Potential methods and applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the context of safe and efficient Air Traffic Management

Im Europäischen Visionspapier für die Luftfahrt Flightpath 2050 wird das Luftfahrttransportsystem als ein wesentlicher Bestandteil für die Mobilität und Globalität der Gesellschaft hervorgehoben. Flughäfen sind einerseits Knoten im Lufttransportsystem und andererseits Schnittstelle zu anderen Transportsystemen (Bahn, Straße) und damit ein Garant für die gesellschaftliche Mobilität. Neue, entlang von Leistungsparameter optimierte Verfahren sollen im Rahmen der Digitalisierung durch hochautomatisierte Systeme zur besseren Ausnutzung der bestehenden und zukünftigen Infrastruktur beitragen. Neue Methoden der künstlichen Intelligenz finden ihren Einzug in das Luftverkehrsmanagement und ermöglichen eine weitergehende Automatisierung zur Unterstützung der Operateure bei der zeit- und ortsgenauen Führung und Entscheidungsfindung des Luft- und Rollverkehrs. Dieser Posterbeitrag gibt einen Überblick über die grundsätzlichen Methoden der KI, sowie deren Modellierung und Simulation im Kontext potentieller Entwicklungen und Anwendungsfelder für ein sicheres und leistungsfähiges Luftverkehrsmanagement

Manned and Unmanned Space Vehicles: Air Traffic Insertion & SESAR Requirements

Space Traffic Management, SESA

Manned and Unmanned Space Vehicles: Air Traffic Insertion & SESAR Requirements

Space Traffic Management, SESA

Mechanisms supporting improved multi-stakeholder coordination of launch and re-entry traffic integration

In the context of the growing commercial space sector, future launch range facilities are facing changing conceptual and operational constraints. Thus, in order to be able to carry out a high frequency of launches and re-entries in the future more finely tuned processes will be needed to coordinate with all the stakeholders involved in and affected by space operations. Therefore, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) is developing a Launch Coordination Center (LCC) to provide services for efficient integration of launch and re-entry operations into the air traffic system for spaceports of all kinds. In addition, an interface to maritime authorities is also considered. The LCC will support traffic integration as early as the planning phase and allow minimization of impact on air traffic while considering mission requirements. In doing so, efficient procedures for scheduling launch and re-entry activities and multi-stakeholder coordination will be provided. Coordination and data exchange will also be supported by automated functions during execution to increase stakeholder situational awareness and ensure safe and efficient operations. At the same time, the spacecraft trajectory and the surrounding air and maritime traffic are monitored. In addition, functions are provided for postprocessing to analyze planned and actual data from the previous phases

Space Based ADS-B for Commercial Space Flight Operations

The steadily increasing air traffic and commercial space traffic in particular on transcontinental routes or suborbital operations requires extending controlled airspace to those regions not yet covered by ground based surveillance. An ADS-B system with a strong focus on space-based ADS-B can provide global and continuous air and space surveillance to enhance the operation of spacecraft and spaceplanes in transit through the US National Airspace System (NAS) and Single European Sky (SESAR) and above. Such a system can overcome the prevailing surveillance constraints in non-radar airspace (NRA)

Widespread latitudinal asymmetry in the performance of marginal populations: A meta-analysis

Aim Range shifts are expected to occur when populations at one range margin perform better than those at the other margin, yet no global trend in population performances at range margins has been demonstrated empirically across a wide range of taxa and biomes. Here we test the prediction that, if impacts of ongoing climate change on performance in marginal populations are widespread, then populations from the high-latitude margin (HLM) should perform as well as or better than central populations, whereas low-latitude margin (LLM) populations should perform worse. Location Global. Time period 1995–2019. Major taxa studied Plants and animals. Methods To test our prediction, we used a meta-analysis to quantify empirical support for asymmetry in the performance of high- and low-latitude margin populations compared to central populations. Performance estimates (survival, reproduction, or lifetime fitness) for populations occurring in their natural environment were derived from 51 papers involving 113 margin-centre comparisons from 54 species and 705 populations from the Americas, Europe, Africa and Australia. We then related these performance differences to climatic differences among populations. We also tested whether patterns are consistent across taxonomic kingdoms (plants vs animals) and across realms (marine vs terrestrial). Results Populations at margins performed significantly worse than central populations, and this trend was primarily driven by the low-latitude margin. Although the difference was of small magnitude, it was largely consistent across biological kingdoms and realms. Differences in performance were weakly (p = .08) related to the difference in average temperatures between central and marginal populations. Main conclusions The observed asymmetry in performance in marginal populations is consistent with predictions about the effects of global climate change, though further research is needed to confirm the effect of climate. It indicates that changes in demographic rates in marginal populations can serve as early-warning signals of impending range shifts

