The Wake Vortex Prediction and Monitoring System WSVBS - Design and Performance at Frankfurt and Munich Airport

Abstract

Design and performance of the Wake Vortex Prediction and Monitoring System WSVBS are described. The WSVBS has been developed to tactically increase airport capacity for approach and landing on single runways as well as closely-spaced parallel runways. It is thought to dynamically adjust aircraft separations dependent on weather conditions and the resulting wake vortex behavior without compromising safety. Dedicated meteorological instrumentation and short-term numerical terminal weather prediction provide the input to the prediction of wake-vortex behavior and respective safety areas. LIDAR monitors the correctness of WSVBS predictions in the most critical gates at low altitude. The WSVBS is integrated in the arrival manager AMAN of DLR. Performance tests of the WSVBS have been accomplished at Frankfurt airport in winter 2006/07 and at Munich Airport in summer 2010. Aircraft separations for landings on single runways have been compared employing the concepts of either heavy-medium weight class combinations or dynamic pairwise separations where individual aircraft type pairings are considered. For the very conservative baseline setup of the WSVBS the potential capacity gains of dynamic pairwise operations for single runways appear to be very small. On the other hand, the consideration of individual aircraft types and their respective wake characteristics may almost double the fraction of time when radar separation could be applied.