Air traffic control scheduling

In the high-pressure world of aircraft scheduling, lost seconds cost money, damage customer relations and pollute the environment. Calculating the best take-off order at a world famous airport such as Heathrow is a complex affair. The Automated Scheduling, Optimisation and Planning (ASAP) group at the University of Nottingham is working closely with NATS Ltd (formerly National Air Traffic Services Ltd) to build intelligent decision support methodologies which will enable air traffic controllers to work with a computerized scheduling system and produce more efficient and effective schedules. Professor Edmund Burke, head of the ASAP group at the University of Nottingham, explains "We're developing a scheduling system to aid the runway controller and improve throughput, without compromising safety".

This project was supported by an EPSRC industrial CASE award partly funded by NATS through the Industrial Mathematics KTN.

This PhD studentship – which is about to reach completion - is part of the University of Nottingham's ASAP group and the aim of the project was to develop powerful and robust algorithms for the sequencing and scheduling of airport runways. A range of meta-heuristic approaches have been investigated, and methods developed for handling the complexities of the physical manoeuvring and the uncertainty inherent in the problem. Runways are a critical bottleneck in the air transport system and using them with maximum efficiency is a key objective for air traffic control.

The KTN assigns to Industrial Mathematics CASE awards a Technology Translator whose aim is to support postgraduate researchers working on new industrial-academic collaborations.

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