United States Department of Transportation
i
Final findings on the development and evaluation of an en-route fuel optimal conflict resolution algorithm to support strategic decision-making
-
2012-01-01
-
[PDF-1.58 MB]
Details:
-
Creators:
-
Corporate Creators:
-
Corporate Contributors:
-
Subject/TRT Terms:
-
Publication/ Report Number:
-
Resource Type:
-
Geographical Coverage:
-
Corporate Publisher:
-
Abstract:The novel strategic conflict-resolution algorithm for fuel minimization that is documented in this report provides air traffic controllers and/or pilots with fuel-optimal heading, speed, and altitude recommendations in the en route flight phase, thereby providing a possibility of reducing the fuel consumption and associated emissions from en route operations. This work is aligned with the goals of the NextGen initiative to minimize the environmental impact of increased traffic volumes while also improving the capacity and throughput of the en route airspace. It is also hoped that the results of this research will enable the future use of truly wind optimal routings and the possible creation of super-sectors to support these new routings. The primary version of the algorithm is a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) formulation with multiple constraints to ensure that the desired behavior of the aircraft during conflict resolution maneuvers (aircraft must retain their exit point, etc.) is achieved while at the same time minimizing the fuel used during conflict resolution (as estimated using data from the BADA Version 3.7 database). This version of the algorithm has been designed to expand on the capabilities of the prior version of the algorithm that was developed. This version, reported in PARTNER-COE-2008-001, showed promising results in terms of both reduced distance travelled and fuel burned, and thus environmental impacts; but had two significant shortcomings: 1) the aircraft that were maneuvered were not guaranteed to exit the sector where originally planned, thus causing a problem for handoffs at sector boundaries; and 2) the algorithm did not account for the transitioning aircraft to other flight levels as a way of resolving potential conflicts.
-
Format:
-
Collection(s):
-
Main Document Checksum:
-
Download URL:
-
File Type:
