Studies on Air Traffic Control Simulation

—Part 1. Model of Landing Traffic Control in Terminal Area—

Abstract

The major limitation to the air traffic control (ATC) system is the capacity of a terminal area. Alleviation of traffic congestion requires the study of the capacity, which is usually made by fast time simulation with a digital computer.

The simulation model of the landing traffic control in a terminal area with a single runway and one primary fix (i.e., final approach fix) written in FORTRAN language is described here in detail and is the first step in developing the model of a terminal area. The model with two secondary fixes (i.e., feeder fixes) is used to consider the problem of the distance between the primary fix and one of the secondary fixes which influences the capacity. The capacity is evaluated with the average delay time for those aircraft which fly from either of the secondary fixes to the primary fix, then to the runway. The influence of the system parameters in this model is investigated, and the results show that the average delay time is affected mainly by the parameters of the distances, the speed distributions, the descent rate distributions and the altitude distributions. One of the approaches to determine the optimum distance that gives the minimum delay time is presented using the simulation and the test of statistical hypothesis.