Local conflict resolution for automated taxi operations

This paper describes two techniques to achieve conflict free automated taxi processes which have been implemented by an airport traffic simulator. The first technique is based on the transitive reduction of a given routing graph, automatically creating one-way taxiway segments that allow the application of local conflict resolution strategies, preventing aircraft from getting stuck within deadlock situations. It allows an automated assignment of reasonable taxi routes to flights without the need of further manual optimizations of the search graph. The second strategy presents a dynamic method of determining temporarily shared taxiway segments during movement, which are used to generate appropriate commands to guarantee safe and efficient taxi operations. Both are then compared with planning and scheduling driven strategies and results from preliminary simulations are given to emphasize the value of the presented techniques.