Variable Aircraft Spacing Quadratic Bézier Curve Trajectory Planning for Cascading Delay Mitigation

Congested airspace conflict resolution during terminal operations is a common air traffic management issue that may produce cascading delays. Vehicles needing emergency clearance to land, at either traditional airports or vertiports, would require others on approach to move out of the way and, in so...

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Main Authors: Michael R. Variny, Travis W. Moleski, Jay P. Wilhelm
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-04-01
Series:Aerospace
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/12/5/382
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author Michael R. Variny
Travis W. Moleski
Jay P. Wilhelm
author_facet Michael R. Variny
Travis W. Moleski
Jay P. Wilhelm
author_sort Michael R. Variny
collection DOAJ
description Congested airspace conflict resolution during terminal operations is a common air traffic management issue that may produce cascading delays. Vehicles needing emergency clearance to land, at either traditional airports or vertiports, would require others on approach to move out of the way and, in some instances, cause a wave of delay to propagate through all vehicles on approach. Specifically, uncrewed aerial systems utilizing near-maximum arrival rates would be greatly impacted when requested to move off their approach path and may interfere with others. Vertiports further complicate crowded approaches because vehicles can arrive from many different angles at the same time to maximize landing area usage. Traditional air traffic management techniques were studied for vertiport applications specific to high-capacity operations. This work investigated methods of uniformly re-directing vehicles on approach to a vertiport that would be impacted by an emergency vehicle to minimize or avoid cascading delays. A route of time-optimal Bézier curves as well as Dubins paths optimized for interception heading was generated and flown on as an alternate maneuver when an unaccounted-for emergency vehicle initiated a bypass of an air traffic fleet. A comparison to flight on a holding pattern showed that the Bézier and Dubins route improved delay times and mitigated a cascading delay effect.
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spelling doaj-art-9eec8e194b1044fdb23bfea3ebf46a002025-08-20T03:47:49ZengMDPI AGAerospace2226-43102025-04-0112538210.3390/aerospace12050382Variable Aircraft Spacing Quadratic Bézier Curve Trajectory Planning for Cascading Delay MitigationMichael R. Variny0Travis W. Moleski1Jay P. Wilhelm2Mechanical Engineering, Russ College of Engineering and Technology, Ohio University, Athens Campus, Athens, OH 45701, USAMechanical Engineering, Russ College of Engineering and Technology, Ohio University, Athens Campus, Athens, OH 45701, USAMechanical Engineering, Russ College of Engineering and Technology, Ohio University, Athens Campus, Athens, OH 45701, USACongested airspace conflict resolution during terminal operations is a common air traffic management issue that may produce cascading delays. Vehicles needing emergency clearance to land, at either traditional airports or vertiports, would require others on approach to move out of the way and, in some instances, cause a wave of delay to propagate through all vehicles on approach. Specifically, uncrewed aerial systems utilizing near-maximum arrival rates would be greatly impacted when requested to move off their approach path and may interfere with others. Vertiports further complicate crowded approaches because vehicles can arrive from many different angles at the same time to maximize landing area usage. Traditional air traffic management techniques were studied for vertiport applications specific to high-capacity operations. This work investigated methods of uniformly re-directing vehicles on approach to a vertiport that would be impacted by an emergency vehicle to minimize or avoid cascading delays. A route of time-optimal Bézier curves as well as Dubins paths optimized for interception heading was generated and flown on as an alternate maneuver when an unaccounted-for emergency vehicle initiated a bypass of an air traffic fleet. A comparison to flight on a holding pattern showed that the Bézier and Dubins route improved delay times and mitigated a cascading delay effect.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/12/5/382trajectoryBézierDubinsoptimizationAAMvertiport
spellingShingle Michael R. Variny
Travis W. Moleski
Jay P. Wilhelm
Variable Aircraft Spacing Quadratic Bézier Curve Trajectory Planning for Cascading Delay Mitigation
Aerospace
trajectory
Bézier
Dubins
optimization
AAM
vertiport
title Variable Aircraft Spacing Quadratic Bézier Curve Trajectory Planning for Cascading Delay Mitigation
title_full Variable Aircraft Spacing Quadratic Bézier Curve Trajectory Planning for Cascading Delay Mitigation
title_fullStr Variable Aircraft Spacing Quadratic Bézier Curve Trajectory Planning for Cascading Delay Mitigation
title_full_unstemmed Variable Aircraft Spacing Quadratic Bézier Curve Trajectory Planning for Cascading Delay Mitigation
title_short Variable Aircraft Spacing Quadratic Bézier Curve Trajectory Planning for Cascading Delay Mitigation
title_sort variable aircraft spacing quadratic bezier curve trajectory planning for cascading delay mitigation
topic trajectory
Bézier
Dubins
optimization
AAM
vertiport
url https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/12/5/382
work_keys_str_mv AT michaelrvariny variableaircraftspacingquadraticbeziercurvetrajectoryplanningforcascadingdelaymitigation
AT traviswmoleski variableaircraftspacingquadraticbeziercurvetrajectoryplanningforcascadingdelaymitigation
AT jaypwilhelm variableaircraftspacingquadraticbeziercurvetrajectoryplanningforcascadingdelaymitigation