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Point Merge for Oslo, Dublin and Rome? |
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Point Merge is an innovative procedure developed by the EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre (EEC) to merge arrival flows of aircraft. Point Merge aims at improving and harmonising arrival operations with existing technology. It enables continuous descent approaches even under high traffic loads, with a potential average fuel saving of 100kg per aircraft in the terminal area.
EUROCONTROL is working together with the Norwegian, Irish, and Italian air navigation service providers (Avinor, IAA, and ENAV) to assess the applicability of Point Merge for Oslo, Dublin and Rome, as part of the reorganisation of their respective terminal areas. A first series of real-time simulations has been completed.
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Oslo simulation overview (extract from press-release) |
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Dublin simulation overview (extract from report) |
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Rome simulation overview (extract from report) |
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In addition to these short-term potential applications, Point Merge is also a key building block for longer-term developments in the context of SESAR, such as 4D trajectory management.
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EUROCONTROL Point Merge project web page |
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Oslo simulation (extract from press-release) |
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The first phase of real-time simulations to evaluate a new airspace organisation for the Oslo terminal manoeuvring area (TMA) has been completed.
The new organisation, planned for implementation during the first Quarter of 2011, relies on Point Merge, an innovative procedure developed by the EEC. This will be combined with a new arrival manager from Barco, for incoming traffic to Oslo airport, Gardermoen.
Point Merge aims at improving and harmonising arrival operations with existing technology including precision area navigation (P-RNAV). According to François Vergne, the EEC's operational expert, "Point Merge enables, in particular, continuous descent approach even under high traffic load, with a potential average fuel saving of 100kg per aircraft in the TMA. In addition to these short-term benefits, Point Merge is also a key building block for longer-term developments in the context of SESAR, such as 4D trajectory management."
The simulations are part of the Avinor Oslo Advanced Sectorization & Automation project (ASAP), established in May 2006. The overall objective of ASAP is to ensure adequate capacity for future traffic growth of the Oslo area, including Oslo and Farris TMAs and the adjacent ACC sectors. Geir Gillebo, the ASAP project manager said “Within the Oslo TMA, the use of Point Merge together with associated working methods and tools would enable a capacity increase of up to 30%. It would also allow the use of continuous descent approaches (CDA) and continuous climb departures (CCD) which are estimated to reduce CO2 emission per aircraft in the TMA."
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| Click on image to see larger version: Two Point Merge system (triangle) feeding the two runways at Oslo Gardermoen airport |
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The simulation activities, which began in February 2007 at EUROCONTROL’s CRDS facilities in Budapest with a model-based simulation, will conclude with a final large-scale simulation of the Oslo area in March 2009 at the EEC. They are carried out in the context of a specific agreement between EUROCONTROL and Avinor.
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| Simulation in progress |
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Joint Avinor EUROCONTROL press release |
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Hans Jacob
Hofgaard
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Dublin simulation (extract from report) |
As part of on-going development work to evaluate the potential for the Point Merge system to provide the improvements sought (in terms of operational feasibility, efficiency and potential benefits), a real-time simulation based on Dublin TMA operations was carried out at the EEC in January/February 2008 in collaboration with the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA).
Context: Dublin Airport movements have risen dramatically over the past decade and forecasts have shown that demand will continue to rise, at approximately 8% per annum, in the short- to medium-term. Consequently, a second, parallel, runway has been planned for commissioning in 2012 to meet the expected traffic increase. Recognising the demand likely to be placed on their services the IAA has also made plans for the period to 2012 and beyond and consequently added number of specific IAA objectives, including new sectorisation, and amended controller working practices and procedures based on single person operation (SPO) sectors.
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Workload: For the 2012 traffic demand, workload using traditional open-loop vectors was extremely high and achievement of the required throughput was not thought to be possible. However, the introduction of the Point Merge system reduced workload significantly, with an average reduction in instructions passed by R/T of 45%, and demand was able to be accommodated without excessive workload.