Open Surgical versus Minimal Invasive Necrosectomy of the Pancreas-A Retrospective Multicenter Analysis of the German Pancreatitis Study Group

Background Necrotising pancreatitis, and particularly infected necrosis, are still associated with high morbidity and mortality. Since 2011, a step-up approach with lower morbidity rates compared to initial open necrosectomy has been established. However, mortality and complication rates of this complex treatment are hardly studied thereafter. Methods The German Pancreatitis Study Group performed a multicenter, retrospective study including 220 patients with necrotising pancreatitis requiring intervention, treated at 10 hospitals in Germany between January 2008 and June 2014. Data were analysed for the primary endpoints "severe complications" and "mortality" as well as secondary endpoints including "length of hospital stay", "follow up", and predisposing or prognostic factors. Results Of all patients 13.6% were treated primarily with surgery and 86.4% underwent a step-up approach. More men (71.8%) required intervention for necrotising pancreatitis. The most frequent etiology was biliary (41.4%) followed by alcohol (29.1%). Compared to open necrosectomy, the step-up approach was associated with a lower number of severe complications (primary composite endpoint including sepsis, persistent multiorgan dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and erosion bleeding: 44.7% vs. 73.3%), lower mortality (10.5% vs. 33.3%) and lower rates of diabetes mellitus type 3c (4.7% vs. 33.3%). Low hematocrit and low blood urea nitrogen at admission as well as a history of acute pancreatitis were prognostic for less complications in necrotising pancreatitis. A combination of drainage with endoscopic necrosectomy resulted in the lowest rate of severe complications. Conclusion A step-up approach starting with minimal invasive drainage techniques and endoscopic necrosectomy results in a significant reduction of morbidity and mortality in necrotising pancreatitis compared to a primarily surgical intervention

Genetic Contribution to Alcohol Dependence: Investigation of a Heterogeneous German Sample of Individuals with Alcohol Dependence, Chronic Alcoholic Pancreatitis, and Alcohol-Related Cirrhosis

The present study investigated the genetic contribution to alcohol dependence (AD) using genome-wide association data from three German samples. These comprised patients with: (i) AD; (ii) chronic alcoholic pancreatitis (ACP); and (iii) alcohol-related liver cirrhosis (ALC). Single marker, gene-based, and pathway analyses were conducted. A significant association was detected for the ADH1B locus in a gene-based approach (puncorrected = 1.2 × 10−6; pcorrected = 0.020). This was driven by the AD subsample. No association with ADH1B was found in the combined ACP + ALC sample. On first inspection, this seems surprising, since ADH1B is a robustly replicated risk gene for AD and may therefore be expected to be associated also with subgroups of AD patients. The negative finding in the ACP + ALC sample, however, may reflect genetic stratification as well as random fluctuation of allele frequencies in the cases and controls, demonstrating the importance of large samples in which the phenotype is well assessed

The rs429358 locus in apolipoprotein E is associated with hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with cirrhosis

