Trajectory Management
Due to global warming effects and the enormous rise of fuel prices, the desire to choose shorter flight paths and more efficient flight profiles (forming a so-called trajectory) to reduce the fuel consumption became more and more important. With the ratification of the EU regulation for a Single European Sky (SES), a legal framework has been provided the implementation of Trajectory-based Operations (TBO).
Within the field of Trajectory Management, the Chair deals with planning, assessment and optimization of en-route and terminal area traffic by benchmarking the key aspects efficiency, environmental sustainability and safety. For this purpose, the Chair's models for the assessment and multi-criterial optimization of trajectories will be continiously developed. Furthermore, these findings are integrated into the developement of Decision Support Tools for the Air Traffic Management (ATM) system, so that the user preferences concerning flight efficiency are included in the desion-making process of Air Traffic Controllers (ATCo). These mesures enable an increase in sustainability for a single flight, however, need to be complemented with the actual traffic situation in total, so that a system-wide optimization of the traffic flows can be reached. The development of concepts and prototypes for widely automated systems as well as the integration of novel visual systems for ATCo and pilots proof the operational feasibility of our research, while reducing the high workload of the users.
Current Research Projects
- UBIQUITOUS - Using ADS-B big data pattern analysis to improve the quality of multivariate 4D trajectory optimization strategies
- ICATO: Individual Condensation Trails in Aircraft Trajectory Optimization
Historic Research Projects
- CDO-Speedbrakes: Optimized CDO under uncertain environmental and mission conditions
- MEFUL: Minimizing Flight Emissions while Sustaining Guaranteed Operational Safety as a Contribution to an Environmental Friendly Air Transport System
- ProfiFuel: Improved planning and realization of flight profiles with the lowest ecological footprint and minimum fuel consumption
- ReMAP: Risk analysis and conflict resolution of multi-criteria-efficient approach and departure procedures
- UTOPIA: Universal Trajectory Synchronization for highly predictable arrivals enabled by full Automation
- UTOPIA II: Enhanced Flight Planning by introducing stochastic trajectory data
- V-PAT: Vertical Profile Analysis Tools
Further Research
- Flight performance analyses and modelling
- Flight efficiency assessment
- Climate impact assessment