Air Corridors Research Articles

Analysing urban local cold air dynamics and climate functional zones using interpretable machine learning: A case study of Tianhe district, Guangzhou

Deterioration of the thermal environment in built-up areas poses a serious threat to human health, comfort, and urban infrastructure, while also increasing energy consumption and carbon emissions. This underscores the need to optimize wind environments as a key mitigation strategy for urban areas. This paper analyzed the effects of human activities and natural factors on local cold air in Tianhe District, Guangzhou, from the perspective of local ventilation systems. The KLAM_21 (Kaltluft Abfluss Modell) was used to simulate local cold air flow and delineate climate functional zones. A random forest model, interpreted with the SHapley Additive exPlanation (SHAP) method, assessed the impact of various factors on local cold air dynamics. The study found that: (1) The northern mountainous area is a crucial cold source; (2) Some open spaces in the built environment fail to function as effective local cold air corridors; (3) High-intensity urban development hinders local cold air transmission; (4) Water bodies are more effective than green spaces in collecting and transmitting local cold air. This study provided technical methods for identifying climate functional zones and understanding local cold air dynamics, as well as theoretical support for the construction of local ventilation systems in urban areas.

Влияние проекта «Великий шелковый путь» на внешнюю политику Турции

. In the modern world, control of transit and communication routes means significant geopolitical influence, in this regard, these routes include various transport and communication networks such as sea lanes, air corridors, land trade routes and internet cables. Control of these routes is of great importance both economically and strategically, therefore, each state prioritizes the control of these routes in its foreign policy. In this regard, Turkey is not an exception. The Ottoman state, the predecessor of the modern Republic of Turkey, considered it important to control the transit channels throughout history. Analyzing the geopolitical effects of the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul also allows us to understand the importance of controlling communication routes in the modern era. Currently, the new Great Silk Road project occupies an important place in Turkish foreign policy, as it will allow the country to strengthen its place in the system of international relations. In the article, research is conducted on the issues mentioned above and the results are discussed.

A reinforcement learning approach to vehicle coordination for structured advanced air mobility

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) has emerged as a pioneering concept designed to optimize the efficacy and ecological sustainability of air transportation. Its core objective is to provide highly automated air transportation services for passengers or cargo, operating at low altitudes within urban, suburban, and rural regions. AAM seeks to enhance the efficiency and environmental viability of the aviation sector by revolutionizing the way air travel is conducted. In a complex aviation environment, traffic management and control are essential technologies for safe and effective AAM operations. One of the most difficult obstacles in the envisioned AAM systems is vehicle coordination at merging points and intersections. The escalating demand for air mobility services, particularly within urban areas, poses significant complexities to the execution of such missions. In this study, we propose a novel multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) approach to efficiently manage high-density AAM operations in structured airspace. Our approach provides effective guidance to AAM vehicles, ensuring conflict avoidance, mitigating traffic congestion, reducing travel time, and maintaining safe separation. Specifically, intelligent learning-based algorithms are developed to provide speed guidance for each AAM vehicle, ensuring secure merging into air corridors and safe passage through intersections. To validate the effectiveness of our proposed model, we conduct training and evaluation using BlueSky, an open-source air traffic control simulation environment. Through the simulation of thousands of aircraft and the integration of real-world data, our study demonstrates the promising potential of MARL in enabling safe and efficient AAM operations. The simulation results validate the efficacy of our approach and its ability to achieve the desired outcomes.

The Berlin-Brandenburg Air Study-A Methodological Study Paper of a Natural Experiment Investigating Health Effects Related to Changes in Airport-Related Exposures.

