Alumni

The latest generation of Air-to-Ground Datalink (AGDL), known as Air Traffic Services B2 (ATS B2) is now being introduced into European airspace. As mandated by the European Union (EU), effective from 31 December 2027, aircraft receiving their first airworthiness certification on or after this date must be capable of downlinking and processing ADS-C Extended Projected Profile (EPP) data, as part of ATS B2. An important element of this AGDL implementation is the availability of detailed trajectory information with flight intent. This application leads to improved predictability, as it allows for more accurate predictions of an aircraft’s intentions and destination. Increased predictability enables improvements in key areas, such as safety, flight efficiency, and environmental impact. The aim of this research is to determine the impact of this improved predictability on the design of air traffic control procedures in lower airspace around Schiphol Airport.

Graduated: November 2024

An important bottleneck in managing inbound traffic capacity is the limited size of the Terminal Manoeuvring Area, which should not become crowded by aircraft arriving from the Control Area. This is done by arrival metering, a process entailing sending aircraft through the Initial Approach Fix (IAF) at pre-established Expected Approach Times (EAT). Currently, area controllers are required to deliver aircraft at the IAF at their EAT ± 120 seconds. Reducing this window in the near future would allow for less buffer times between aircraft to increase capacity, potentially allowing implementation of time-based separation at the IAF as an initial step towards trajectory based operations. This research aims to produce a visual decision support tool to aid the aircraft sequencing process and achieving EAT adherence at the IAF, that is compatible with the currently in use or upcoming systems used in the Amsterdam Area Control Center. To avoid significant changes to the modus operandi of controllers, the aim is to show the user the operational constraints and focus on expediting traffic. An experiment was conducted with eight professional controllers to compare the newly developed tool with a rendition of the current interface. The results are positive, indicating less deviation from the EATs in all participants and overall lower participant workload as a result of using the proposed decision support tool.

Graduated: October 2024

Predicting whether, and if so, the extent to which, aircraft ground handling is delayed has become increasingly important in the last decade as the aviation industry aims to improve the punctuality of its flights. Timely identification of aircraft ground handling delays allows the operational partners to update their schedules and reallocate their resources. While obtaining an accurate prediction is important, understanding how a prediction comes about is at minimum equally important. After all, this yields insights into the complex and stochastic aircraft ground handling process system, consisting of many sequential and parallel activities such as fuelling, (de)boarding and baggage (un)loading, and allows the operational partners to establish mitigation and/or contingency measures using knowledge extracted from the model. This research delves into the prediction of scheduled ground handling end time adherence at intervals during an aircraft turnaround at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AAS). To accomplish this, the processes and variables at play in the aircraft ground handling process are first identified and assessed. Subsequently, the aircraft ground handling process is modelled using interpretable machine learning.

Graduated: August 2024

Target Off-Block Time (TOBT) plays a crucial role in Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) as it serves as a key parameter for coordinating and optimizing airport operations. This research focuses on the importance of accurate estimations of TOBT in airport operations management. It highlights the challenges in predicting TOBT due to various factors such as passenger arrival times and ground handling processes. The complexity of these factors necessitates advanced tools capable of dynamically forecasting TOBT to enhance operational efficiency. The research involves a data-driven analysis to understand the primary causes of delays in TOBT. Through this analysis, the aim is to identify patterns and correlations among different variables influencing the accuracy of TOBT estimates. The ultimate goal of the research is to provide insights that could facilitate the development of improved prediction models for TOBT, enabling airports to better plan and manage turnaround processes. Enhanced accuracy in TOBT estimations can lead to smoother flight flow, reduced delays, and improved operational efficiency at airports. This research contributes to further optimizing airport operations and reducing the impact of delays on both airlines and passengers.
Reducing uncertainty for Flow Management of arriving traffic at Schiphol before departure.

Graduated: August 2024

RNP AR is a modern navigation variant of RNP, which provides flight crew with navigation capabilities to fly along a more precise flight path during the approach with exceptional accuracy and integrity. RNP AR characteristics provide benefits to stakeholders in terms of operational efficiency, safety, airspace capacity, infrastructure, and environmental impact.

