The design and simulation of an arrival flight scheduling decision support system based on real-time optimization and human-machine interaction

Arrival sequencing and scheduling is an important decision problem for air traffic controller (ATC) in daily operations. ATCs must select an arrival route for each flight, trying to minimize the airborne delay and to satisfy the preference of airlines, while maintaining minimum separation between aircrafts to ensure safety. Without the aid of automation system, the optimal schedule that reduces delay cost is often not achieved because of the excessive workload on ATCs. This paper presents a real-time decision support system which provides air traffic controllers with optimized advisories on arrival sequence and schedule. Radar data, flight plan and airspace resource information are integrated to provide situation awareness. A mixed integer programming model is used to generate optimized schedule with minimal delay cost. Interactive user interface enables ATC to modify the entry fix assignment manually and compare different schedules efficiently. This system provides a foundation for computer aided decision-making on air traffic control operations to or from the Beijing Capital International Airport.