Objectives: This paper presents the study design of the Berlin-Brandenburg Air study (BEAR-study). We measure air quality in Berlin and Brandenburg before and after the relocation of aircraft (AC) traffic from Tegel (TXL) airport to the new Berlin-Brandenburg airport (BER) and investigate the association of AC-related ultrafine particles (UFP) with health outcomes in schoolchildren. Methods: The BEAR-study is a natural experiment examining schoolchildren attending schools near TXL and BER airports, and in control areas (CA) away from both airports and associated air corridors. Each child undergoes repeated school-based health-examinations. Total particle number concentration (PNC) and meteorological parameters are continuously monitored. Submicrometer particle number size distribution, equivalent black carbon, and gas-phase pollutants are collected from long-term air quality monitoring stations. Daily source-specific UFP concentrations are modeled. We will analyze short-term effects of UFP on respiratory, cardiovascular, and neurocognitive outcomes, as well as medium and long-term effects on lung growth and cognitive development. Results: We examined 1,070 children (as of 30 November 2022) from 16 schools in Berlin and Brandenburg. Conclusion: The BEAR study increases the understanding of how AC-related UFP affect children's health.

Investigation of the ENVI-met model sensitivity to different wind direction forcing data in a heterogeneous urban environment

Abstract. As the frequency of extreme heat events in cities is significantly increasing due to climate change, the implementation of adaptation measures is important for urban planning. Microclimate modelling approaches enable scenario analyses and evaluations of adaptation potentials. An ENVI-met microclimate model was setup for a heterogeneous urban study area in Cologne/Germany characterized by closed building structures in the eastern part and an urban park area in the western part. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the model sensitivity and performance to different wind direction forcing and demonstrate the importance of accurate wind forcing data for precise microclimate modelling evaluated with sensor measurements. To this end, we compared simulated air temperatures at 3 m height level using measured wind direction forcing data with simulated air temperatures using constant wind direction forcing from west, north, east and south direction. All other forcing data like wind speed were kept exactly the same as in the reference run. This sensitivity study was performed for a warm summer day in 2022. The model results of all five model runs (reference plus four scenarios) were compared to microclimatological measurements derived from one station of a dense meteorological sensor network located in the study area using the simulated mean air temperatures. We found significant temperature differences between the four sensitivity tests and the reference run as well as to the sensor measurements. Temperature differences between the reference run and the measurements were small and a high statistical model fit could be determined (Nash Sutcliffe Model Efficiency Coefficient/NSE = 0.91). The four model runs with constant wind directions showed significantly larger differences to measurement data and a worse statistical correlation between simulated and observed data (NSE between 0.62 and 0.15). For constant west winds, cooler air temperatures and higher wind speeds were found in the urban park and in the streets and courtyards east of the park. Constant east wind causes warmer air temperatures in the urban park area and lower wind speeds in the street canyons and inner courtyards. This shows that cooling effects in adjacent building blocks due to the greened urban park largely depend on the wind direction. The sensitivity tests show that the wind direction effect can result in local air temperature differences of up to 4 K on average. These results shows that even on summer days with low wind speeds, accurate wind direction data is highly relevant for accurate air temperature simulation. This finding can have important implications for urban planning and the design of green infrastructures in cities, e. g. for the design of fresh air corridors.

Impact of building types and CHP plants on air quality (2019–2021) in central-eastern European monocentric agglomeration

The quality of city air is influenced by many factors, including the density of buildings, the roughness of the terrain, the presence of street canyons, the heat sources in buildings, the types of industry, the topography, and meteorological conditions. Official air quality monitoring systems measure a very limited number of points, making local analysis impossible without the use of mathematical modeling programs. Here, we present an analysis of local air quality in an urban agglomeration. Data were collected over three years (2019, 2020, 2021), using commercial sensors located throughout the area of investigation. Dense downtown buildings equipped with individual heat sources were not found to have any impact on local air quality. The local municipal combined heat and power (CHP) plants contributed <1 ‰ of the measured concentration of particulate matter. Land height and the density of single-family housing were found to significantly affect air quality. We also took into account the influence of weather conditions, wind speed, and wind direction on the concentrations of particulate matter. High concentrations of particulate matter occurred only during heating periods when wind speeds were moderate. Wind direction did not have a direct impact on air quality, despite the expected benefits of ventilation through air corridors.

