 d2,1 2 n dn,0 dn,1 dn,2

d0,n d1,n d2,n

(1) Suppose di ,i =0 directly for Plane i may not take off behind itself. The latency matrix above can be gained through actual aircraft types based on Table 1. Let Location r denote take-off sequence, r=1n. If Plane i takes its departure in the rth sequence, namely Plane i dominants Location r. Aircraft take-off sequence choice 0-1 matrix X is given by

The sequence interval principle between fore-and-aft aircraft need obey criterion in Table 1 for the sake of flight security. III. MODEL

Tag of plane
0 1 0 x0,0 1 x1,0 Sequence rank 2 x2,0 n xn ,0 x0,1 x0,2 2 n
A. Assumption To satisfy the demand of large air transportation progressively, the development of the airport is required to support increasing flow. More taxiways are considered to suffice the requirement based on two taxiways now. It is seen as multi-input and single-output for only one runway. Therefore, first suppose that there are n aircraft in m taxiway waiting sequencing queues in all (see Fig. 1), and Plane i represents that the mark number of aircraft is i, i=1n and Queue j represents that the mark number of taxiway waiting queue is j, j=1m. Suppose the last aircraft in the runway is named with Plane 0. Every airplane is assigned to respective queue in advance that is considered to be fulfilled in this paper and neednt be studied. Otherwise, the tag of aircraft, Plane 1Plane n, is distributed to every aircraft in turn. For Plane 1Plane m1, m1 is the number for m1 airplanes in the first queue, then followed Plane (m1+1)Plane m2 in the Queue 2, and so on (see Fig. 1).

x0, n x1,1 x1,2 x1, n (2) x2,1 x2,2 x2, n xn ,1 xn,2 xn, n where denotes whether Plane i occupies the rth location. Let xi, r be 0 or 1. xi, r =1 demonstrates that Plane r will take off in the ith sequence. Oppositely xi, r =0 implies that Location i doesnt belong to the rth aircraft. For Plane 0 has taken up the runway, Location 0 is assigned to it, x0,0 =1. Model constraint condition Because one plane only takes one location and one location only supplies for one plane, the restriction condition of variable matrix xi, r is given B.

xi,r = 1
i =0

(3)

and

Figure 1. Aircraft for scheduling in departure taxiway waiting queues

Let d k ,l denote the sequent interval time between two foreand-aft airplanes, Plane k and Plane l (Plane l takes off behind Plane k.). Plane 0 aircraft which can not join in new queue will not follow behind the other aircraft. Latency time matrix for neighboring aircraft is given by

Meantime, the take-off sequence of airplanes in the same taxiway queue should hold the line, not allowed to exchange. So for Plane k before Plane l (k< l) in Queue j (the jth taxiway), the departure order of Plane k is prior to Plane l during sequencing phase for all aircraft. The decided location for Plane k is denoted by
r =0

r =0

xi,r = 1

(4)

0 1

rxr ,k rxr ,l
r =0 n

(5)

The decided location for Plane l is denoted by (6)

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The restriction for the location of aircraft in the same queue is given by
r =0

D SUM = D0,1 + Di,(i +1)

i =1

n 1

rxr ,k < rxr ,l

r =0

(7)

= x1, r d 0, r + xi , k x(i +1), r d k , r

r =0 n i =1 k =1 r =1 n 1 n

n 1 n

Aircraft in taxiway departure sequence waiting queue must satisfy the constraint (3), (4), (7) above. C. Take-off interval computation According to the sequent interval time between two foreand-aft airplanes d k ,l and aircraft take-off sequence choice xi, r , the take-off interval is obtained between fore-and-aft aircraft on arbitrary two neighboring locations (see Fig. 2).

