Simulation and Visualization of Airside Operations at Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW)

Simulation modeling and visualization can be of substantial help in studying airside airport operations, and by consequence can greatly contribute to planning and designing construction operations at airports in a way that has the least impact on airside operations. The characteristic that distinguishes the presented work is the capability to model and animate airside airport operations with high fidelity using general purpose discrete event simulation and visualization tools typically used to model and animate construction operations. The focus of the presented work is on evaluating the capabilities of state-of-the-art construction simulation and visualization tools in being able to accurately model and animate airside airport operations. The paper presents the simulation model and 3D animation of the airside operations at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) in Romulus, Michigan. It presents as well simultaneous modeling and visualization of operations in two different domains (i.e. airside operations and construction). The solution to the problem is described in detail using a simulation model developed in STROBOSCOPE [1] and a 3D animation created using VITASCOPE [2]. The obtained results highlight and prove that general-purpose tools, even if originally designed for specific domains, can be effective in studying operations involving the interaction of entities in multiple domains such as construction and airport operations.