Airport Configuration Prediction

There is presently poor knowledge throughout the National Airspace System (NAS) of the airport configurations currently in use at each airport. There is even less information about expected future configuration changes. The airport configuration is a primary factor in various airport characteristics such as arrival and departure capacities and terminal area traffic patterns. These characteristics, in turn, are central to a variety of Air Traffic Management (ATM) decisions, such as setting arrival restrictions to avoid airborne holding. Consequently, uncertainty about the current or future airport configuration can result in traffic management decisions that under-utilize or overload airports, resulting in unnecessary or inefficient delays. Moreover, air carriers would make use of configuration information. FedEx, for example, selects parking gates for arrivals to Memphis based on expected departure runways to minimize taxi congestion and time. The proposed effort will develop an airport configuration recognition and prediction system. The airport configuration depends on a variety of factors; Phase 1 will consider local weather, arrival and departure demand, noise restrictions, and airport-specific considerations.