Hamsa Balakrishnan takes pride in developing algorithms for helping controllers as well as pilots in managing better job to schedule of take off.

Experiencing flight's delay? Well, nothing new: As per a 2009 FAA study, up to one quarter of U.S. arrivals are. It’s really pathetic because it not only sucks hours of precious time, but also lets your important plans hamper for days or even weeks sometime.

Needless to mention, flight delays directly affect economy. Although controlling the sources of delays is not that easy as nobody can predict or change inclement weather and also can’t help out in technical faults and most airlines overbook as a policy that really affect other departures and arrivals as well, yet Hamsa Balakrishnan, the MIT Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems has come up with a genuine solution to improve air-traffic performance.

After considering historical data of what causes delays, she develops algorithms that actually provide solution to the controllers as well as pilots of air-traffic better managing who's taking off and when, s well as ability for predicting congestion.

Balakrishnan adds, "We try looking at times in the past when the system operated really well and understanding the decisions made by pilots and controllers on that day ".”We want to help everyone make those good decisions"—not just those workers with more experience and know-how.

After years of experience in developing and testing models of how airports work under different situations, Balakrishnan and her colleagues worked with air-traffic controllers at Boston's Logan International Airport for determining to communicate the recommendations of algorithm.

"Let's say you have bad weather conditions in the airspace," Balakrishnan adds. "We would know there's going to be lower capacity for aircraft on a runway, maybe just 10 taking off. We can make a recommendation to the air-traffic controller to meter out departures over time maintaining efficiency and reduce congestion." 

Color-coded cards (above) showing time of day as well as ideal pushback rates proved useful—controllers followed suggestions and shared with pilots on the ground.

One year later in 2010, Balakrishnan returned to Logan with her team and tested an updated version of the model. Now, researchers used Android tablets (see left) for displaying explained info for air-traffic controllers, like numbers of announced aircraft they were all set for pushback, and visual cues that displayed the passage of time. And guess what, air traffic controllers gave overwhelmingly positive response. And after eighty four-hours’ testing, delay times dropped and estimated 2,650 gallons fuel. Moreover, 29 tons of CO2 emissions were saved.

After all this, Balakrishnan looks herself in more bigger picture: Better transportation systems, period. "We're actually considering mobility—how to get people from point A to point B," she adds. "Very often there are situations when we should think of more multi-modal system design." Balakrishnan points to high-speed rail as an alternate for high-volume inter-city airline routes. In the mean time, she is working closely with FAA for incorporating her anti-delay models into plans for next generation.Read more

Source:http://www.citylab.com/cityfixer/2014/10/one-way-to-avoid-flight-delays-help-air-traffic-controllers-do-a-better-job/381559/