A concept for multi-criteria environmental assessment of aircraft trajectories

Comprehensive assessment of the environmental aspects of flight movements is of increasing interest to the aviation sector as a potential input for developing sustainable aviation strategies that consider climate impact, air quality and noise issues simultaneously. However, comprehensive assessments of all three environmental aspects do not yet exist and are in particular not yet operational practice in flight planning. The purpose of this study is to present a methodology which allows to establish a multi-criteria environmental impact assessment directly in the flight planning process. The method expands a concept developed for climate optimisation of aircraft trajectories, by representing additionally air quality and noise impacts as additional criteria or dimensions, together with climate impact of aircraft trajectory. We present the mathematical framework for environmental assessment and optimisation of aircraft trajectories. In that context we present ideas on future implementation of such advanced meteorological services into air traffic management and trajectory planning by relying on environmental change functions (ECFs). These ECFs represent environmental impact due to changes in air quality, noise and climate impact. In a case study for Europe prototype ECFs are implemented and a performance assessment of aircraft trajectories is performed for a one-day traffic sample. For a single flight fuel-optimal versus climate-optimized trajectory solution is evaluated using prototypic ECFs and identifying mitigation potential. The ultimate goal of such a concept is to make available a comprehensive assessment framework for environmental performance of aircraft operations, by providing key performance indicators on climate impact, air quality and noise, as well as a tool for environmental optimisation of aircraft trajectories. This framework would allow studying and characterising changes in traffic flows due to environmental optimisation, as well as studying trade-offs between distinct strategic measure

Journey predictive energy management strategy for a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle

The adoption of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) is widely seen as an interim solution for the decarbonisation of the transport sector. Within a PHEV, determining the required energy storage capacity of the battery remains one of the primary concerns for vehicle manufacturers and system integrators. This fact is particularly pertinent since the battery constitutes the largest contributor to vehicle mass. Furthermore, the financial cost associated with the procurement, design and integration of battery systems is often cited as one of the main barriers to vehicle commercialisation. The ability to integrate the optimization of the energy management control system with the sizing of key PHEV powertrain components presents a significant area of research. Further, recent studies suggest the use of \intelligent transport" infrastructure to include a predictive element to the energy management strategy to achieve reductions in emissions. The thesis addresses the problem of determining the links between component-sizing, real-world usage and energy management strategies for a PHEV. The objective is to develop an integrated framework in which the advantages of predictive energy management can be realised by component downsizing for a PHEV. The study is spilt into three sections. The first part presents the framework by which the predictive element can be included into the PHEV's energy management strategy. Second part describes the development of the PHEV component models and the various energy management strategies which control the split in energy used between the engine and the battery. In this section a new control strategy is presented which integrates the predictive element proposed in the first part. Finally, in the third section an optimisation framework is presented by which the size of the components within the PHEV are reduced due to the lower energy demands of the new proposed energy management strategy. The first part of the study presents a framework by which the energy consumption of a vehicle may be predicted over a route. The proposed energy prediction framework employs a neural network and was used o_-line for estimating the real-world energy consumption of the vehicle so that it can be later integrated within the vehicles energy management control system. Experimental results show an accuracy within 20%-30% when comparing predicted and measured energy consumptions for over 800 different real-world EV journeys … [cont.]

Complexity challenges in ATM

After more than 4 years of activity, the ComplexWorld Network, together with the projects and PhDs covered under the SESAR long-term research umbrella, have developed sound research material contributing to progress beyond the state of the art in fields such as resilience, uncertainty, multi-agent systems, metrics and data science. The achievements made by the ComplexWorld stakeholders have also led to the identification of new challenges that need to be addressed in the future. In order to pave the way for complexity science research in Air Traffic Management (ATM) in the coming years, ComplexWorld requested external assessments on how the challenges have been covered and where there are existing gaps. For that purpose, ComplexWorld, with the support of EUROCONTROL, established an expert panel to review selected documentation developed by the network and provide their assessment on their topic of expertise

ComplexWorld Position Paper

The Complex ATM Position Paper is the common research vehicle that defines the high-level, strategic scientific vision for the ComplexWorld Network. The purpose of this document is to provide an orderly and consistent scientific framework for the WP-E complexity theme. The specific objectives of the position paper are to: - analyse the state of the art within the different research areas relevant to the network, identifying the major accomplishments and providing a comprehensive set of references, including the main publications and research projects; - include a complete list of , a list of application topics, and an analysis of which techniques are best suited to each one of those applications; - identify and perform an in-depth analysis of the most promising research avenues and the major research challenges lying at the junction of ATM and complex systems domains, with particular attention to their impact and potential benefits for the ATM community; - identify areas of common interest and synergies with other SESAR activities, with special attention to the research topics covered by other WP-E networks. An additional goal for future versions of this position paper is to develop an indicative roadmap on how these research challenges should be accomplished, providing a guide on how to leverage on different aspects of the complexity research in Air Transport

