Benefits of Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control Systems (A-SMGCS)

This article presents a review of benefits of selected Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control Systems (A-SMGCS), which are being implemented stepwise in various environments. They are being developed in response to findings that a key element in air traffic delay is performance and efficiency of aircraft movements after touchdown. This can be seriously impeded by bad weather and congestion, given current systems, which are not automated and often rely on more primitive surveillance and control technologies. The shortcomings of current systems are illustrated by the growth in the number of runway incursions. The article provides a benefit expectation and assessment methodology, consisting of 20 discrete elements. Test conditions covered include BETA (operational Benefit Evaluation by Testing A-SMGCS) field trials at Hamburg and Prague from 2000-2002, EUROCONTROL real time simulations at Paris Orly and Charles de Gaulle from 2004-2005, and U.S. operational field trials at Memphis, from 2003-2004, Milwaukee (1992-2000) and San Francisco (1996-1997). Selected results are presented in all 20 elements of the evaluation matrix. Initial conclusions suggest that even incremental implementation of surveillance functions and incursion alerting will give significant benefit to airlines and other parties in the system. Additional field trials are needed, along with further extension of the systems.