Capability-aware traffic flow management for metroplex environments

In this paper we focus on the use of Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) to alleviate the congestion that exists today in metroplex environments and to achieve higher levels of system capacity. This capacity increase is enabled by the use of Area Navigation (RNAV) and Required Navigation Precision (RNP) procedures, which provide more predictable flight paths. Use of these procedures, especially in marginal weather conditions, would enable an ideal scenario in which all metroplex flows are de-conflicted. Complete de-confliction, however, requires that all aircraft be capable of flying such contained tracks. In today's mixed equipage environment, controllers must provide service to all aircraft regardless of their capabilities. Therefore, such full de-confliction cannot be achieved. A temporary solution for the mixed capability environment is to segregate capable and non-capable flows either spatially, by assigning them to separate routes, or temporally, by restricting access to only capable aircraft during a specific period. We investigate the role of Traffic Flow Management (TFM) in enabling such spatial and temporal segregation, particularly by exploiting existing and future PBN procedures in metroplex environments to partially de-conflict metroplex flows in marginal weather conditions. We argue that the planning of such mechanisms is too complex and labor intensive to be performed by controllers on a tactical level. The existing Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) process is thus proposed as a means of soliciting capability data from flight operators and factoring those capabilities into strategic TFM planning. We build operational scenarios to illustrate the role of capability-aware TFM in enabling the use of de-conflicted PBN routes. The scenarios focus on flows in the New York and Chicago metroplexes. In each scenario, TFM schedules flights such that only those that are PBN-capable are given access to an airport during a specified period, allowing for a temporary de-confliction of flows in the metroplex environment. After this exclusive period is over, all flights, PBN-capable or not, are granted access. We consider a proposed PBN approach to JFK runway 13L and an existing PBN approach to MDW runway 13C, and study potential TFM mechanisms to incentivize the use of those approaches to de-conflict flows. Our analysis proves the potential for capability-aware TFM to increase system capacity in weather-impacted metroplexes. We show that with the current PBN capability levels, such scenarios often result in significant benefits. We also discuss that the outcomes of TFM mechanisms are sensitive to variables in design and implementation of a Capability-Aware Traffic Management Initiative. To maximize the system throughput, traffic managers need to closely monitor the traffic volume and capability mix at each airport in the metroplex, and then to customize a dynamic plan. Therefore, proper decision support tools are necessary to help traffic managers design and deploy such complex and dynamic plans.