Characterization and Enhancement of Flight Planning Predictability under Wind Uncertainty

García-Heras, Javier; Soler, Manuel; González-Arribas, Daniel

doi:10.1155/2019/6141452

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The experiments related to assessing the impact of wind have been carried out using rather simplified wind field models. For flight planning purposes, more accurate wind field approximations would be required, however, as pointed out in [30], there is clear trade-off between accurate wind modelling and solvability. In future research, the effects of meteorological uncertainty on formation flight planning will need to be explored in detail.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since the employed NLP solver requires a smooth interpolated surface (differentiability requirement), cubic interpolation for 3D gridded data has been used. The spline approximation employed here is similar the approximation adopted in [30]-albeit in [30] the spline approximation is made in two dimensions, assuming flight at a constant pressure altitude. The major downside of the tricubic interpolation approach adopted in this study is that it results in a significant computational burden for calculating optimal formation flight trajectories.…”

Section: Formation Flight In the Presence Of Windmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To obtain smooth functions for describing the wind components over the North-Atlantic area, the wind data points at the defined grid have been fitted by polynomial regression in this numerical example. The approach taken is similar to that employed in [30]. More specifically, a polynomial surface of degree 4 in both latitude φ and longitude λ has been fitted for the wind components in a north-south direction (V W N ) and in an east-west direction (V W E ), respectively.…”

Section: Formation Flight In the Presence Of Windmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Trajectory Optimization of Extended Formation Flights for Commercial Aviation

2019

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This paper presents a trajectory optimization study that has been conducted using a recently developed tool for the synthesis and analysis of extended flight formations of long-haul commercial aircraft, with the aim to minimize overall fuel consumption. In extended flight formations, trailing aircraft can attain an appreciable reduction in induced drag and associated reduction in fuel burn by flying in the upwash of the lead aircraft’s wake. In the present study, a previously developed multi-phase optimal control (MOC) framework for the synthesis of two-ship flight formations has been extended to include the assembly of three-ship flight formations. Using the extended tool, various numerical experiments have been conducted in relation to the assembly of two-ship and three-ship flight formations in long-haul operations across the North-Atlantic Ocean. Additionally, numerical experiments have been carried out to examine the impact of wind fields on the synthesis and performance of flight formations. Additionally, a parametric investigation has been conducted to assess the sensitivity of the solutions with respect to the degree of the induced drag reduction that might be attained by the trailing aircraft in a formation. The results of the various numerical experiments reveal that formation flight can result in appreciable reductions in fuel burn in comparison to flying solo—particularly when larger formation strings are permitted.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Formation Flight In the Presence Of Windmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Formation Flight In the Presence Of Windmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Trajectory Optimization of Extended Formation Flights for Commercial Aviation

2019

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“…With these limitations, a robust optimal control calculation of trajectories with weather uncertainties are possible [24]. The influence of wind uncertainties and a realistic interpolation in the robust trajectory has been focused in [25], whereas the shortest path algorithm for a robust trajectory considering a variety of forecast ensembles has been implemented as cluster analysis [26]. A Mixed-Integer Linear Programming approach has been implemented to provide a trade-off between minimum flight time and minimum arrival time uncertainty considering weather uncertainties derived from ensemble weather forecasts [27].…”

Section: Today's 4d Trajectory Optimization Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advanced Flight Planning and the Benefit of In-Flight Aircraft Trajectory Optimization

2021

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The implementation of Trajectory-Based Operations, invented by the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research program SESAR, enables airlines to fly along optimized waypoint-less trajectories and accordingly to significantly increase the sustainability of the air transport system in a business with increasing environmental awareness. However, unsteady weather conditions and uncertain weather forecasts might induce the necessity to re-optimize the trajectory during the flight. By considering a re-optimization of the trajectory during the flight they further support air traffic control towards achieving precise air traffic flow management and, in consequence, an increase in airspace and airport capacity. However, the re-optimization leads to an increase in the operator and controller’s task loads which must be balanced with the benefit of the re-optimization. From this follows that operators need a decision support under which circumstances and how often a trajectory re-optimization should be carried out. Local numerical weather service providers issue hourly weather forecasts for the coming hour. Such weather data sets covering three months were used to re-optimize a daily A320 flight from Seattle to New York every hour and to calculate the effects of this re-optimization on fuel consumption and deviation from the filed path. Therefore, a simulation-based trajectory optimization tool was used. Fuel savings between 0.5% and 7% per flight were achieved despite minor differences in wind speed between two consecutive weather forecasts in the order of 0.5 m s−1. The calculated lateral deviations from the filed path within 1 nautical mile were always very small. Thus, the method could be easily implemented in current flight operations. The developed performance indicators could help operators to evaluate the re-optimization and to initiate its activation as a new flight plan accordingly.

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“…Arribas et al [8] present a robust optimal control methodology to calculate trajectories in the presence of weather uncertainties. In [9], they examine the influence of wind forecast accuracy on the robust trajectory and investigate cubic interpolation of wind. Legrand et al [10] provide an approach by gridding the world, applying a Bellman shortest path algorithm for each forecast ensemble and identifying the most robust trajectory using cluster analysis.…”

Section: Trajectory Optimization With Forecast Uncertaintiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

In-Flight Aircraft Trajectory Optimization within Corridors Defined by Ensemble Weather Forecasts

et al. 2020

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Today, each flight is filed as a static route not later than one hour before departure. From there on, changes of the lateral route initiated by the pilot are only possible with air traffic control clearance and in the minority. Thus, the initially optimized trajectory of the flight plan is flown, although the optimization may already be based upon outdated weather data at take-off. Global weather data as those modeled by the Global Forecast System do, however, contain hints on forecast uncertainties itself, which is quantified by considering so-called ensemble forecast data. In this study, the variability in these weather parameter uncertainties is analyzed, before the trajectory optimization model TOMATO is applied to single trajectories considering the previously quantified uncertainties. TOMATO generates, based on the set of input data as provided by the ensembles, a 3D corridor encasing all resulting optimized trajectories. Assuming that this corridor is filed in addition to the initial flight plan, the optimum trajectory can be updated even during flight, as soon as updated weather forecasts are available. In return and as a compromise, flights would have to stay within the corridor to provide planning stability for Air Traffic Management compared to full free in-flight optimization. Although the corridor restricts the re-optimized trajectory, fuel savings of up to 1.1 %, compared to the initially filed flight, could be shown.

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Characterization and Enhancement of Flight Planning Predictability under Wind Uncertainty

Cited by 9 publications

References 16 publications

Trajectory Optimization of Extended Formation Flights for Commercial Aviation

Trajectory Optimization of Extended Formation Flights for Commercial Aviation

Advanced Flight Planning and the Benefit of In-Flight Aircraft Trajectory Optimization

In-Flight Aircraft Trajectory Optimization within Corridors Defined by Ensemble Weather Forecasts

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