Impact of COVID‐19‐Related Air Traffic Reductions on the Coverage and Radiative Effects of Linear Persistent Contrails Over Conterminous United States and Surrounding Oceanic Routes

AbstractThe radiative effects of the large‐scale air traffic slowdown during April and May 2020 due to the international response to the COVID‐19 pandemic are estimated by comparing the coverage (CC), optical properties, and radiative forcing of persistent linear contrails over the conterminous United States and two surrounding oceanic air corridors during the slowdown period and a similar baseline period during 2018 and 2019 when air traffic was unrestricted. The detected CC during the slowdown period decreased by an area‐averaged mean of 41% for the three analysis boxes. The retrieved contrail optical properties were mostly similar for both periods. Total shortwave contrail radiative forcings (CRFs) during the slowdown were 34% and 42% smaller for Terra and Aqua, respectively. The corresponding differences for longwave CRF were 33% for Terra and 40% for Aqua. To account for the impact of any changes in the atmospheric environment between baseline and slowdown periods on detected CC amounts, the contrail formation potential (CFP) was computed from reanalysis data. In addition, a filtered CFP (fCFP) was also developed to account for factors that may affect contrail formation and visibility of persistent contrails in satellite imagery. The CFP and fCFP were combined with air traffic data to create empirical models that estimated CC during the baseline and slowdown periods and were compared to the detected CC. The models confirm that decreases in CC and radiative forcing during the slowdown period were mostly due to the reduction in air traffic, and partly due to environmental changes.

Remotely piloted aircraft system flight-plan processing from a risk-based methodology

The integration of Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) in non-segregated airspace is one of the most demanding challenges that the aviation community must face in the years ahead. This article develops the flight-plan processing from a risk-based methodology. The risk-based methodology is underpinned by an in-depth safety analysis throughout the three temporary horizons of the Air Traffic Flow and Capacity Management system: strategical, pre-tactical and tactical. The flight-plan processing demands different measures depending on the temporary horizon. The measures mean geographical restrictions (airways or air corridors segregated for RPAS) and temporary restrictions (periods in which RPAS cannot operate). Both restrictions ensure that RPAS operation is safe and do not generate interactions with conventional aircraft. The last goal of this approach is to provide the required information to the RPAS operator based on the information available from the Network Manager (NM). The communication and information flow between the RPAS operator and the NM are detailed to validate flight-plan processing. If the initial flight plan is not affordable, the NM provides modifications during the flight-plan re-processing. The methodology is applied in the Spanish upper airspace. The results confirmed the validity and leeway of the flight-plan processing, although its implementation demands further improvements based on air traffic flow and path uncertainty.

Change of community noise and noise impact with changes in air-taxi fleet compostitions over a longer period of time

Generic air vehicles are helping to understand effects specifically related to urban air mobility (UAM) noise. Air corridors were already studied, managing complex air-taxi traffic to reduce population's exposure to higher or critical noise levels in the vicinity of a highly frequented flight paths. The results still depend on fleet compositions, which may change over shorter or longer periods because future UAM carriers can select from a variety of different air-taxi types, in some cases strongly differing in their noise characteristics. Once an air-taxi-fleet is operated at a certain vertiport, its composition may not remain the same after one month or even after one year. This study is evaluating a long-term effect with changing fleets operated on the same flight paths in the same air corridor. Besides usual noise metrics like DNL, the results provide also a first insight how metrics like the dose-response may be affected over a longer period of time. 25 acoustically diverse air-taxis were distributed inside an 8 km wide air corridor, carrying 165 single flight tracks at 5 flight levels. Approximately 60,200 movements were simulated representing short-term effects, ten times more for mid-term scenarios, and finally a large number of 1,505,000 for the long-term study.

Air Corridors: Concept, Design, Simulation, and Rules of Engagement.

Air corridors are an integral part of the advanced air mobility infrastructure. They are the virtual highways in the sky for the transportation of people and cargo in a controlled airspace at an altitude of around 1000 ft. to 2000 ft. above ground level. These corridors will be utilized by (unmanned) air taxis, which will be deployed in rural and metropolitan regions to carry passengers and freight, as well as air ambulances, which will be deployed to offer first responder services such as 911 emergencies. This paper presents fundamental insights into the design of air corridors with high operational efficiency as well as zero collisions. It begins with the definitions of air cube, skylane or track, intersection, vertiport, gate, and air corridor. Then a multi-layered air corridor model is proposed. Traffic at intersections is analyzed in detail with examples of vehicles turning in different directions. The concept of capacity of an air corridor is introduced along with the nature of distribution of locations of vehicles in the air corridor and collision probability inside the corridor are discussed. Finally, results of traffic flow simulations are presented.

