Development of a framework for assessing the benefits of airport surface traffic automation

Explores the nature and evaluation of the benefits that can be expected from increasing the level of automation of airfield surface traffic control, based on a study of the proposed FAA Airport Surface Traffic Automation (ASTA) program. The evolution of the ASTA concept is described, and supporting technology and implementation issues are discussed. The nature of the expected benefits are identified. Some of the critical issues that arise in attempting to assess the magnitude of these benefits are examined. The methodology and preliminary results of two analyses performed thus far are described. The first consists of a study of the pattern of taxi delays incurred by aircraft at Boston´s Logan Airport during a busy period for which detailed movement data was available. The second consists of a review of data and previous findings on airfield traffic incidents from the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System, and the development of two approaches to assess the potential for ASTA functions to reduce such incidents. The critical questions identified by the work to date and the nature of the continuing research required to quantify the benefits of increased automation of airfield surface movement control are discussed