IAT Academic discusses airport scheduling at Heathrow on BBC series

Lecturer Dr Jason Atkin from the University’s School of Computer Science appeared on the BBC's 'The Secret Rules of Modern Living: Algorithms' programme, aired on Thursday 24 September 2015 and available on BBC iPlayer. 

In the documentary Dr Atkin, who is a part of the University's Automated Scheduling, Optimisation and Planning (ASAP) research group and a representative of the Institute for Aerospace Technology, explained how a heuristic approach has allowed his research group to develop an algorithm to predict take-off times for aircraft at London Heathrow Airport before they even leave their stands, allowing other airport operations to be improved.

The challenge for Air Traffic Controllers at Heathrow is to maximise the number of aircraft departing every hour. However numerous parameters need to be accounted for when sequencing departures, making the efficient and safe ordering of aircraft extremely complex at an airport that ranks as Europe’s busiest.

The algorithm developed by the ASAP team predicts the likely order for takeoff and advises Air Traffic Control of when individual aircraft should ‘push back’ from their respective gate. This means that the plane’s engines can be started later, therefore reducing fuel burn and reducing passenger delays.

Links

• Watch the episode (available until 24/10/15)
• Explore ASAP’s work