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Tube Advanced Lane Control (TALC) |
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| Internal structure of tube - click to enlarge | |
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The design of the tube airspace between two points starts with the specification of an ideal trajectory taking into account airline preferences (flight prioritisation) and airport constraints (resources). The ideal trajectory becomes the main flow in a tube. Tubes are dynamic structures: they grow and shrink depending upon the level of traffic, the weather and congestion at the arrival airport. The tube organizer opens or closes lanes according to the traffic demand and real time conditions.
Within the tube there is a 3D route structure. The structure allows conflict-free crossing. Additional lanes may be opened to increase capacity or to facilitate entry into or exit from the tube.
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A planning process determines a sequence of 4D key points within the tube. In the simplest case the key points are the tube entry and exit points. A key point may correspond to a route change point or a time reference point. The aircraft flight management system aims to respect time of arrival at key points. Automated monitoring on the ground detects deviations from the 3D path of the aircraft and predicts early or late arrival at key points. Following an exchange between the tube organiser and the pilot, an aircraft which is not capable of respecting a key point will be instructed to leave the tube and return to sectorised control. Within the tube, responsibility for maintaining separation is transferred to the pilot, assisted by airborne systems.
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| Existing peak hour lanes - click to enlarge | |
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Coordination between a sector controller and the tube organiser ensures a smooth transition between the two kinds of airspace.
The concept of tube area replaces the control entity pair Sector and Flight by a Tube and Flow. The distinction between the sectorised area and the tube area is important: in sectorised control a controller is responsible for separation management but within a tube the pilot, assisted by an airborne system, is responsible. (Exceptionally, the tube organiser will remove problem aircraft.)
Lanes can be opened to increase capacity, to allow conflict-free crossing or to provide transit lanes assuring an easier sequencing between the entry (exit) and the main lane in a tube (sectorised airspace).
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Airlines would like flights to be on block at the destination as closely as possible to the scheduled on block time. This involves an efficient sharing of accurate flight information between many actors.
The process to obtain a better quality of data is derived from the Milestones Approach to Collaborative Decision Making at airports applied to the air segment. The overall negotiation concerning tube entry and exit and the flight profile within the tube is the responsibility of the tube organiser.
The tube is a reserved area. When an airline asks to pass in a tube, the tube organiser gives the entry/exit conditions (time, level, speed) and the airline can accept the passage or refuse it, in which case the flight will pass in the sectorised area.
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Sequencing (push back, de-icing, line-up, tube entry and exit, landing etc.) |
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The knowledge of criteria such as flight economic weight (FEW) from an airline and the flight arrival status (FAS) from the destination airport allow an ordering of competing flights. These criteria are used for sequencing to make better use of resources and to improve punctuality. TALC describes the dynamic use of these decision criteria. High traffic level asks for a better performance of the network and the best use of the resources (runway access, airport crisis & auto-regulation). Whereas for a normal traffic demand the TALC concept choices the user preferences first (flight prioritisation for airline).
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- Flight Economic Weight (FEW): The airlines have their trajectory preferences according to their flight policy: economical flight or just in time flight, aircraft type, the number of passengers, the number of the connected flights (Hub) etc. defining the Flight Economic Weight (FEW). The FEW can vary in real time depending of the schedule deviations or of accumulated delays. FEW can be flight plan information. The value of FEW can be used to give prioritisation between flights of the same airline (alliance).
- Flight Arrival status (FAS): Punctuality would be improved with new operation rules like the airport slot reconciliation. A comparison between the estimated landing time of a flight and its arrival airport slot gives a flight arrival status specifying when a flight is estimated later, in time or ahead. Through CDM processes in the gate to gate flight operations all the involved actors can take the flight arrival status like decision criteria giving advantage or not to a flight.
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- EUROCONTROL (2004), Florent, Jean-Pierre, Tube Advanced Lane Control – Concept, EEC, Dec 2004
- EUROCONTROL (2004), Florent, Jean-Pierre, Tube Advanced Lane Control – Scenario, EEC, Dec 2004
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For further information, please contact Marc Brochard:
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Last validation: 19/10/2005
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