Optimal Metering Point Configurations for Optimized Profile Descent Based Arrival Operations at Airports.

Optimized profile descent (OPD) is an arrival procedure for the Next Generation Air Transportation System, which has been demonstrated to effectively decrease noise, emissions, and fuel costs. Implementation of OPD operations requires effective metering policies because of the increased role of uncertainty in aircraft trajectories during descent. While optimal sequencing and spacing of OPD flights have been studied in the literature, any potential savings resulting from possible changes in metering point configurations have not been addressed. In this paper, we develop models to further increase the value of OPD operations over conventional arrival procedures by optimizing metering point configurations, which include identification of the optimal number and locations of metering points to use during OPD. We derive an algorithmic framework based on implementations of a stochastic dynamic programming model and a nonlinear stochastic integer program to identify best metering point configurations where resulting computational difficulties are addressed through convex approximation and Lagrangian decomposition procedures. We also describe numerical results based on actual traffic information at major U.S. airports, which indicate that the total potential savings in the top 10 major airports could be up to $22 million a year if the proposed policies are implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]