Horizontal flight trajectory optimization considering RTA constraints

Abstract

The increasing of flights around the world has led to various problems for the aeronautical industry such as saturated air space and higher levels of fossil fuel consumption. The way in which en-route flights are handled should be improved in order to increase airways’ capacity. A solution is to make aircraft to arrive at specific waypoints at a time constraint called Required Time of Arrival (RTA). Fossil fuel brings as a consequence the release of polluting particles to the atmosphere such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides. It is thus desirable to compute the most economical trajectory in terms of fuel burn while fulfilling the RTA constraint. This article proposes a horizontal reference trajectory optimization algorithm based on the Particle Swarm Optimization technique in order to reduce fuel burn while fulfilling the RTA constraint. Results showed that for a flight without RTA constraint, up to 4% of fuel can be saved comparing against the trajectory of reference. The algorithm was normally able to meet the RTA constrain. However, aggressive RTA constraints might reduce the optimization levels of fuel compared with flights without RTA constraint.