Situational Awareness and Planning: Approach controllers reported that they were better able to efficiently plan their traffic flows when the Point Merge system was introduced and that the ability to keep aircraft on FMS trajectory enabled better anticipation of traffic evolution.
ATCO Acceptance and Traffic Handling: ATCOs agreed that the introduction of the Point Merge system, together with implementation of SPO within the Dublin airspace enabled a more efficient and balanced distribution of traffic to be delivered to the airport. Comparison between metered traffic (as provided by AMAN-like scripting) and non-metered traffic flows proved that controller efficiency and planning significantly improved when smooth traffic flows into the simulation airspace were provided.
Environmental and Economic Issues: The concentration of aircraft tracks provided by adherence of aircraft to the Point Merge system procedures would have a beneficial effect with regard to noise and emission exposure. Furthermore, by enabling aircraft to initiate continuous descent approaches after leaving the Point Merge system sequencing legs additional benefit regarding fuel usage would be gained.
Safety Issues: A generic Point Merge system case is being developed by EUROCONTROL and the potential impact of non-nominal situations (e.g. sequencing leg run-off, missed approaches, weather affecting the Point Merge system is being addressed. However, during the simulation, it was observed that, from a subjective viewpoint, the Point Merge system does not appear to pose any more significant concerns than present day operations.
Training: A recurring theme in research into advanced ATM technique development is the concern that ATCOs would suffer from ‘deskilling’ as the ‘system’ largely changes their role from active controlling to passive monitoring. Although there was some apprehension here before the simulation was carried out, this was largely offset by the job satisfaction achieved by ATCOs handling far greater volumes of traffic more efficiently. Furthermore, ATCOs still have to use their skills to achieve the appropriate spacing between aircraft on final approach. It is clear, nonetheless, that appropriate and adequate training on normal and non-nominal situations would be necessary for both ATCOs and pilots.
Capacity Maintenance: Whilst 2012 traffic demand could not be accommodated by the current methodology, it was shown that the demand could be satisfied when the Point Merge system was introduced. ATCOs reported that it was easier to provide minimum spacing on final approach and thereby they were typically able to achieve an extra two arrivals per hour. Indeed, when parallel runway operations were tested as an ad-hoc exercise after the formal part of the simulation, airport movement rates of 78 aircraft per hour were achieved from a segregated (i.e. one runway dedicated for departures and one for arrivals) operation.
Flight Efficiency and Predictability: Analysis showed that the Point Merge system significantly increased trajectory predictability and reduced track dispersion, which would enable better planning and collaborative decision making between ATC, the airline operators and the airport authority. The Point Merge system working methodology dramatically reduced the need for holding.
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![Point merge [right] reduced trajectory dispersion compared with vectoring [left]](../../gallery/content/public/images/newsletter/2008/issue_3/comparison.jpg) |
| Point merge [right] reduced trajectory dispersion compared with vectoring [left] |
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The simulation showed that the Point Merge system has great potential benefit for implementation in the increasingly busy and complex terminal airspaces of ECAC in the years to come. From the Dublin point-of-view, the simulation confirmed that their planned new sectorisation and single person operations, coupled with P-RNAV procedures and implementation of the Point Merge system, would be able to accommodate the expected increased traffic demand resultant from the introduction of a second runway at Dublin Airport. In addition, by enabling aircraft to perform CDA, the Point Merge system has the potential to enable significant environmental benefits and fuel savings to be achieved.
To complete the IAA objectives, the development and assessment of operational procedures to support the implementation of parallel runway operations at Dublin and the integration of departures and arrivals based on agreed runway usage parameters need to be carried out. In addition, evaluation of the introduction of AMAN procedures at DATCC is required.
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Rome simulation (extract from ENAV report - courtesy of ENAV) |
The project is managed by ENAV Headquarters, with extensive cooperation of the Rome ACC and the ENAV CNS/ATM Experimental Centre. Support is provided by the EEC and Headquarters. Deep Blue is responsible for human factors assessment.
