A new concept of engine-off taxiing operations promises to halve fuel consumption and reduce emissions at the airport. The more sustainable techniques require the collaboration of different actors from air traffic control to ground handling and a set of dedicated tools including fleet management algorithms and supervision interfaces to support the operators.

AEON defined a new concept of operations to make best use of green taxiing techniques; specifically, TaxiBots,  WheelTugs, e-Taxi, and single-engine taxiing were investigated to address airport ground operations at long to medium-planning and execution phases. In the long to medium-planning phase,  AEON integrates a supporting algorithm into the airport-collaborative decision-making  (A-CDM) platform to evaluate the taxiing technique most appropriate for each flight. Then,  in the execution phase, an algorithm for tug allocation and path planning is integrated into the advanced surface movement guidance and control system (A-SMGCS). The tools help ground controllers and pilots carry out taxiing operations more efficiently. 

The project also proposed a new role of tug fleet manager and designed its working position.  The operator assists the ground controllers by preparing the missions for each tug according to the initial plan computed by the algorithm and adapted to the actual operational situation. The tug fleet manager tools support operators in the implementation of the best tug (re)allocation.

The AEON solution includes additional functions, for example, computing routing and speed profiles for all aircraft and tugs and optimised engine start-up times, to maximize the engines-off time on the ground. 

Benefits

• 50-85 % less fuel consumption
• 11 % reduction in CO2 emissions
• Precursor to automated taxiing operations

Related Documents

Research paper: Dispatching a fleet of electric towing vehicles for aircraft taxiing with conflict avoidance and efficient battery charging