Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology

Heliport network planning through OR methods and use of GIS

Luigi Maritano Salvatore Amoroso Francesco Castelluccio
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 Heliport network planning through OR methods and use of GIS

Introduction

Sicily is the largest island of Italy and in the Mediterranean Sea, it constitutes an autonomous region. Its position is

particular convenient since the mild and sunny climate, the archaeological and historical settlements and sites attracts

every year millions of tourists from all parts of the world. On the contrary, these advantages are often outweighed by a

lack in the transportation supply. The difficulty of moving across a hilly and, in some parts, impervious territory is widely

recognized as the major weakness of this island. As regards to the links with the rest of Italy, the air transport is the main
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way (for tourism purpose) since the insularity condition does not allow to reach the peninsula within an acceptable time

frame, and road, rail and maritime transport are not so competitive in terms of costs and time. But, as previously

mentioned, the greatest difficulty is to travel within the Sicilian region since the total absence of an intermodal planning

and an inefficient transport supply both for tourism by LPT or business and emergencies.

The Sicilian road network stretches for about 650 km of highways and 3,500 km of state highways (Source: ANAS). This

network seems to be inadequate to the traffic volumes on the whole territory. In addition, highways such as A19 (Catania-

Palermo) and A20 (Messina-Palermo) are often interrupted or poorly managed. Other highway sections such as A29

connecting Palermo to Mazara del Vallo are oversized with regards to the real traffic volumes. But the weakest point of

the regional mobility is the rail transport. The extension of the railway network is very small especially in relation to the

surface of the island. The only double-track lines are the tracts Messina-Patti, Messina-Giampilieri, Palermo-Fiumetorto

(East side of the region). All the inland Sicily is not served, with the exception of the connections with Enna, single-track.

Railway lines stretching for 1,449.4 km, of which just 65.3 km are double track lines and 522.3 km electrified. These data

show a clear state of backwardness, especially if compared to the rest of Italy, where the double-track lines represent

35% of the network, while those electrified are the 58%. A rail trip from Palermo to Catania, located about 200 km away

from the Sicilian capital, requires more than three hours. The is no direct connection between the provinces of Agrigento

and Trapani. Also the services offered to the tourists are poor: the lack of information, the difficulties in buying the ticket

and the long waiting times at stops and stations make life difficult for the tourism (Amoroso et al. 2015, Castelluccio et al.

2015).

As regards the air transport, Sicily has 6 main airports: Palermo Punta Raisi, Catania Fontanarossa, Trapani Birgi,

Comiso, Lampedusa and Pantelleria. Every year more than 12 million of passengers are moved by commercial air

services (Source: ENAC, 2013). These traffic volumes are characterized by seasonality so during the summer months
 there are peaks in demand. Considering the lack of supply of the land transport and the orography of the island, an

hypothesis often considered is the possibility of travel around and inside Sicily by helicopters. The airports could be the

bases for the intermodal transfer from aircrafts to helicopters. The service could include point-to-point links between

helipads located near the most important tourist centres or daily tours to and from the smaller islands. Clearly the highest

cost of this service compared to the land conventional means would be attractive to customers with a high willingness to

pay, so further studies carried out by Amoroso et al. have demonstrated the feasibility thresholds of such a service.

Another important use of the helicopter in the island could be the one for emergencies and firefighting. Sicily has a large

forest heritage to protect (Figure 1). Unfortunately, it is a territory where every year there are more than 200 forest fires:

Sicily gained in the 2013 the third position in the national ranking of the Italian regions per number of fires. For this reason,

a proper and efficient firefighting service could be necessary to solve this issue. So, almost all the region has a fire risk (a

map showing the regional fire danger zones is available at

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https://sif.regione.sicilia.it/ilportale/documents/10179/66275/Carta+Categorie+Forestali_light.pdf/cffdd1bd-b799-451c-

8e1b-aee586ab3f64 ). A helicopter firefighting service managed by the State Forestry Corps in cooperation with the Fire

Department is already active but the fleet is too small since it includes only two helicopters located in Palermo. The

regional government announced the purchase of 4 new helicopters for the firefighting service in July of 2014. But this

measure does not appear sufficient: an adequate network of helipads is required to reach every part of the Sicilian

territory within acceptable times.