= x0,0 x1, r d0,r + xi , k x(i +1), r d k , r

r =0 n i =1 k =1 r =1 n 1 n

= x0, k x1, r d k , r + xi , k x(i +1), r d k , r

k = 0 r =0 n 1 n i =1 k = 0 r = 0

= xi , k x(i +1), r d k ,r
i =0 k = 0 r = 0

(12)

Figure 2. Aircraft take-off interval on neighbor locations

For example, the take-off interval between aircraft on Location 1 and on Location 0 is given by D0,1 = x1, r d0, r
r =0 n

D. Integer quadratic programming model In this departure scheduling problem, optimal object ensures the whole aircraft latency time shortest and the least fuel emission that implies the least sum of take-off interval (12). Associated with constraint condition, programming model is given by
min D SUM = xi,k x(i+1),r dk,r ,
i=0 k =0 r=0 n1 n n

(8)

Owing to only item x1,r (Plane r locates Location 1.) in the second row of xi, r and the rest 0, that this item will multiply corresponding d 0,r comes up to D0,1 . The take-off interval between aircraft on Location 2 and on Location 1 is given by D1,2 =

x1, k x2, r d k , r
k =1 r =1

(9)

In (9) there is only one nonzero term because respectively only one element of the second row and the third row in xi, r is 1. While the two elements multiply, the right item doesnt equal 0. Namely, x1, k = x2, r = 1 that means the first location occupied by Plane k and the second location occupied by Plane r obeys the fore-and-aft airplanes take-off interval d k , r .
The rest may be deduced by analogy. Then the take-off interval between aircraft on Location i and on Location (i+1) is given by

xi, j =1 i = 0,1,..., n, j=0 n xi, j =1 j = 0,1,..., n, i=0 n n rx < rx , k,l = 0,1,..., m r,k r,l 1 r=0 r=0 n st. n . rxr,k < rxr,l , k,l = m1 +1,..., m2 r=0 r=0 ... ... n n rxr,k < rxr,l , k,l = mm1 +1,..., n r=0 r=0 xi, j =1 or 0, i, j = 0,1,..., n.
n

k <l k <l

k <l

(13) The taxiway departure sequence problem is turned to an integer quadratic programming model. IV. SIMULATION

Di ,(i +1) = xi, k x(i +1), r d k , r

k =1 r =1

(10)

Therefore, the sum of the take-off interval is given

D SUM = D0,1 + Di ,(i +1)

i =1

n 1

= x1, r d 0, r + xi , k x(i +1), r d k , r

r =0 i =1 k =1 r =1

n 1 n

(11)

In this section, the simulated scenarios are assumed to evaluate the performance of the proposed integer quadratic programming method with Lingo 8.0 [7]. Otherwise, a comparison between integer quadratic programming algorithm (IQPA) and genetic algorithm (QA) will be drawn. The dual-taxiway for waiting sequence is set at the airport. In general, the departure scheduler time is restricted. So for dual-taxiway, the amount of the waiting sequencing flights may be a little fewer. Suppose that 25 airplanes altogether are

D0,1 can be transformed because of x0,0 =1 and x0,k =0 (k 0), which is imported in (11).

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waiting for departure. Their aircraft types and affiliated taxiway queues are given (see Table 2). The quantity of medium-sized airplanes is currently more than the other types in the air generally.
TABLE II. THE TYPES AND AFFILIATED QUEUES OF AIRCRAFT IN THE DUAL-RUNWAY DEPARTURE QUEUES IN THE SIMULATED SCENARIO 1
Plane1 M Plane6 Queue1 M Plane11 M Plane16 L Plane18 Queue2 M Plane23 M Plane2 S Plane7 L Plane12 M Plane17 L Plane19 M Plane24 H Plane20 S Plane25 S Plane21 M Plane22 M Plane3 M Plane8 L Plane13 M Plane4 H Plane9 M Plane14 H Plane5 M Plane10 S Plane15 M

Location17 Location18 Location19 Location20 Location21 Location22 Location23 Location24 Location25

Plane10 Plane11 Plane12 Plane13 Plane14 Plane15 Plane25 Plane16 Plane17

19.2 20.0 21.0 22.0 22.8 25.8 27.0 27.5 28.5

Location17 Location18 Location19 Location20 Location21 Location22 Location23 Location24 Location25

