Advanced surface movement guidance and control system investigation and implementation in simulation

Abstract

The Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (SMGCS) is a system providing the surveillance, routing, guidance and control supports to the airport traffic. The moving objects being managed include all the aircraft and vehicles in the interested area on the surface; the personnel making use of this system are the pilots, vehicle drivers, and ground controllers. The airport surface traffic management has long been discussed because of the operational challenges; this includes the increasing complexity of the field movement management and the density of airport traffic. To improve airport operation qualities, the Advanced Surface Movement Control and Guidance System (A-SMGCS) was introduced. In terms of architecture and capability differences, there are two levels of the A-SMGCS, which are A-SMGCS I & II. The positive impacts on the airport surface operation are: safety, capacity, efficiency, human factor conditions, and economic issues. This project deals with an investigation on SMGCS baseline and the A-SMGCS, covering the system conception, background, current developments and relative technologies. The applications in practical operations are discussed as well. There is also an analysis about the airport surface incursion classification and severity. Based on this, a simulation is presented to illustrate the practical applications of the A-SMGCS. The simulation results show the functions of Human Machine Interface (HMI) in A-SMGCS, including the designation and diversion for clearance, the real-time view of surface target movements and the indications for contracted incursions. Over all, the research aims are to work on an investigation and explanation of A-SMGCS, and to implement a simulation of the system functions. The implementation includes the image processing, system architecture definition in Simulink, Graphical User Interface (GUI) design for the HMI, and the corresponding Matlab programming for simulation environment establishment.