Identifying vital edges in Chinese air route network via memetic algorithm

Due to rapid development in the past decade, air transportation system has attracted considerable research attention from diverse communities. While most of the previous studies focused on airline networks, here we systematically explore the robustness of the Chinese air route network, and identify the vital edges which form the backbone of Chinese air transportation system. Specifically, we employ a memetic algorithm to minimize the network robustness after removing certain edges, and hence the solution of this model is the set of vital edges. Counterintuitively, our results show that the most vital edges are not necessarily the edges of the highest topological importance, for which we provide an extensive explanation from the microscope view. Our findings also offer new insights to understanding and optimizing other real-world network systems.     

Percolation transition in temporal airport network

The air transportation system has a critical impact on the global economy. While the system reliability is essential for the operational management of air traffic, it remains challenging to understand the network reliability of the air transportation system. This paper focuses on how the global air traffic is integrated from local scale along with operational time. The integration process of air traffic into a temporally connected network is viewed as percolation process by increasing the integration time constantly. The critical integration time T_P which is found during the integration process can measure the global reliability of air traffic. The critical links at T_P are also identified, the delay of which will influence the global integration of the airport network. These findings may provide insights on the reliability management for the temporal airport network.     

Measuring the resilience of an airport network

Resilience is the ability of a system to withstand and stay operational in the face of an unexpected disturbance or unpredicted changes. Recent studies on air transport system resilience focus on topology characteristics after the disturbance and measure the robustness of the network with respect to connectivity. The dynamic processes occurring at the node and link levels are often ignored. Here we analyze airport network resilience by considering both structural and dynamical aspects. We develop a simulation model to study the operational performance of the air transport system when airports operate at degraded capacity rather than completely shutting down. Our analyses show that the system deteriorates soon after disruptive events occur but returns to an acceptable level after a period of time. Static resilience of the airport network is captured by a phase transition in which a small change to airport capacity will result in a sharp change in system punctuality. After the phase transition point, decreasing airport capacity has little impact on system performance. Critical airports which have significant influence on the performance of whole system are identified, and we find that some of these cannot be detected based on the analysis of network structural indicators alone. Our work shows that air transport system’s resilience can be well understood by combining network science and operational dynamics.     

空中交通相依网络的脆弱性研究

机场、航路和管制扇区构成空中交通相依网络,节点在受到扰动时,网络运输性能下降,引发网络脆弱性。提出一种空中交通相依网络脆弱性的度量方法,首先构建机场网络、航路网络和管制扇区网络3个层网络,基于空中交通管理规则与层网络间的逻辑连接关系,建立空中交通相依网络模型。在随机扰动和蓄意扰动节点两种不同失效模式下,采用最大连通度和结构熵两个指标,并给出了相应算法,分析相依网络的结构脆弱性;创建流量熵和交通流损失比指标,设计了相应算法,研究相依网络的功能脆弱性。研究结果表明,随机扰动对空中交通相依网络影响更大;网络的结构脆弱源与功能脆弱源是机场网络;网络的脆弱性与层网络间的连接方式和层网络的交通量不匹配有关。     

Evolution of airports from a network perspective——An analytical concept

Analyzing airports' role in global air transportation and monitoring their development over time provides an additional perspective on the dynamics of network evolution. In order to understand the different roles airports can play in the network an integrated and multi-dimensional approach is needed. Therefore, an approach to airport classification through hierarchi-cal clustering considering several parameters from network theory is presented in this paper. By applying a 29 year record of global flight data and calculating the conditional transition probabil-ities the results are displayed as an evolution graph similar to a discrete-time Markov chain. With this analytical concept the meaning of airports is analyzed from a network perspective and a new airport taxonomy is established. The presented methodology allows tracking the development of airports from certain categories into others over time. Results show that airports of equal classes run through similar stages of development with a limited number of alternatives, indicating clear evolutionary patterns. Apart from giving an overview of the results the paper illustrates the exact data-driven approach and suggests an evaluation scheme. The methodology can help the public and industry sector to make informed strategy decisions when it comes to air transportation infras-tructure.     