The Berlin-Brandenburg Air Study – a natural experiment investigating health effects from changes in airport-related exposures

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The effects of ambient, air-borne ultrafine particles (UFP), particularly those originating from air traffic, on human health remain poorly understood. Using the simultaneous closing and opening of two airports in Berlin as a unique, natural experiment, we aim to investigate the effect of changing UFP exposure on health in schoolchildren, with a particular focus on aircraft-related UFPs. METHODS: The Berlin-Brandenburg Air Study (BEAR) involves 800 elementary school children (ages 8-12) attending altogether 12-16 schools near the closing Tegel (TXL) airport, near the opening Berlin-Brandenburg (BER) airport, and in control areas (CTL) away from both airports and associated air corridors. Each child undergoes repeated school-based health examinations for lung function, cognitive function (attention and working memory), blood pressure, and quality of life. School-specific particle number concentrations and meteorology are measured daily. Along with other air pollutants and meteorology, size-fractioned UFP measurements are collected at two local monitoring stations. Daily source-specific UFP concentrations will be modeled on a fine spatial scale using a chemistry transport model for periods before and after the airport’s relocation. We will analyze short-term effects of UFP as well as long-term effects on lung growth and cognitive development comparing growth trajectories across the three school areas. RESULTS:Since early 2020, over 300 children in 7 schools (4 near TXL, 2 near BER, 1 in CTL) have completed their first examination. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the pattern of air traffic has changed and field work at the schools has been delayed. We have expanded the time frame and recruitment near BER airport, where we expect insightful comparisons between lockdown conditions and gradually increasing air traffic. CONCLUSIONS:The BEAR study aims to increase understanding on health effects of aircraft-related UFPs, particularly for children’s health and development. We present the study's methodological design and epidemiological background for this natural experiment. KEYWORDS: air pollution, children’s environmental health, exposure assessment, methodological study design, particulate matter

From aircraft tracking data to network delay model: A data-driven approach considering en-route congestion

En-route congestion causes delays in air traffic networks and will become more prominent as air traffic demand will continue to increase yet airspace volume cannot grow. However, most existing studies on flight delay modeling do not consider en-route congestion explicitly. In this study, we propose a new flight delay model, Multi-layer Air Traffic Network Delay (MATND) model, to capture the impact of en-route congestion on flight delays over an air traffic network. This model is developed by a data-driven approach, taking aircraft tracking data and flight schedules as inputs to characterize a national air traffic network, as well as a system-level model approach, modeling the delay process based on queueing theory. The two approaches combined make the network delay model a close representation of reality and easy-to-implement for what-if scenario analysis. The proposed MATND model includes 1) a data-driven method to learn a network composed of airports, en-route congestion points, and air corridors from aircraft tracking data, 2) a stochastic and dynamic queuing network model to calculate flight delays and track their propagation at both airports and in en-route congestion areas, in which the delays are computed via a space–time decomposition method. Using one month of historical aircraft tracking data over China’s air traffic network, MATND is tested and shows to give an accurate quantification of delays of the national air traffic network. “What-if” scenario analyses are conducted to demonstrate how the proposed model can be used for the evaluation of air traffic network improvement strategies, where the manipulation of reality at such a scale is impossible. Results show that MATND is computationally efficient, well suited for evaluating the impact of policy alternatives on system-wide delay at a macroscopic level.

Сценарії соціально-економічного розвитку ЄС після Brexit та COVID (EU Socio-Economic Development Scenarios after Brexit and COVID)

