Noise Abatement 3D Flight Planning Using a Snake Algorithm

Noise Abatement 3D Flight Planning Using a Snake Algorithm

Lazos Fernandez, H.A.

Visser, H.G. (mentor)
Hartjes, S. (mentor)

Aerospace Engineering

Control and Simulation

Air Transport Operations

2015-06-26

The aviation industry has struggled with reducing the amount of noise that aircraft generate, especially when flying close to communities. This effort has led to the introduction of technological and operational novelties such as efficient trajectory planning. In line with these operational efforts, a tool has been designed in the TU Delft, making use of dynamic optimization to define optimal Noise Abatement Procedures (NAP). Although the degree of precision of this model is high, the nature of its calculations makes it unsuitable for online applications. Alternate solutions have been explored, obtaining promising results especially with the so called ‘snake algorithm’. A snake is defined as a chain of masses, connected to each other by a spring-damper system and with its extremes fixed to a desired origin and destination. When released, the springs tend to pull the masses together. Furthermore, a series of ‘obstacles’ are located in the vicinity of the snake, exerting a repulsive virtual force towards the masses and. For the purposes of this research, the population communities are represented as obstacles that bend the trajectory away from densely populated areas. When released, the system will oscillate before reaching a minimum energy equilibrium position, which represents an optimal trajectory. The objective of this research is to fully implement the snake method for a NAP planner, augmenting the previous models with the following added characteristics: • Use a clustering mechanism to properly represent the communities as solid obstacles. • Work in a three dimensional space and generate complete trajectories in the x, y and z axes. • Implementation of new forces, to allow the snake to generate extremely curved trajectories. • Make use of the Integrated Noise Model, which was explicitly designed to represent aviation acoustics, showing graphically and numerically the impact of the trajectory on the population. Since as yet it has not been fully explored, the design and implementation of a 3D online tool for NAP represents a significant innovation. The results of this model have been compared to those optimal trajectories for two departures from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, proving that the model is capable of generating accurate ground tracks while creating an acceptable vertical profile with complete autonomy. Furthermore, this research demonstrates the potential that the snake algorithm has for the development of aircraft navigating under modern scenarios such as Performance Based Navigation

Noise Abatement
Path Planning
Snake Algorithm
Aircraft
Noise
Snake Method
Optimal Trajectory
Elastic Bands

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:44f78a90-cea2-4159-ae78-619572289c09

52.3081, 4.7642

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2015 Lazos Fernandez, H.A.