OPs-TIMAL
Project Information
- Contracting Entity: Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi)
- Consortium Partner: Jeppesen Inc., DLR, INFORM GmbH, Fraunhofer FKIE, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, TU Braunschweig, DIEHL Aerospace, Rolls-Royce GER, SAP AG, Lufthansa Group, a.o.
- Project Duration: 60 months, January 2018 – December 2022
- Official Website: www.opstimal.de
Objectives
Turnaround processes prepare an aircraft for subsequent flights and are an integral part of fleet circulation. They are subject to complex process structures with a large number of stochastic influences and multi-dimensional resource dependencies. In addition to the optimal utilization of existing resources, the service quality and the planning stability are of elementary interest for all related stakeholders - airport, air traffic control and airline.
A lack of process control and delays in the turnaround are two of the main causes for inefficiencies in the air traffic system. Delays due to special events, such as inbound delays, ad-hoc maintenance requirements (MRO) in circulation and / or lack of resources, have a direct negative impact on fleet circulation and passenger flows.
The aim of the project is the development and implementation of a monitoring and control system for turnaround processes under consideration of stochastic influences and real-time decision situations in the network (further development of the Ground Manager GMAN). The project is in line with the objective of the joint undertaking OPs-TIMAL, which targets the establishment of digitized and efficient ground operations with positive consequences for both, the participants and the entire aviation system.
Work Packages of the Joint Research Undertaking OPs-TIMAL
The development, implementation and integration of the monitoring and control system for turnaround processes comprises four work packages:
- Definition of use cases, provision and filtering of real operating data as well as extraction of relevant failure scenarios
- Microscopic modeling of the individual processes of the turnaround and associated options for the process manager, as well as development of an optimization algorithm and prototypical implementation of the control methods
- Development of network-wide evaluation functions, as well as definition and implementation of interfaces to participating systems
- Development and implementation of the interaction to a holistic optimization tool for the integrative, robust fleet management
The scientific approach is based on a process sequence graph for parallel turnaround operations (see figure below), on which a Resource Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP) is defined. Thus, both the possibilities of process acceleration and resource-related network dependencies can be modeled and fed to an optimal solution. The solution is integrated into a "holistic" control system.
Prozessfolgegraph inkl. Beschleunigungsalternativen und Ressourcenabhängigkeiten
Evler, J., Schultz, M., Fricke, H. (2022b): Stochastic Delay Cost Functions to Estimate Delay Propagation under Uncertainty – IEEE Access 10
Evler, J., Lindner, M., Fricke, H., Schultz, M. (2022): Integration of Turnaround and Aircraft Recovery to Mitigate Delay Propagation in Airline Networks - Computers & Operations Research 138
Evler, J., Schultz, M., Fricke, H. (2021): Flight Prioritization and Turnaround Recovery, 14th ATM R&D Seminar 2021, online
Asadi, E., Schultz, M., Fricke, H. (2021): Optimal Schedule Recovery for the Aircraft Gate Assignment with Constrained Resources, Computer & Industrial Engineering 162
Evler J., Asadi E., Preis H., Fricke H. (2021) - "Airline ground operations: Schedule recovery optimization approach with constrained resources - Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies 128
Evler J., Asadi E., Preis H., Fricke H. (2021) - "Airline ground operations: Optimal schedule recovery with uncertain arrival times" - Journal of Air Transport Management 92, Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Research in Air Transportation (ICRAT 2020) as "Integrated Operations Control at Hub-Airports with Uncertain Arrival Times"
Evler J., Schultz M., Fricke H., Cook A. (2020) - "Development of Stochastic Delay Cost Functions"- SESAR Innovation Days 2020, online
Schultz M., Evler J., Asadi E., Preis H., Fricke H., Wu C.-L. (2020) - "Future aircraft turnaround operations considering post-pandemic requirements" - Journal of Air Transport Management 89
Asadi E., Evler J., Preis, H., Fricke H. (2020) - "Coping with Uncertainties in Predicting the Aircraft Turnaround Target at Airports" - Proceedings of the Operations Research Conference 2019, Dresden, Germany
Evler J., Asadi E., Preis H., Fricke H. (2018) - "Stochastic Control of Turnarounds at HUB-Airports - A Microscopic Optimization Modell Supporting Recovery Decisions in Day-to-Day Airline Ground Operations" - SESAR Innovation Days 2018, Salzburg, Austria
Master Thesis Guhr (2022) - "ATFM slot trading between airlines in capacity constraints"
Master Thesis Hannemann (2022) - "Influence of an airline's network strategy on its delay costs"
Master Thesis Labitzke (2022) - "Investigation of dependencies in the resource-based turnaround control of two airlines and a ground handler"
Student Thesis Höfer (2021) - "Analysing the influence of Dynamic Cost Indexing on turnaround management"
Diploma Thesis Zhang (2021) - "Stability of turnaround control under the influence of uncertainties"
Master Thesis Chen (2021) - "Estimation of Estimated Aircraft Turnaround Time (ETTT) with Uncertain Activity Durations using Fuzzy Critical Path Method"
Master Thesis Stiller (2021) - "Integration of approach and departure prioritisation mechanisms into a turnaround control model"
Diploma Thesis Werner (2020) - "Network control of an airline with flight-specific delay costs"
Diploma Thesis Matschewsky (2020) - "Process optimisation considering error frequencies and consequential costs due to aircraft damage during turnaround"
Student Thesis Berger (2019) - "Evaluation of Modelling Approaches for Crew Pairing and Crew Rostering"
Student Thesis Werner (2019) - "Analysis of Passenger Gate Handling Activities for the Development of a Process Control Modell under Consideration of Airline Service-Level-Agreements"
Diploma Thesis Brauer (2018) - "Simulation of Turnaround Processes using the Macroscopic Simulation Software ARENA"
Bachelor Thesis Bräutigam (2018) - "Evaluation of Aircraft Quick-Turnarounds at High-frequented Airport for the Development of a Decision-Support Mechanism"
Diploma Thesis Link (2017) - "Assessment of Control Measures for Inbound Delay Reduction at the Lufthansa Hub Control Center in Frankfurt"