The host genetic background for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is incompletely understood. We aimed to determine if four germline genetic polymorphisms, rs429358 in apolipoprotein E (APOE), rs2642438 in mitochondrial amidoxime reducing component 1 (MARC1), rs2792751 in glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (GPAM), and rs187429064 in transmembrane 6 superfamily member 2 (TM6SF2), previously associated with progressive alcohol-related and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, are also associated with HCC. Four HCC case-control data sets were constructed, including two mixed etiology data sets (UK Biobank and FinnGen); one hepatitis C virus (HCV) cohort (STOP-HCV), and one alcohol-related HCC cohort (Dresden HCC). The frequency of each variant was compared between HCC cases and cirrhosis controls (i.e., patients with cirrhosis without HCC). Population controls were also considered. Odds ratios (ORs) associations were calculated using logistic regression, adjusting for age, sex, and principal components of genetic ancestry. Fixed-effect meta-analysis was used to determine the pooled effect size across all data sets. Across four case-control data sets, 2,070 HCC cases, 4,121 cirrhosis controls, and 525,779 population controls were included. The rs429358:C allele (APOE) was significantly less frequent in HCC cases versus cirrhosis controls (OR, 0.71; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.61-0.84; P=2.9×10−5). Rs187429064:G (TM6SF2) was significantly more common in HCC cases versus cirrhosis controls and exhibited the strongest effect size (OR, 2.03; 95% CI, 1.45-2.86; P=3.1×10−6). In contrast, rs2792751:T (GPAM) was not associated with HCC (OR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.90-1.13; P=0.89), whereas rs2642438:A (MARC1) narrowly missed statistical significance (OR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.84-1.00; P=0.043). Conclusion: This study associates carriage of rs429358:C (APOE) with a reduced risk of HCC in patients with cirrhosis. Conversely, carriage of rs187429064:G in TM6SF2 is associated with an increased risk of HCC in patients with cirrhosis

Rethink Surface Management - Analyse, Design und Development zeitbasierter Rollverkehrsführungssysteme

Mit der weiterhin steigenden Anzahl an Flugbewegungen steigt auch die Anzahl der Rollvorgänge an Flughäfen. Insbesondere große Drehkreuzflughäfen stoßen weltweit schon heute an ihre Kapazitätsgrenzen. Kapazitätserweiterungen durch Neu- oder Ausbauten sind aber nur noch in Ausnahmefällen möglich. Besondere Bedeutung kommt daher der effizienteren Nutzung der bestehenden Infrastruktur zu. Durch Planung und Optimierung der Startsequenz, Abflugsequenz und einer konfliktfreien Optimierung der Routenführung des Rollverkehrs können Effizienz und Effektivität der Flughafenprozesse verbessert werden. Dieses konnte in zahlreichen Untersuchungen im Kontext der Rollverkehrsführung (A-SMGCS) sowie des A-CDM – Airport Collaborative Decision Making gezeigt werden. Die Abteilung Lotsenassistenz des Instituts für Flugführung im DLR besitzt eine jahrzehntelange Expertise im Bereich der Optimierung von Anflug – Roll- und Abflugvorgängen und hat entsprechende Lotsenassistenzsysteme wie den AMAN, DMAN und SMAN in ihrer ATM-Toolbox entwickelt. Zukünftige Anforderungserweiterungen funktionaler, operativer und technischer Art erfordern insbesondere im Hinblick auf die Integration der Einzelsysteme auch im Zusammenhang mit „Trajectory based operations“ (TBO) ein Überdenken der bislang genutzten Systemtopologie. Aufgrund dessen ist eine entsprechende Anpassung der entwickelten Systeme in Form eines Refactorings oder kompletten Redesigns erforderlich. Der im DLR entwickelte Surface Manager TRACC sowie das Departure Management System CADEO haben ihre Effektivität und Effizient bereits unter Beweis gestellt. Um den gesteigerten Anforderungen bezüglich der Performanz, Flexibilität, des systemweiten Informationsmanagements und der Gebrauchstauglichkeit gerecht werden können sowie deren Nutzbarkeit für TBO zu verbessern, werden beide Systeme durch Kombination und erweiterter Modularisierung sowie der Erweiterung und Neugestaltung der HMIs umgestaltet und in die ATM-Toolbox der Abteilung flexibel integriert. Ziele, wissenschaftliche Fragestellungen und Möglichkeiten zur formalen heuristischen Evaluation der Gebrauchstauglichkeit werden in diesem Poster wiedergegeben