Full Automation of Air Traffic Management in High Complexity Airspace

The thesis is that automation of en-route Air Traffic Management in high complexity airspace can be achieved with a combination of automated tactic planning in a look-ahead time horizon of up to two hours complemented with automated tactic conflict resolution functions. The literature review reveals that no significant results have yet been obtained and that full automation could be approached with a complementary integration of automated tactic resolutions AND planning. The focus shifts to ‘planning for capacity’ and ‘planning for resolution’ and also – but not only – for ‘resolution’. The work encompasses a theoretical part on planning, and several small scale studies of empirical, mathematical or simulated nature. The theoretical part of the thesis on planning under uncertainties attempts to conceive a theoretical model which abstracts specificities of planning in Air Traffic Management into a generic planning model. The resulting abstract model treats entities like the planner, the strategy, the plan and the actions, always considering the impact of uncertainties. The work innovates in specifying many links from the theory to the application in planning of air traffic management, and especially the new fields of tactical capacity management. The second main part of the thesis comprises smaller self-containing works on different aspects of the concept grouped into a section on complexity, another on tactic planning actions, and the last on planners. The produced studies are about empirical measures of conflicts and conflict densities to get a better understanding of the complexity of air traffic; studies on traffic organisation using tactical manoeuvres like speed control, lateral offset and tactical direct using fast time simulation; and studies on airspace design like sector optimisation, dynamic sectorisation and its optimisation using optimisation techniques. In conclusion it is believed that this work will contribute to further automation attempts especially by its innovative focus which is on planning, base on a theory of planning, and its findings already influence newer developments

Integrated and joint optimisation of runway-taxiway-apron operations on airport surface

Airports are the main bottlenecks in the Air Traffic Management (ATM) system. The predicted 84% increase in global air traffic in the next two decades has rendered the improvement of airport operational efficiency a key issue in ATM. Although the operations on runways, taxiways, and aprons are highly interconnected and interdependent, the current practice is not integrated and piecemeal, and overly relies on the experience of air traffic controllers and stand allocators to manage operations, which has resulted in sub-optimal performance of the airport surface in terms of operational efficiency, capacity, and safety. This thesis proposes a mixed qualitative-quantitative methodology for integrated and joint optimisation of runways, taxiways, and aprons, aiming to improve the efficiency of airport surface operations by integrating the operations of all three resources and optimising their coordination. This is achieved through a two-stage optimisation procedure: (1) the Integrated Apron and Runway Assignment (IARA) model, which optimises the apron and runway allocations for individual aircraft on a pre-tactical level, and (2) the Integrated Dynamic Routing and Off-block (IDRO) model, which generates taxiing routes and off-block timing decisions for aircraft on an operational (real-time) level. This two-stage procedure considers the interdependencies of the operations of different airport resources, detailed network configurations, air traffic flow characteristics, and operational rules and constraints. The proposed framework is implemented and assessed in a case study at Beijing Capital International Airport. Compared to the current operations, the proposed apron-runway assignment reduces total taxiing distance, average taxiing time, taxiing conflicts, runway queuing time and fuel consumption respectively by 15.5%, 15.28%, 45.1%, [58.7%, 35.3%, 16%] (RWY01, RWY36R, RWY36L) and 6.6%; gated assignment is increased by 11.8%. The operational feasibility of this proposed framework is further validated qualitatively by subject matter experts (SMEs). The potential impact of the integrated apron-runway-taxiway operation is explored with a discussion of its real-world implementation issues and recommendations for industrial and academic practice.Open Acces

Level(s) – A common EU framework of core sustainability indicators for office and residential buildings: Part 3: How to make performance assessments using Level(s) (Beta v1.0)

Developed as a common EU framework of core indicators for the sustainability of office and residential buildings, Level(s) provides a set of indicators and common metrics for measuring the performance of buildings along their life cycle. As well as environmental performance, which is the main focus, it also enables other important related performance aspects to be assessed using indicators and tools for health and comfort, life cycle cost and potential future risks to performance. Level(s) aims to provide a general language of sustainability for buildings. This common language should enable actions to be taken at building level that can make a clear contribution to broader European environmental policy objectives. It is structured as follows: 1. Macro-objectives: An overarching set of six macro-objectives for the Level(s) framework that contribute to EU and Member State policy objectives in areas such as energy, material use and waste, water and indoor air quality. 2. Core Indicators: A set of 9 common indicators for measuring the performance of buildings which contribute to achieving each macro-objective. 3. Life cycle tools: A set of 4 scenario tools and 1 data collection tool, together with a simplified Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, that are designed to support a more holistic analysis of the performance of buildings based on whole life cycle thinking. 4. Value and risk rating: A checklist and rating system provides information on the potential positive contribution to a property valuation and the underlying reliability of performance assessments made using the Level(s) framework. In addition, the Level(s) framework aims to promote life cycle thinking. It guides users from an initial focus on individual aspects of building performance towards a more holistic perspective, with the aim of wider European use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Cost Assessment (LCCA). Part 3 of the Level(s) documentation provides a complete set of technical guidance on how to make performance assessments at each of the three different Levels, and then to report on the results.JRC.B.5-Circular Economy and Industrial Leadershi

Pilot3 D5.2 - Verification and validation report

The deliverable provides the outcomes from the verification and validation activities carried during the course of work package 5 of the Pilot3 project, and according to the verification and validation plan defined in deliverable D5.1 (Pilot3 Consortium, 2020c). Firstly, it presents the main results of the verification activities performed during the development and testing of the different software versions. Then, this deliverable reports on the results of internal and external validation activities, which aimed to demonstrate the operational benefit of the Pilot3 tool, assessing the research questions and hypothesis that were defined at the beginning of the project. The Agile principle adopted in the project accompanying with the five five-level hierarchy approach on the definition of scenarios and case studies enabled the flexibility and tractability in the selection of experiments through different versions of prototype development. As a result of this iterative development of the tool, some of the research questions initially defined have been revisited to better reflect the validation results. The deliverable also reports the feedback received from the experts during the internal and external meetings, workshops and dedicated (on-line) site visits. During the validation campaign, both subjective qualitative information and objective quantitative data were collected and analysed to assess the Pilot3 tool. The document also summarises the results of the survey that were distributed to the external experts to assess the human-machine interface (HMI) mock-up developed in the project