Figure 1 Regional forest types chart (coloured areas are forests)

 On January 14, 2011, the regional decree n.4 concerning the “Realization of helipads belonging to a network plan” was

issued by the regional government in cooperation with the regional Civil Protection Department.

The aim of this work is the optimization of the proposed network of helipads. The analysis has been carried out to reach

both construction and renovation costs and a better localization of the infrastructures throughout the regional territory.

The purposes of the Plan can be recognized by reading some statements: “Ewith the aim of planning uniformly the

network of helipads on the regional territory so as all areas of Sicily can be easily and rapidly reached by a helicopter

service fitted on the population density and distribution, does not appear useful to analyze the territory starting from its

division into provinces. Provinces are indeed too large to guarantee the uniformity of settlement conditions. On the other

hand, it seems not appropriate to use the municipality boundaries (although the location of at least one helipad for each

municipality is the goal to aim for the long term) since the territory, considered from the perspective of a helicopter service

that ranges from 20 to 200 km, would be too fragmented for a first essential endowment of helipads to be placed on
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homogeneous areas. It is certainly adequate, instead, for the extension and homogeneity of the areas, the incorporation

of municipalities adopted for the Operating Centres of the Civil Protection (called COM – “Centri Operativi Misti”). This

subdivision also has the advantage of composing submultiples of provincial and municipal territoriesE”

According to the directives of the Civil Protection Department, the whole regional territory is divided into 96 COMs (Figure

2) labelled with an alphanumeric code whose alphabetic part designates the province.

Figure 2 Chart of the 96 “Centri Operativi Misti” managed

by the regional Civil Protection Department
 Overall 172 helipads are planned by the program, of which 46 defined as “Priority 1” (these ones are mandatory or to be

realized anyhow) and 126 defined as “Priority 2” (the realization of these are subjected to the availability of funds).

Specifically, the Plan states the purposes of the two priorities as follows:

Priority 1

- to strengthen the existing network with the creation of organized infrastructures, in terms of plant equipment, operating

exclusively for H24, by adapting helipads operating only in daylight hours;

- to enhance the helipads for the Sanitary service explicitly specified by the Regional Council;

- to locate or adapt helipads in territories with particular connection issues, such as the smaller islands or isolated

mountain communities;

- to locate or adapt helipads by placing them in service areas and infrastructures relevant to the civil protection and
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HEMS;

- to locate or adapt helipads placing them in service areas where there are industrial centres;

Priority 2

- to locate or adapt helipads so that they will be accessible from risky areas within travel times of 30 minutes by car;

- to locate or adapt helipads by placing them to the service of the COMs, favouring the municipalities headquarters of the

operational centres of civil protection and those explicitly named by the regional civil protection services in the provincial

jurisdiction of the DRPC (Dipartimento Regionale della Protezione Civile);

- to enhance the helipads designed to serve highly populated areas;

- displace the helipads in order to serve the municipalities that have gained the recognition as a city of art and / or tourism

(regional law n. 28/99 art. 5 paragraph 13);

- to locate, in barycentric areas, helipads for refueling.

The heliport network Plan issued with the regional decree provides two alternative Targets in relation to the intervention

type:

- Target A: concerning the modernization of the existing helipads, for which it is required an expenditure of € 150,000 per

single helipad;

- Target B: concerning the construction of new helipads, for which it is required an expenditure of € 400,000 per helipad

exception made for Palermo Boccadifalco that requires an expenditure of € 1,000,000 due to the construction of a new

hangar.

Clearly the high number of infrastructures programmed (172) can to cover all the regional area. As a whole, the regional

government has planned to allocate € 4,370,000 for the 27 “Target A” helipads and € 58,900,000 for the 145 “Target B”
 helipads. The 46 “Priority 1” helipads will require an expenditure of € 12,870,000 (almost the 20% of the available funds)

while to the 126 “Priority 2” helipads should be allocated € 50,400,000 subject to availability, for an overall amount €

63,270,000.

Before going into the context of the analysis, a recognition phase of the helipads and airfields in Sicily, potentially eligible

as nodes belonging to a network has been carried out.

