Decision Support for Rapid Deployment Planning at Air Ports of Embarkation

While conducting Aerial Port Operations, delays and bottlenecks may develop due to aerial port design. The widespread use of manual planning systems with disparate automated information systems only compounds the analysis and planning problems. The Aerial Port Operations Planner (APOP) is a PC based visualization tool enabling planners to determine the optimum organization and location for aerial port operations facilities at a specific airport. APOP is a menu driven, rules based analysis tool that helps the planner evaluate alternative layouts for a specific airfield or evaluate alternative airfields. In addition to rules based analysis (e.g., ammo dump must be xyz feet from fuel storage), terrain slope analysis is performed to identify the optimum layout. Utilizing NIMA's worldwide digital data products (e.g., Digital Terrain Elevation Data [DTED]), results of the analysis are visualized on digital maps of the local terrain. APOP analysis reports allow planners to be able to project the amount of time it takes for a specific unit to occupy the selected APOE, deploy, clear the selected APOD, and be ready for integration into the battle. APOP also provides an automated interface to existing automated planning tools using DESE's digital glue concept.