Cost benefit and environmental impact assessment of autonomous eTaxi

One of the proposed methods of decreasing fuel consumption and emissions at airport is by equipping aircraft with electric motors for movement on the ground. In this paper a high level determination is given on what the potential average and marginal fuel savings and impact on emissions is for some of the larger airports and airlines in Europe...

Cost benefit and environmental impact assessment of operational towing

One of the potentially most significant ways of decreasing emissions at airport is by towing the aircraft on the ground instead of using its main engines. In this paper we will give a large overview of what the potential average and marginal fuel savings and impact on emissions is for some of the larger airports in Europe and North America....

QAR Data-Driven Calibration of Physics-based Aircraft Performance Models using a Machine-Learning Approach

Aircraft performance has always been a focus of attention in aviation. The work of aircraft designers, certifying agencies, aircraft operators, and air traffic controllers relies on aircraft performance models. Current aircraft performance models are based on performance data of brand-new aircraft, independent of airline configuration and...

Operational Improvements to Reduce the Climate Impact of Aviation—A Comparative Study from EU Project ClimOP

Aviation significantly contributes to anthropogenic radiative forcing with both CO (Formula presented.) and non-CO (Formula presented.) emissions. In contrast to technical advancements to mitigate the climate impact, operational measures can benefit from short implementation times and thus are expected to be of high relevance in the near...

The Potential Impact of Electric Aircraft Taxiing: A Probabilistic Analysis and Fleet Assignment Optimization

On-board electric motors can be used to drastically reduce the fuel usage during the taxiing phase of aircraft, leading to cost reductions for airlines and lower amounts of harmful emissions. This study analyses the current state of this innovation and its potential impact on aviation. On a global level, full adoption of electric aircraft...

Flexible Runway Scheduling for Complex Runway Systems: Using a Multi-Objective Optimization

Runway usage at complex airports is currently prescribed by a preference list focusing on minimizing noise and providing a manageable flow for ATC. However, fuel burn and the demand of flight is not considered. This study proposes a flexible runway scheduling model and is an improvement of the current flexible runway allocation model. The model...

A Tabu Search Algorithm for the Optimization of the Long Term Parking of Aircraft

The 2020 coronavirus pandemic lead to a virtual standstill of air passenger traffic in the spring of that same year. While some travel restrictions have since been lifted, passenger air travel is not expected to return to pre-coronavirus levels for several years. Then the question arises of how to park the large amounts of grounded aircraft...

Design of a zero emission aircraft towing system

Even though aircraft have become less pollutant over the years, the increase in air traffic results in a growing production of emissions in the aviation industry. In other words, the annual decrease in pollution due to more fuel efficient aircraft, cannot compete with the increase of pollution caused by air traffic growth. Unlike the aviation...

Modelling the effects of gate planning on apron congestion

One of the infrastructural components that limits airport capacity is the available gate capacity. In order to use existing airport infrastructure, especially gates, more efficiently, one can look at new techniques to relieve congestion. One such technique is introducing socalled gate pit-stops. By introducing gate pit-stops, aircraft will be...

Effects of pushback accuracy on static apron capacity

The static apron capacity for aircraft with a wingspan higher than 65m is limited at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS). With the introduction of new large aircraft with increasing wingspan, such as the B777-9X, Schiphol is faced with the challenge of realizing larger gates. Currently, the taxi wingtip clearance is used for pushback and towing...

Flexible runway use modeling using pairwise RECAT-EU separation minima

If we would take fuel consumption and noise annoyance into account in the runway allocation process,runway allocation can take place more efficiently, both in terms of fuel cost as well as noise annoyance. In this research, the focus is on the further development of a model in order to make the calculationsmore refined. Moreover, the...

Flexible Arrival & Departure Runway Allocation Using Mixed-Integer Linear Programming

Impact of Electric Taxi Systems on Airport Apron Operations and Gate Congestion

TPMagic, a universal airport surface traffic planning analysis and optimization tool

Adding runways and taxiways is a way of solving capacity problems at major airport. As this also increases the intensity of airport ground operations, safety and efficiency might be compromised. This is one of the main reasons why a significant amount of research has been done in this field, such as research with respect to Advanced Surface...

Evaluation of anchorage international airport using the airport business suite

International Design Synthesis Exercise 2006: Design of an Interceptor UAV

Optimal Airport Surface Traffic Planning Using Mixed-Integer Linear Programming

We describe an ongoing research effort pertaining to the development of a surface traffic automation system that will help controllers to better coordinate surface traffic movements related to arrival and departure traffic. More specifically, we describe the concept for a taxi-planning support tool that aims to optimize the routing and...

Crossing borders: 6 years of international aerospace student design projects