2026-09-19T09:10:05Zhttps://digital.lib.washington.edu/server/oai/request

oai:digital.lib.washington.edu:1773/234472025-01-07T20:53:35Zcom_1773_4888col_1773_4889

Mesbahi, Mehran Kim, Geun 2013-07-25T17:50:26Z 2013-07-25T17:50:26Z 2013-07-25 2013 Kim_washington_0250O_11893.pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1773/23447 Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2013 Current ground automation tools for Optimal Profile Descent (OPD) procedures utilize path stretching and speed profile change to maintain proper merging and spacing requirements at high traffic terminal area. However, low predictability of aircraft's vertical profile and path deviation during decent add uncertainty to computing estimated time of arrival, a key information that enables the ground control center to manage airspace traffic effectively. This paper uses an OPD procedure that is based on a constant flight path angle to increase the predictability of the vertical profile and defines an OPD optimization problem that uses both path stretching and speed profile change while largely maintaining the original OPD procedure. This problem minimizes the cumulative cost of performing OPD procedures for a group of aircraft by assigning a time cost function to each aircraft and a separation cost function to a pair of aircraft. The OPD optimization problem is then solved in a decentralized manner using dual decomposition techniques under inter-aircraft ADS-B mechanism. This method divides the optimization problem into more manageable sub-problems which are then distributed to the group of aircraft. Each aircraft solves its assigned sub-problem and communicate the solutions to other aircraft in an iterative process until an optimal solution is achieved thus decentralizing the computation of the optimization problem. application/pdf en_US Copyright is held by the individual authors. Air Traffic Controller; Air Traffic Management; Distributed Method; Dual Decomposition; Optimal Profile Descent; Path Option Aerospace engineering aeronautics and astronautics Distributed Method to Optimal Profile Descent Thesis No embargo open.access