机场协同决策的应用历史与研究趋势综述

机场协同决策可以有效提升机场的运行效率,进而提升整个民航运输网络的运行效率。本文查阅整理了机场协同决策的相关标准、政策文件与研究论文,梳理了机场协同决策的发展历程以及国内外学界业界有关协同决策的研究及应用现状;分析讨论了机场协同决策未来的发展趋势与当前时期协同决策所面临的挑战;同时基于我国的实际情况,给出了一些机场协同决策的发展建议;总结了机场协同决策的理论与应用价值以及协同决策在我国面临的问题与挑战。本文研究可以为提升机场与整个航空交通网络的运行效率与经济效益提供理论支撑和依据。     

基于Agent模型的机场网络延误预测

准确可靠的机场网络航班延误预测是科学认知空中交通运行态势,动态精准实施国家空域系统容流协同调配策略的重要依据。提出了基于Agent的机场网络延误模型,表征机场网络系统中各元素及子系统间的交互作用下的延误特征涌现。针对机场节点动态容量、预计起飞时间、最小飞行与周转时间等Agent模型中的关键参数,适应性选用了贝叶斯估计、模糊k近邻等数据挖掘方法建立参数模型,并采用2015—2017年全美历史航班和气象数据进行训练学习。为综合评价模型性能及泛化能力,选取全美2018年3个不同延误程度的典型日进行测试。实验结果表明,在全美34个核心机场组成的网络中,各节点在4小时预测区间内延误最大误差不过27.9 min,其中约80%的节点误差小于5 min,验证了所提延误预测模型在时空范围内的准确性和稳健性特征。另外,通过与其他模型对比,展示了本模型优良的延误预测性能。     

Analyzing the multilevel structure of the European airport network

The multilayered structure of the European airport network (EAN), composed of con-nections and flights between European cities, is analyzed through the k-core decomposition of the connections network. This decomposition allows to identify the core, bridge and periphery lay-ers of the EAN. The core layer includes the best-connected cities, which include important business air traffic destinations. The periphery layer includes cities with lesser connections, which serve low populated areas where air travel is an economic alternative. The remaining cities form the bridge of the EAN, including important leisure travel origins and destinations. The multilayered structure of the EAN affects network robustness, as the EAN is more robust to isolation of nodes of the core, than to the isolation of a combination of core and bridge nodes.     

An evolutionary computational framework for capacity-safety trade-off in an air transportation network

Airspace safety and airport capacity are two key challenges to sustain the growth in Air Transportation. In this paper, we model the Air Transportation Network as two sub-networks of airspace and airports, such that the safety and capacity of the overall Air Transportation network emerge from the interaction between the two. We propose a safety-capacity trade-off approach,using a computational framework, where the two networks can inter-act and the trade-off between capacity and safety in an Air Transport Network can be established. The framework comprise of an evolutionary computation based air traffic scenario generation using a flow capacity estimation module(for capacity), Collision risk estimation module(for safety) and an air traffic simulation module(for evaluation). The proposed methodology to evolve air traffic scenarios such that it minimizes collision risk for given capacity estimation was tested on two different air transport network topologies(random and small-world) with the same number of airports. Experimental results indicate that though airspace collision risk increases almost linearly with the increasing flow(flow intensity) in the corresponding airport network, the critical flow depend on the underlying network configuration. It was also found that, in general, the capacity upper bound depends not only on the connectivity among airports and their individual performances but also the configuration of waypoints and mid-air interactions among conflicts. Results also show that airport network can accommodate more traffic in terms of capacity but the corresponding airspace network cannot accommodate the resulting traffic flow due to the bounds on collision risk.     

民用机场及附近空域空中交通流量优化

针对民航客运需求快速增长所带来的航班延误和空域拥塞问题,提出一种优化民用机场及附近空域空中交通流量的方法。通过空中交通走廊容量评估方法,对经典优化模型进行了发展和改进,建立起综合性优化模型;将机场和附近空域视为一个整体系统,根据交通需求和容量的相互关系动态调整航班流量和机场起降容量;在优化计算时,提出一种兼顾效率和准确性的新型优化算法。通过算例对所述优化方法进行了验证,该方法可以为空中交通管制人员进行流量优化分配提供参考。