Virtual Block Control and Separation Bubbles in ATC Low Visibility Operations

The EUROCONTROL airport operations programme (APR) is providing stakeholders with documentation and support for safe, cost-effective and efficient airport operations. Within this work programme the potential of advanced surface movement guidance and control systems (A-SMGCS) to increase safety and maintain throughput in all weather conditions is investigated. Currently, airport operations under low visibility conditions are still based on procedures and working methods without automation support. National Aerospace Laboratory of the Netherlands (NLR) together with their partners from the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) carried out research activities on the selection and evaluation of candidate concepts for advanced operations with A-SMGCS surveillance under low visibility conditions as part of the EUROCONTROL APR. During dedicated interviews and workshops with stakeholders, candidate concepts were selected based on criteria for usability, safety, human factors, and cost-benefit. Two candidate concepts, named virtual block control and separation bubble alerting, emerged and were evaluated in full-scale human-in-the-loop real-time simulations of Rotterdam Airport on the NLR ATM Research Tower Simulator (NARSIM Tower) platform. The study showed that a combination of the two tower control concepts can indeed improve efficiency of operations under low visibility conditions. The designed interface prototypes are flexible and inexpensive tools that should be developed further.