Already existing infrastructures that can be used as helipads without new construction interventions, for which an

expenditure lower than those necessary for new helipads, are 93 (Figure 3), of which:

- 25 helipads authorized by ENAC (National Civil Aviation Authority);

- 34 helipads unauthorized by ENAC for which interventions are needed to obtain the certification;

- 20 hospital helipads authorized by ENAC for HEMS;

- 14 airfields authorized by ENAC.

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Other infrastructures are anyhow existent but for the aims of the analysis have been excluded for their degradation.

The methodology for the evaluation of the intervention priorities along with the scientific background used for the analysis

will be explained in detail in the next paragraph.

It is important to stress that the authors are not to merely critic with regard to the Plan proposed by the regional

government and the Civil Protection Department but this analysis would be a proposal for further discussions and insights,

to reach the optimal solution for a better implementation of the helicopter service.

Figure 3 Existing helipads and airfields in Sicily

 Methodology for the evaluation of the intervention priorities: use of GIS and Linear
Programming

The adopted methodology was based on the blended use of an open source GIS software and Operations Research

models. The utility of applying both these instruments lies on the possibility of have a direct geographic information on the

results of the optimization models such the localization problems (see Farahani et al., Bråthen et al., Libardo et al.). In this

way, the outcomes become more clear for a better decision making process. The network proposed by the Civil Protection

Department, described in the previous paragraph, appears still too dense with respect to the real needs for HEMS, SAR,

firefighting and tourism services by helicopters. In fact, most of the 96 COMs has a very low surface especially those in

the eastern part of Sicily. Some of them (i.e. Giarre, Gravina di Catania, Pedara, Canicattini Bagni and Comiso) have an

area lower than 70 square kilometres.

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Considering the obvious waste of financial resources and the surplus of helipads that would be generated from the

execution of the Plan, the methodology proposed here aims to identify priority criteria to choose the infrastructures to be

realized. The proposed criterion, in terms of accessibility, is the following: “to assign to an infrastructure a catchment area

coincident with the COM in which it is located. An infrastructure placed in a COM can serve that COM and the adjacent

COMs. If the area of the COM is greater than the average area of all COMs then it is anyhow necessary to build (or adapt)

an infrastructure.” The purpose is to minimize the number of helipads and the contextual cost reduction under the

constraint of the coverage of the whole territory. So, an efficient helicopter service with an optimal coverage within travel

times of 15 minutes from each of helipads (by considering a design helicopter with a cruise speed of 180 km/h and a

maximum displacement of 45 km) will be offered. Clearly, smaller islands are considered as exceptions and so at least

one helipad should be placed into each of them. In this way noticeable advantages will be obtained for the coordination of

HEMS, SAR, firefighting and tourist services: so, the saved funds could be used for financing plans and programs for the

improvement of the road and rail accessibility to and from the helipads. The localization problem just described is shown

in the scientific literature as “Set Covering”. Let now describe the theoretical principles of this model used for the analysis.

The Location Set Covering Problem (LSCP) was defined more than thirty years ago by Toregas (1970) and in the pages

of Geographical Analysis by Toregas and ReVelle (1976). This location problem involves finding the smallest number of

facilities (and their locations) such that each demand is no farther than a pre-specified distance or time away from its

closest facility. Such a problem is called a “covering” problem because it requires that each demand be served or

“covered within some maximum time or distance standard. A demand is defined as covered if one or more facilities are

located within the maximum distance or time standard. Other authors (see Caprì et al., Costa et al., Drezner et al.,

Hermeto et al., Farahani et al.) proposed algorithms and models for the localization problems. This paper covers the
 classical LSCP, requiring that each demand is covered at least once. The most common applications involve crew

scheduling operations, routing problems and facility location problem.

The classical formulation of the problem is the following:

Let S1,S2,E,Sn be a family of subsets of a set S={1,2,E,m}. A covering of S is a subfamily Sj for j ∈ I such that S=⋃(j∈I)Sj .

Assume that each subset Sj has a cost cj>0 associated with it. We define the cost of a cover to be the sum of the costs of

the subsets included in the cover.