The project has two phases, consequential and strictly interdependent:
- Phase 1 – Small scale prototyping sessions at the Rome ACC
- Phase 2 – Large scale real-time simulation at the ENAV CNS/ATM Experimental Centre
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The first phase aimed to assess the domain suitability and controllers’ initial acceptance of the Point Merge concept in the Rome Terminal Area (TMA). Four prototyping sessions were held at the Rome Area Control Centre (ACC) in March, April, May, and June 2008.
During these prototyping sessions, the Point Merge concept was introduced in the Rome TMA for the management of traffic to Fiumicino airport (LIRF), with runways configurations 16R/L and 34L/R and in both full runways configurations and single runway operations. The introduction of the PMS concept did not affect the traffic to Ciampino airport (LIRA) – also included in the Rome TMA – that continued to be managed in a conventional way.
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| Design for LIRF 16L/R plus LIRA 15 |
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An iterative and incremental validation approach has been applied, which had the twofold purposes of gradually introducing the new concept to the controllers and profiting from the results of the previous session to prepare the following one.
The prototyping sessions produced positive results concerning the users’ acceptance and the domain suitability of applying the Point Merge technique in the operational environment of Rome TMA.
The controllers involved in the study found the method comfortable, safe, accurate and easy to learn and to apply. In a very short time they became familiar with it and were able to apply it properly and effectively, even under high traffic load and in the case of non nominal events. They considered the new technique suitable for, and easy to accept in, the Rome TMA sectors, perceiving it as an evolution of the current method based on radar vectoring as result of the introduction of the PRNAV capability.
In their opinion, the adoption of this method is likely to yield the following advantages:
- the standardisation of the controllers' performance, thus implying a standard high quality of the traffic management, less conditioned by personal skills and one’s own tolerance of traffic density and complexity
- improved teamwork, since the standardisation of the work allows the prediction and anticipation of a colleague’s behaviour, expectations and needs
- a general reduction of controller cognitive workload in all TMA sectors, since the standardised way of managing the arrival traffic simplifies the work and reduces the need for problem solving, continuous monitoring and R/T communication
- a general high level of job satisfaction amongst the controllers, since the reduced creativity required for the arrival traffic management is counterbalanced by evident positive results in terms of spacing and runway capacity usage.
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They also highlighted some drawbacks of the Point Merge technique, among which the following ones are worth reporting:
- loss of flexibility with respect to the current open loop vectors technique
- conditioned applicability in certain circumstances (i.e. bad weather conditions impairing the use of both triangles and point merges), thus entailing the need for radar vectoring to continue to be applied
- concurrent application of radar vectoring and the Point Merge method in case of traffic not 100% PRNAV equipped
- possible impact on the controllers workload in extended TMA (E-TMA) sectors
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They tended however to accept these limits as tolerable side effects of the Point Merge technique. They were conscious of these drawbacks, but did not consider them as so limiting as to impair the acceptability of the technique itself and/or its effectiveness. On the contrary, they appreciated the possibility to continue using the method even partially or in non-conventional ways in cases where it was not expected to be usable at all. The management of non-nominal events (i.e. bad weather, mixed equipped traffic samples and transition from the Point Merge system to radar vectoring and vice versa) confirmed these results.
The second phase of the project enlarges the scope of the investigation and considers the possible impact of the Point Merge system not only on the Rome TMA sectors, but also on the E-TMA sectors. In addition to the Point Merge system, an arrival manager (AMAN) will be also introduced in the second phase of the project. Although the AMAN is not mandatory for the use of the Point Merge system, it will be proposed as a support for the pre-sequencing managed by E-TMA sector controllers. The evaluation of the possible interoperability between the AMAN and the Point Merge system is one of the main objectives of the second phase of the project.
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Vincenzo
Melgiovanni
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Last validation: 25/11/2008
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