Plane11 Plane12 Plane13 Plane14 Plane24 Plane15 Plane25 Plane16 Plane17

18.6 19.6 20.6 21.4 22.6 25.6 26.8 27.3 28.3

The simulated result indicates that both IQPA and GA can minimize the total departure time on the basis of the invariability of the order for aircraft in the taxiway queues. At the same time, the optimization operation time with IQPA is obviously prior to that with QA. Through some other simulations for various types of airplanes, the optimization results of IQPA are better than that of GA. Through simulation, the computation consuming time is distinctly decreased compared with GA in multi-taxiway departure queues. Because multi-taxiway queues meets more airplanes await, more chromosomes will be initialized to ensure universality in genetic algorithm. Then mutation and crossover constantly carry through that computation time is longer. V. CONCLUSION

H: Heavy, L: Large, M: Middle, S: small.

The type of Plane 0 on the runway is set as M. The simulated result of departure sequence is presented through optimizing flight time with two algorithms (see table 3).
TABLE III.
GA result Location1 Location2 Location3 Location4 Location5 Location6 Location7 Location8 Location9 Location10 Location11 Location12 Location13 Location14 Location15 Location16

THE SIMULATED ORDER RESULT OF DEPARTURE SEQUENCE OF AIRCRAFT FOR DUAL-TAXIWAY QUEUES IN THE SIMULATED SCENARIO 1
Order Plane18 Plane19 Plane20 Plane1 Plane21 Plane2 Plane22 Plane3 Plane23 Plane24 Plane4 Plane5 Plane6 Plane7 Plane8 Plane9 Flight time 1.0 2.0 3.2 4.0 5.0 6.2 7.0 8.0 9.0 9.8 11.0 14.0 15.0 15.8 16.8 18.0 IQPA result Location1 Location2 Location3 Location4 Location5 Location6 Location7 Location8 Location9 Location10 Location11 Location12 Location13 Location14 Location15 Location16 Order Plane18 Plane1 Plane2 Plane19 Plane20 Plane21 Plane3 Plane4 Plane5 Plane6 Plane22 Plane7 Plane8 Plane9 Plane10 Plane23 Flight time 1.0 1.8 3.0 3.8 5.0 5.8 6.8 7.6 10.6 11.6 12.6 13.4 14.4 15.6 16.8 17.6

An integer quadratic sequence programming algorithm method in aircraft departure queues is presented in this paper, and the method can efficiently solve taxiway departure queuing for aircraft. The simulation results and operation time are superior compared to GA. Meantime, the aircraft types are considered to balance departure time. This method proposed in this paper provides a practical, universal, efficient algorithm for optimizing departure scheduling at the airport. In future work, researches will be made for multi-taxiway departure. REFERENCES
[1] Jianli Ding, Jinling Ji, and Heyi Wang, Optimization of Airport Flight Arrival and Departure Based on Compromise Immune Algorithm, The Third International Conference on Natural Computation (ICNC), 2007. Wayne W. Cooper, Jr, Robert H. Cormier, J. Glenn Foster, Dr. Michael J. Mills, and Dr. Satish C. Mohleji, Use of the Departure Enhanced Planning and Runway/Taxiway Assignment System (Departs) for Optimal Departure Scheduling at Busy Airports. Wang Laijun, and Shi Zhongke, The Implement of Genetic Algorithms in Departure Sequencing Problem, System Engineering Theory and Practice, 2005, pp. 119-125. Christopher R. Brinton, Lara Cook, and Dr. Stephen C. Atkins, Collaborative Airport Surface Metering for Efficiency and Environmental Benefits, ICNS Conference, 2007. Michael A. Bolender, Scheduling and Control Strategies for the Departure Problem in Air Traffic Control, 2007. Tang Huanwen, and Qin Xuezhi, Practical Methods of Optimization, 2007. Yuan Xinsheng, Shao Dahong, and Yu Shilian, The application of Lingo and Excel in mathematical modeling, 2007.

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