Airport Layout Updater Using Flight Surveillance Information

Abstract

Accurate airport layout information is essential for airport surface movement research. This study evaluates if flight movements from the Airport Surface Detection Equipment—Model X, combined with taxiway design standards from the Federal Aviation Administration, can automatically update surface polygons on airport layouts and distinguish whether the new polygon is a taxiway or apron. The study updates the layouts for six United States airports. The Airport Layout Updater developed uses [Formula: see text]-means to detect the taxiway centerlines before applying the widths and fillets based on the design aircraft that used that surface. New apron areas are detected where the transponders are turned on/off, indicating a gate-out/gate-in event. Airport surfaces are removed if they overlap with the runway polygons, which the Federal Aviation Administration updates every 28 days. The Airport Layout Updater had a 98.8% success rate of detecting a new surface and 81.0% of generating a surface that accurately represents the bearing, shape, and size of the real-life surface. Future research could improve the fillet generation algorithm by differentiating between nonexisting fillets and those that exist but were not used by flights. Similar limitations were found for apron areas, where flights do not travel near the apron perimeter.