A Fast Flow Control and Approach Queuing Monitor using FDP in Excel Environment

Flow control monitor is relating to huge amount of flight data processor (FDP) and radar data processor (RDP) message to any en-route center. Under current high flow density situations, most major airports have encountered flow control problem. Approach queuing based on the estimated time of arrival (ETA) from FDP and revised by RDP on the metering fixes in the terminal control area (TCA) of a major airport may be constructed. This paper presents a simple method to reconstruct FDP message onto excel program to queue the approach flight to the destination airport. The queuing process reads all daily scheduled flights from flight plans at a major airport, and settles an initial queuing chart. The flow control software will check the necessary separation and constraints to allocate arrivals and departures in a maximum accepting rate. Once flow congestion in certain time slot may occur, the queuing monitor will send alert signals to the air traffic control (ATC) to determine appropriate separation solutions. To demonstrate the proposed method, Taiwan domestic flow control monitor on Taipei Sung Shan Airport (TSA) is tested using historical data for simulation. In Taiwan, typical short flights are operated that FDP data may be adopted for flight observation. This paper proposes a simple sequencing and rescheduling method to extend the flow control surveillance range as long as 60 minutes. Standard ATC separation rules and queuing rules are applied. The excel software can refresh any FDP change with 2 seconds. The simulation results appear feasible for flow control and observation for approach flights. In the future, the ADS-B data can be used to update the approach flight data for better performance.