Ukrainian Abstract: Глобальна пандемія стала випробуванням світової економічної системи. Аналітики прогнозують фінансовий колапс 2020–2021 років. Негативні наслідки пандемії не обійшли стороною країни ЄС, які були змушені зупинити роботу великих підприємств, закрити повітряні коридори, припинити транспортне сполучення, вжити обмежувальні заходи для малого та середнього бізнесу. Така ситуація ще більше поглибила соціально-економічні дисбаланси усередині ЄС. Процедура прийняття бюджету на 2021–2027 роки стала найдовшою та найсуперечливішою для країн-членів Євросоюзу. Перед Європейським Союзом постали питання, які вимагають термінового вирішення: подолання наслідків коронавірусної хвороби, попередження майбутнього фінансового колапсу та соціально-економічних асиметрій, боротьба з тероризмом, врегулювання міграційної кризи, налагодження діалогу з Російською Федерацією та зв’язків з новою владою США і Китаю, зупинка відцентрових тенденцій після виходу Великої Британії з ЄС. English Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has been a test for the global economic system. Analysts predict a financial crisis in 2020–2021, which will be deeper than in 2008–2009. The negative consequences of the pandemic didn’t go unnoticed by EU countries, which were forced to shut down large enterprises, close air corridors, stop traffic, and take restrictive measures for small and medium-sized businesses. The benefits of integration in the context of the 2020 crisis have been questioned. This situation is further exacerbated socio-economic imbalances within the EU, the procedure for adopting the 2021–2027 budget has become the longest and most controversial for the EU. The European Union faces urgent issues: overcoming the effects of coronavirus, preventing future financial crises and socio-economic imbalances within the EU, cessation of terrorist acts, settlement of the migration crisis, dialogue with the Russian Federation, establishment of relations with the new authorities of the USA and China, cessation of centrifugal tendencies (domino principle / effect) after Great Britain's withdrawal from the EU on January 31, 2020. The current political development of the EU member states is characterized by a significant strengthening of the positions of Eurosceptics who have formed their groups inthe European Parliament. The spread of a negative attitude towards European integration – Euroscepticism, gives rise to disintegration processes in the EU. The uncoordinated socio-economic policies of the EU countries have failed to withstand the crisis within the Union. Polls in EU countries show the protest mood of the population due to the inefficiency of public authorities of the EU member states in combating the effects of the pandemic. Researchers distinguish between soft and hard Euroscepticism. Many economists see Brexit as a threat to the future development of the EU. Maybe by 2050 we will not see the EU as it is now. In the EU member states there are ideas for the future exit of Italy (Italexit), France (Frexit), Greece (Grexit), Spain (Spexit), Poland (Polexit), Austria (Austrexit). In 2020, the EU Council decided to provide loans to 17 Member States under The European Instrument for Temporary Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency. SURE loans will be backed by the EU budget and guarantees from member states according to their share in the gross national income of the European Union.

Ventilation of a Mid-Size City under Stable Boundary Layer Conditions: A Simulation Using the LES Model PALM

City centers have to cope with an increasing amount of air pollution. The supply of fresh air is crucial yet difficult to ensure, especially under stable conditions of the atmospheric boundary layer. This case study used the PArallelized Large eddy simulation (LES) Model PALM to investigate the wind field over an urban lake that had once been built as a designated fresh air corridor for the city center of Münster, northwest, Germany. The model initialization was performed using the main wind direction and stable boundary layer conditions as input. The initial wind and temperature profiles included a weak nocturnal low-level jet. By emitting a passive scalar at one point on top of a bridge, the dispersion of fresh air could be traced over the lake’s surface, within street canyons leading to the city center and within the urban boundary layer above. The concept of city ventilation was confirmed in principle, but the air took a direct route from the shore of the lake to the city center above a former river bed and its adjoining streets rather than through the street canyons. According to the dispersion of the passive scalar, half of the city center was supplied with fresh air originating from the lake. PALM proved to be a useful tool to study fresh air corridors under stable boundary layer conditions.