Currently, a small percentage of flights arriving at Schiphol Airport operate according to RNP AR. In the near future, LVNL would like all incoming flights at Schiphol Airport to follow these procedures. However, it is unknown if it is feasible for the stakeholders, LVNL, KLM and Schiphol Airport, to transition to a full RNP AR operation and if all stakeholders are capable of this transition within the proposed timeframe. Therefore, this research provides a thorough analysis of the transition process, including potential benefits and possible challenges which will be faced when transitioning to a full RNP AR operation.

Graduated: July 2024

Due to the nature of KLM being a hub and spoke carrier, a lot of importance is placed on connecting passengers at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. Because of this, KLM operates using closely placed together bunches of arrivals and departures, such that transfer times are manageable for passengers. With an increasing amount of traffic, this often poses problems as the amount of traffic exceeds the available capacity at the airport, which leads to delays and missed transfers. In prior research, possibilities have been identified to implement inbound priority sequencing (IPS), which takes into account factors such as the potential for missed transfers. Using the priority of individual aircraft, IPS gives in-flight course corrections such that the aircraft are based on priority at the start of the approach. To make this viable, accurate predictions are required for the arrival times at the start of the approach, which have thus far been too inaccurate. To do this, the most accurate source of data for estimated landing times has to be identified, which then has to be used to obtain an estimated time at the start of the approach. For any inbound flight, this estimated time should be calculated early in the flight and be updated at least every hour until it arrives at the approach.

Graduated: July 2024

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol currently operates with three ATC towers, including one fallback tower. The main ATC Tower Centrum (TWR-C) and Tower West (TWR-W) are used in a dual-tower operation for ATC ground handling and runway control. TWR-W handles the air traffic at runway 36L/18R (Polderbaan). LVNL is conducting a study to integrate the existing two control towers into TWR-C; the motivation behind these considerations is to reduce costs and personnel deployment. Additionally, LVNL is exploring the possibility of remotely managing multiple regional airfields from a single tower center. This includes considering the option of multiple remote towers, where two airports could be managed simultaneously from one controller working position.

Graduated: July 2024

In light of the Airspace Revision Program, the LVNL wants to implement Continuous Decent Operations (CDO) to reduce noise levels and fuel consumption. A first step involves exploring the possibility for a CDO from 4000ft towards 18C, the Zwanenburgbaan. The airspace infrastructure needs to be redesigned in an efficient manner for both the pilot and the air traffic controller. This way CDOs can be flown whilst maximum runway capacity and safe separation is maintained. This research aims to investigate the operational and functional requirements necessary for the successful implementation of such operations.

Graduated: July 2024

In recent years, the Dutch government has been shifting towards new methods of limiting the environmental effects of the aviation industry in the Netherlands. These methods range from a new limit on the discrete number of aircraft movements and a shift towards a completely new system that only relies on environmental benchmarks, such as noise nuisance and the emission of harmful gasses. These new policies are bound to have an impact on the connectiveness of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AAS), an airport that has established itself as a transfer hub.  The aim of this thesis project is to perform an analysis to understand the effects of the future policy changes on the competitiveness of AAS as a hub. To perform this analysis, a traffic flow model is constructed in order to simulate the aviation network when subjected to the various proposed policy changes. The results will enable AAS to identify the critical tip-off points and to prepare for the predicted effects of the policy changes on the competitiveness of AAS as a hub.

Graduated: May 2024

To increase airspace capacity and reduce aircraft emissions, the ATM system will move towards Trajectory Based Operations (TBO). Current research efforts in TBO primarily focus on en-route area control and hardly consider how such operations could benefit TWR operations and, conversely, how TWR operations can perhaps improve the TBO environment by better integration. In a TBO environment, trajectory information is shared by aircraft via digital datalinks. Together with the current and predicted wind conditions, this information can be used, amongst others, to enhance departure capacity, different routing to reduce noise impact, reduced dependency of converging arrival and departure runways and outbound traffic segregation techniques. This requires accurate management of the interaction of flight paths in the CTR/TMA. The goal of this research is therefore to develop a support tool for TWR control to maintain separation between departing and arriving traffic streams in a TBO environment.

Graduated: May 2024