Airport Surface Modelling and Simulation Based on Timed Coloured Petri Net

In order to satisfy the requirements of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for aircraft taxi route planning in Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS), an airport surface operation modelling and simulation approach based on timed and coloured Petri net is presented. According to the layout of the airport surface and the features of surface operation units, a static Petri net model of the airport surface is established. On this basis, in line with the requirements on the aircraft taxiing velocity in ICAO DOC 9830, the dynamic Petri net model of the airport surface operation is established by adding the time attribute to the static model. Additionally, the method of defining the capacity of airport operation unit place is proposed and the constraints of the airport surface operation are incorporated using Petri net elements. Unlike other papers in the field, the airport surface Petri net model established in this paper can simulate conflict-free taxiing using a Petri net simulator without relying on other model-independent algorithms. Based on the CPN Tools software, taking Toulouse Airport as an example, the validity of the model has been verified by comparing the model running data with real flight data.