Urban population exposure to air pollution in Europe over the last decades

BackgroundThe paper presents an overview of air quality in the 27 member countries of the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (previous EU-28), from 2000 to 2017. We reviewed the progress made towards meeting the air quality standards established by the EU Ambient Air Quality Directives (European Council Directive 2008/50/EC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Air Quality Guidelines by estimating the trends (Mann-Kendal test) in national emissions of main air pollutants, urban population exposure to air pollution, and in mortality related to exposure to ambient fine particles (PM2.5) and tropospheric ozone (O3).ResultsDespite significant reductions of emissions (e.g., sulfur oxides: ~ 80%, nitrogen oxides: ~ 46%, non-methane volatile organic compounds: ~ 44%, particulate matters with a diameter lower than 2.5 µm and 10 µm: ~ 30%), the EU-28 urban population was exposed to PM2.5 and O3 levels widely exceeding the WHO limit values for the protection of human health. Between 2000 and 2017, the annual PM2.5-related number of deaths decreased (- 4.85 per 106 inhabitants) in line with a reduction of PM2.5 levels observed at urban air quality monitoring stations. The rising O3 levels became a major public health issue in the EU-28 cities where the annual O3-related number of premature deaths increased (+ 0.55 deaths per 106 inhabitants).ConclusionsTo achieve the objectives of the Ambient Air Quality Directives and mitigate air pollution impacts, actions need to be urgently taken at all governance levels. In this context, greening and re‐naturing cities and the implementation of fresh air corridors can help meet air quality standards, but also answer to social needs, as recently highlighted by the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Social Development Through International Relations

With the horrific incident on September 11 in the US, the US armed forces entered Afghanistan to shut the door to terrorism. Now, Afghanistan opens a new page for Afghanistan's internal and external political system. Afghanistan as a country that has pursued regional cooperation from neighboring countries, especially from India. India is the most promising country for Afghanistan's foreign policy and diplomatic relations in areas such as economic, cultural, technical, capacity building, military and other growth. The purpose of this study is to examine the development process of the two countries India and Pakistan in an effort to establish international relations. With a qualitative approach This research resulted in India being one of the countries which, after September 11, 2001, and the leadership of the Taliban, succeeded in gaining more opportunities for the people of Afghanistan. His non-hostile contributions to Middle Eastern and Middle Eastern countries have created a special place for the people of Afghanistan. India after independence in 1947, started friendly relations with Afghanistan two years later, until now, has enthusiastically and dedicably made their contribution to Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan in this case get many benefits from India's bilateral relations, namely the construction of the Salma Dam in Herat, Delaram Road Development, Allotment of 1000 Afghan Student Scholarships in Human Resource Development per year, the Repair of the Afghan Foreign Minister Complex, the establishment of the Afghan Parliament Building, the Opening of Chabahar Port, Strengthening the Equipment of the Afghan Military Forces, Air Corridors, and India's efforts to get Afghanistan to gain Membership in Regional Cooperation Bodies such as SAARC, BRICS, Asia Heart 'Istanbul Process'.

On Probabilistic Risk of Aircraft Collision along Air Corridors

The separation of aircraft in cruising flight in air corridors is based on the assurance of an extremely low probability of collision due to position inaccuracy caused by navigation errors, atmospheric disturbances, or other factors. The appropriate standard is the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Target Level of Safety (TLS) of frequency of collision less than 5 × 10−9 per flight hour. An upper bound for the collision probability per unit distance is the probability of coincidence, in the case of aircraft flying at the same speed along parallel tracks in the same direction. This leads to the case of two aircraft flying at a constant separation, for which at least three probabilities of coincidence can be calculated: (i) the maximum probability of coincidence at the most likely point; (ii) the cumulative probability of coincidence integrated along the flight path; and (iii) the cumulative probability of coincidence integrated over all space. These three probabilities of coincidence are applied to the old standard and new reduced vertical separations of 2000 ft and 1000 ft respectively, for comparison with the ICAO TLS, and also to assess their suitability as safety metrics. The possibility is raised of complementing the ICAO TLS 5 × 10−9 per hour, which is suitable for the cumulative probability of collision, by two additional safety metrics: (i) one per hour flown squared, which is suitable for comparison with the maximum joint probability density of collision; and (ii) another times hour flown, for comparison with the three-dimensional cumulative probability of coincidence. These three metrics (i) to (iii) have distinct dimensions, give different information, and could be alternatives or supplements.