The problem of finding a cover of minimum cost is of practical significance. As an integer program it can be specified as

follows:

Define the m×n matrix A=ǁaijǁ by aij=1 if I ∈ Sj and aij=0 otherwise

Let xj be 0-1 variables with xj=1(0) to mean set Sj is included (respectively not included) in the cover

The problem is to:

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Minimise ∑j(cj xj)

subject to ∑j aij xj ≥ 1 I = 1,E,m

xj = 0 or 1

The m inequality constraints have the following significance: since xj=0 or 1 and the coefficients aij are also 0 or 1 we see

that ∑j(aij xj) can be 0 only if xj=0 for all j such that aij=1. In other words only if no set Sj is chosen such that I ∈ Sj. The

inequalities are put in to avoid this.

The steps of the analysis

The first step of the analysis was the organization of the data. After the recognition phase, all the data were implemented

into a GIS database. In particular, information such as COMs, infrastructures, targets, priorities, municipal and provincial

boundaries etc. were collected and imported into vectors by using different layers. This helpful work was fundamental to

manage a great amount of data in a quickly and useful way.

Then, a 96×96 adjacency matrix was created in a spreadsheet: its elements are equal to 0 or 1 respectively if the related

COMs are adjoining or not (Figure 4). The creation of the matrix was facilitated by the creation of an application that is

able to detect the “nearest neighbors” or the polygons adjoining the 96 COMs.

This is one of the main advantages of using open source program: to benefit from other users’ experience to achieve the

goal of our analysis. In this way processing times are significantly optimized.
 Figure 4 Part of the 96×96 COM adjacency matrix
AG_1 AG_2 AG_3 AG_4 AG_5 AG_6 CL_1 CL_2 CL_3 CL_4 CT_1 CT_2 CT_3 CT_4 CT_5 ….
AG_1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ….
AG_2 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ….
AG_3 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 ….
AG_4 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 ….
AG_5 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ….
AG_6 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ….
CL_1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 ….
CL_2 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ….
CL_3 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 ….
CL_4 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 ….
CT_1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 ….
CT_2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 ….
CT_3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 ….
CT_4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 ….
CT_5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 ….
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…. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….

The third step was a survey by the use of GIS to identify COMs with an area greater than the mean value. These are

overall 32 as shown in Figure 5. In particular they are: AG_1, AG_6, CL_1, CL_3, CL_4, CT_5, CT_7, CT_8, CT_16,

CT_18, CT_19, EN_2, EN_3, EN_6, ME_18, PA_1, PA_3, PA_8, RG_1, RG_2, RG_3, RG_4, RG_6, RG_8, SR_1, SR_4,

SR_5, SR_6, SR_7, SR_9, TP_3, TP_6. Analytically this subset of the whole set S including all the COMs was designated

as F. Lampedusa and Pantelleria were excluded from the analysis because located at a great distance from Sicily and so

a dedicated helicopter service is required. As regards Aeolian, Aegadian and Ustica, at least one helipad for each of the

islands of the archipelagos is necessary to guarantee a fast helicopter link to and from Sicily.

Once that the matrix was obtained, the optimal solution was researched assuming unitary fixed costs for all the

infrastructures. In this way the optimal solution becomes the minimum number of COMs where the helipads must be

located by guaranteeing a total coverage of the territory.

Figure 5 Chart of the 32 COMs with an area greater than the mean value
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Then, obtained the optimal COMs, a GIS-based survey was carried out to identify the ones where helipads are already

built and the related type of the measures to be implemented to reach the certification status. On the contrary, new

helipads must be built in those COMs where they are not present.

The second phase of the study was based on the costs evaluation of the helipads’ interventions in the “optimal COMs”

resulted from the solution of the Set Covering model. So it has been possible to evaluate the difference, in terms of

number of helipads and savings, with the scenario proposed by the regional government in cooperation with the regional

Civil Protection Department. In some cases, the optimal solution resulted in more than one helipad for the same COM.

From here the issue of selecting the infrastructure on which to focus. A plausible criterion could be the selection of the

infrastructure on the basis of its condition or type. Another one could be the selection of the closest helipad to the centroid

of the COM.

