Estimating requirements and costs of 4D ATM in high density terminal areas

Abstract

High density terminal areas of large international airports present an extra challenge to 4D ATM concepts due to their traffic volume on the one hand and the traffic complexity on the other hand. This paper presents an approach to estimate requirements and costs for applying 4D ATM in a high density Terminal Manoeuvring Area in a specific example. A scenario Utopia is constructed to represent the upper boundary for improvements through 4D ATM in certain performance areas. Simultaneously, it is used to measure the associated costs and to describe constraining requirements. Utopia contains an arrival and departure route structure for a hub airport with lateral connections as short as possible and optimized profile descents. A realistic traffic example is used to identify problem areas to be solved. The paper describes the Utopia approach, preliminary considerations on selected topics, a specific example for an additional requirement and first numerical results.