Research on airport apron service based on particle swarm optimization

One of the reasons for the airport ground delay is the apron unreasonable arrangement, so arranging apron operating services reasonably and reducing ramp time have the practical significances. The particle swarm optimization is introduced into the scheduling problem, combined with the actual operation situation of the apron. Through studying reasonable arrangement of vehicles, this paper reduces the overall ramp operating hours. By using particle swarm optimization algorithm, the paper finds the optimal position of each vehicle and the location of the global optimum, then the flights sequences that the vehicles should serve are obtained and the service progress is found. The longest working time of the single vehicle is the minimum service time for this kind of services. This paper establishes the mathematical model of the vehicles, based on the particle swarm optimization algorithm. The simulation calculation results show the feasibility of this method. Through the optimization, the operating hours are shorter and the apron operating time is reduced, which will make departure time more reliable.