Optimization of aircraft pushback decision based on discrete differential evolution

Airport congestion is one of the great challenges for the domestic and international airport management department, and it will continue to exist for a long time in the future. In order to improve the control efficiency of aircraft pushback, alleviate the surface congestion, decrease the fuel consumption and CO emission, a control strategy based on discrete differential evolution for aircraft pushback is proposed. First, we carry on a comprehensive analysis of aircraft ground operation cost. Second, we build a double objective optimization model of aircraft ground operation cost and average gate hold time. Third, a new discrete differential evolution algorithm is proposed for aircraft pushback slot allocation. We correct the solution vector which spills over the normal range and restrict it into the search space, and present the corresponding crossover strategy to remove the repeated integer in the solution vectors. At last, the proposed model is applied to the Xinzheng International Airport to study the decision optimization for aircraft pushback. The calculation results confirm the advantages of the proposed model and the algorithm.