In all the other cases, there are COMs where no helipads are already present and new infrastructures must be built

following road and rail accessibility criteria, still taking into account the distance from the centroid of the COM.

The COMs where new helipads must be built, as a result of the optimization process, are overall 10, in particular: TP_3,

TP_6, PA_3, EN_3, ME_15, ME_9, ME_4, CT_5, SR_7, RG_6. The COMs PA_1 e TP_1, also resulted from the optimal

solution, including respectively Ustica and Aegadian islands. In the first case, it will be necessary to provide 2

infrastructures, both already built, of which one at Ustica and the other at the “V. Cervello” Hospital in Palermo. In the

second case instead, 3 infrastructures, one for each of the 3 Aegadian islands are already built whilea new helipad must

be placed near the centroid of the COM TP_1. At last, the COM ME_8 must include at least 7 helipads (one for each of

the 7 Aeolian islands), all already built. Figure 6 shows the map of the COMs resulted from the optimization classified in
 COMs were helipads are already built and COMs where at least one new helipad is necessary to offer an efficient

helicopter service.

Figure 6 Chart of the COMs resulted from the optimization process

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Finally, Table 1 summarizes the general framework of the helipads to be built and those already built, after the

optimization process, and the costs related to the type of intervention needed calculated on the basis of the estimation

reported in the decree n.4. So, a new “Priority 1” has been established: this one, compared to the one proposed by the

regional government, provides 2 helipads more but at the same time, it produces savings for an amount of € 2,920,000 by

respecting the coverage of the whole territory.

Table 1 Proposed heliport network after the optimization process

Helipads to be built Already built helipads

Number 11 37
Cost per unit (€) 400,000 150,000
Total cost per intervention 4,400,000 5,550,000
Total cost 9,950,000

Figure 7 shows the location of the 48 helipads included in the network proposed here, after the optimization and selection

phases described in this section. Of the 37 already built infrastructures, 21 (of which 7 hospital helipads) are authorized by

ENAC, 7 are airfields certified by ENAC, 9 are helipads unauthorized by ENAC. The first group of infrastructures doesn’t

need any substantial interventions. The second need to be converted into helipads where a prepared surface for

helicopters’ take-off and landing is not present. For the third is urgent to implement all the necessary measures to obtain

the certification.

Figure 7 Chart of the proposed heliport network resulted from the optimization process
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Conclusions

In conclusion, the carried out analysis highlighted how a better distribution of the helipads on the territory could be the first

step for an optimization both in terms of costs and times to provide an efficient helicopter service for several uses. The

network resulted from the outcome of the optimization process is able to produce savings for an amount of € 2,920,000 by

respecting the coverage of the whole territory, if compared to the one proposed by the regional government. The analysis

revealed also the clear advantages in using a GIS open source software, able to be updated by all the users and

particularly convenient if an “open data” campaign will be initiated by the regional government. Also the researchers can

contribute to develop new add-ons and application to include the optimization models into the GIS. So, the use of GIS as

planning support could simplify the decision making process. Moreover, the use of OR models has led to a fast

optimization process of the network even in presence of a very large amount of data as in this case. But this would be the

first step of an going analysis to be concluded soon.

Further work

In the near future the authors intend to improve the GIS database by including information about road and rail

accessibility. In this way, it would be possible to refine the study by a more accurate selection of the helipads to build on

the bases of accessibility criteria, to gain a further reduction in the construction and modernization costs. A better network
 would guarantee an optimal location of the infrastructures and consequently a better quality of the supply. The inclusion of

information about the other infrastructure (road, rail, ports etc.) would benefit the analysis in terms of choosing the best

way to provide the different services by the Civil Defence such as SAR, HEMS and firefighting. In particular, on the basis

of the proposed models, further research could be made upon the modelization of the accessibility and the related

inclusion into the constraints. Moreover, thematic charts based on forest sites could be added into the GIS database so as

to elaborate more accurate location models specific to the desired helicopter services. Different models for each of the

services (one for HEMS, one for SAR, one for firefighting etc.) could be implemented: eventually, a costs-benefits analysis

will be useful to find the best solution.

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