Aspects of Equipping Transport Facilities with Systems for Controlling Routes of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Currently, the problem of ensuring safety of flights of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over the territory of transport infrastructure facilities (TIF), primarily airports, remains topical.In one of the previous works, the author together with the co-author proposed a method for increasing safety of movement of unmanned aerial vehicles and the system for controlling the routes of unmanned aerial vehicles (hereinafter – route control system, RCS) that implements it, which makes it possible to improve safety and security of UAV traffic at transport infrastructure facilities by limiting UAV traffic area strictly to a dedicated air corridor (DAC). The development of this system creates the prerequisites for removing the existing restrictions on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles at transport infrastructure facilities.For practical implementation of the proposed system, it is relevant to develop a method of placing RCS at transport infrastructure facilities. This condition can be justified by the fact that RCS, as a rule, will be located under conditions of dense infrastructural development, including dangerous technical elements of technical equipment, a collision of a UAV with which can lead to an emergency situation (ES); besides, the movement of air/ground vehicles will be carried out in the immediate vicinity of RCS along transport routes/corridors, and employees, passengers and visitors of TIF will move along the pedestrian paths.The objective of this study – to develop a methodology for placing systems controlling routes of unmanned aerial vehicles at transport infrastructure facilities.The study conducted with well-known scientific methods, including the basic routing problem posed by Dantzig and Ramser, modelling, analysis, and synthesis, made it possible to develop a method for placing RCS for unmanned aerial vehicles at transport infrastructure facilities. The practical application of the proposed methodology makes it possible to build routes for movement of UAV at TIF, to form a network of dedicated air corridors for UAV at TIF operated in relationship with the system, determine the optimal location of the RCS elements at TIF.

ПОВІТРЯНИЙ ТРАНСПОРТ ЯК ОБ'ЄКТ СУСПІЛЬНО-ГЕОГРАФІЧНОГО ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯ

The purpose of the study is to consider the socio-geographical principles of air transport research, to determine the role of air transport geography in the system of geographical science, to define the object and subject of air transport geography, to determine the indicators of socio-geographical analysis of air transport. Method. Transport development has led to scientists' collaboration in different specialties for studying this phenomenon that enables to determine the interdisciplinary nature of this research, as transport is studied by a number of scientific disciplines, such as economic, environmental, technical sciences, logistics, and, specifically, geography. The multidimensional nature of transport as a social and economic phenomenon has determined a problem-based approach to its scientific and applied research. In this case, in contrast to other disciplines, geography is primarily interested in the transport spatial dimension, namely the spatial features of transport interaction with the territory, nature, population and economy. Air transport geography is an important component of transport geography. Results. Air transport geography should be defined as a scientific unit of transport geography, which studies the territorial structure of air transport, transport corridors, patterns and features of location, the level of transportation of countries and groups of countries. Air transport geography is an important component of transport geography, its scientific unit, with a specific object and subject of research, the main directions and indicators for socio-geographical analysis of world and national air transport. The indicators for such analysis are the following: geography of air corridors and network of air transport routes; world airport network; main aviation passenger flows and their dynamics; passenger traffic in comparison with other means of transport and their dynamics in recent years. Scientific novelty. Improving the theoretical, methodological and methodical apparatus of transport geography in general (improving the classification of means of transport) and its component - air transport geography in particular, expanding their subject and object sphere and conducting applied research on an updated basis. Practical value. The main practical value of research on air transport geography is considered the development of plans and recommendations for improving the location of production and resettlement in terms of minimizing transport costs, optimizing air traffic flows within existing territorial transport systems, development of air transport systems at all levels.

Decision framework for the integration of RPAS in non-segregated airspace

The integration of Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) in non-segregated airspace is one of the forthcoming challenges in aviation. This paper develops a decision framework to determine the airways where RPAS should fly. The methodology defines three types of indicators: (1) static indicators based on the geometry of the airspace; (2) dynamic indicators based on the air traffic features; and (3) mixed indicators that combine both static and dynamic indicators. These indicators appraise the airspace state basic elements as airways and crossing points. The decision framework seeks to detect which airways and air corridors – specific Flight Levels (FLs) of an airway – can be fully segregated for the use of RPAS, as well as the airways that favour the integration of RPAS but increasing the risk level. The decision framework is applied to the Spanish upper airspace LECMZGZ from FL 250 to 300. Results conclude there are no airways that permit their use as segregated airways. However, two air corridors at FL 270 allow the segregated integration of RPAS. Moreover, the decision framework detects the airways that favour the integration of RPAS although they would have an impact on the risk level.