A multi-objective genetic algorithm for solving the airport ground movement problem

<p>The airport ground movement problem is one of the most important among airport ground operations as it connects runway sequencing and the gate or stand allocation problem. The main goal of the ground movement problem is to find optimal routes and schedules for all aircraft moving on the airport surface. With increasing air traffic, rising fuel costs and tighter environmental targets the efficient operation of the ground movement in terms of time and fuel consumption is becoming a more pressing issue. Therefore, in this paper a multi-objective optimisation problem is presented to simultaneously optimise departure schedules and speed profiles of taxiing aircraft. To solve this problem a genetic algorithm is adopted to investigate the trade-off between the total taxi time and fuel consumption. The experimental results, using real airport data, highlight the potential trade-off that can be achieved by selecting different speed profiles.</p>