Controlling chaos-saving the environment

Controlling chaos-saving the environment

FPJ BureauUpdated: Wednesday, May 29, 2019, 09:15 AM IST
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The objective of the Airport – Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) project is to improve the efficiency of airport operations at busy airports. The primary focus is on reducing aircraft holding delays at the runway holding point. This results in substantial saving of aviation fuel along with a reduction in carbon emissions. This is achieved by improving the decision-making process by sharing the relevant processed information among aviation stakeholders. AAI took up its first A-CDM project development for Mumbai Airport. All the project activities viz. software development, network design, hardware planning, live testing, implementation and software maintenance were entirely undertaken by AAI’s in-house team.

The concept of A-CDM evolved in Europe, which was later included in the ICAO Aviation System Block Upgrade (ASBU) blocks B0-80 and B1-80 for implementation at all busy airports across the globe. The Government of India’s National Civil Aviation Policy also mentions the need of A-CDM implementation at all major Indian airports for promoting sustainable aviation by reducing congestion. In-line with these guidelines, AAI took the initiative to implement A-CDM at Mumbai Airport, which has been operational since December 10, 2015. Presently, the A-CDM project work is in progress for Chennai and Kolkata Airports.

Concept

At busy airports, witnessing a long queue of departing aircraft at the runway holding point waiting for take-off, is very common. Often, this figure at Mumbai Airport would touch 12-15 aircraft. In the normal course of handling, there is a concept of one arrival one departure in single runway operations. In such a situation, a second departure can go after a minimum gap of 2.5 minutes and the last departure may have to wait for more than 30 minutes. The waiting aircraft are burning fuel, destroying the environment, increasing RT (radio telephony) congestion and controllers’ workload. The A-CDM System overcomes these problems by providing a solution based on shared information among the stakeholders. For regulating departures, TSAT (target start-up approval time) is issued to the departing aircraft. Start-up clearances are issued by the ATC as per TSAT, rather than EOBT (estimated off block time). Airline operators are provided with an application interface to submit changed EOBT, i.e. TOBT (target off block time). The system takes cognisance of revisions every three seconds and provides changed TSATs to users through an HMI (human machine interface). The use of A-CDM has reduced the waiting queue at holding point to two-three aircraft. For arriving aircraft, ELDT (estimated landing time) and EIBT (estimated in block time) are provided to all stakeholders. In addition, ‘arrival on finals’ are shown separately to help airlines and airport operators manage resources optimally.

Notable features of A-CDM at CSI Airport, Mumbai

The system decides the departure sequence and automatically calculates TSATs. The TSATs are dynamically reallocated for optimum capacity utilisation. Fine adjustments are done by the system by looking at approaching arrival pressure vis-à-vis departure pressure. The TSAT times are colour coded for fast and easy compliance. TSATs are shown in green colour when they fall in +/- five minutes from current time. At ‘TSAT+5’ minutes TSAT turns red, implying that the aircraft operator needs to change the TOBT to get a new TSAT.

All India NOTAMs (Notice to Air Man) are processed automatically and shared through a web interface. NOTAM bulletins can be generated through a web interface. Real-time information is shared among stakeholders through a customised application interface and website. ACDM Application is installed on 33 user computers (on MIAL network) for the use of airport and airline operators. MIAL has installed several of its planned 112 display boards for information dissemination. Alerts are generated and shared for TOBT and parking bay update requirements. If a filed TOBT does not have the appropriate turn-around time, the airline operator is alerted to change the TOBT. Similarly, if an arrival is not expecting a vacant bay by its EIBT, the airport operator is alerted to change the parking stand. An alert is also generated for early arrivals for the airlines to note, as sometimes, early arrivals contribute to air congestion. The airport operator (MIAL) has procured 112 display boards for parking stands to display A-CDM system generated information. All parking stands, except some remote ones, at Terminal-2 are now equipped with such display boards (75 numbers). 30 more are to be installed soon on Terminal-1 and remote stands at Terminal-2. Departures are shown along with Aircraft Call Sign, TOBT and TSAT timings. The limited space on the board is used to display these three details in a succession of five seconds. Similarly, arrivals are shown with Aircraft Call Sign and ETA. Arrival information display starts 30 minutes before ETA and remains till ChocksON (fully parked). Similarly, Departure information starts 30 minutes before TOBT and remains till Chocks-OFF (ready to move).

Benefits to Stakeholders

Economic and environmental impact

On an average, about 12 minutes of fuel per departure flight, is saved on ground during 12 hours of A-CDM operations. During these 12 hours of A-CDM operations at Mumbai, on an average 270 departures take place. Flights are a mix of small, medium and large-sized aircraft. As approximately 80 per cent aircraft fall in the medium-size category, for fuel consumption calculations let us take A320 as the sample base. An A320 aircraft consumes approximately 12kg/minute fuel with both engines running at idle power. This study shows a saving of 14.2 million kg of aviation fuel per annum. In monetary terms, it is approximately USD 11.54 million of annual saving (ATF price@650 USD/KL). This is a direct saving to the airline operators at Mumbai Airport. A-CDM is trying to make its humble contribution towards sustainable aviation. Carbon dioxide emissions are reduced by 45 million kg per annum. This is a significant contribution of A-CDM towards saving our environment.

Sudhanshu Gupta, DGM (ATM), Lead Programmer, AAI’s A-CDM Team, CSI Airport, Mumbai

(with assistance from S.V. Manohj, JE-ATC)

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