Applications of ASDE-X Data to the analysis of airport surface operations

Abstract

While much attention has been given to analyzing and optimizing problems in air transportation, relatively little research has gone into studying airport surface operations. In recent years a surface surveillance system called Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model-X (ASDE-X) has been installed at over 30 airports in the US as a safety device. The applications of the data being captured by these systems are far broader than just promoting safety. In this thesis, it will be demonstrated how ASDE-X data can be analyzed to characterize airport operations, and how it might be used going forward in real-time. The process of converting the raw ASDE-X data into a useable format will be discussed. Then, an analysis of airport operations at LaGuardia Airport and Philadelphia Airport will be presented using three months of summer data. These airports will be studied both in an aggregate fashion as well as for individual runway configurations. Finally, a case study of an Android tablet application will be presented as a next step in automation for aiding airport traffic operations.