Base Of Aircraft Data Research Articles

Flow-Based Assessment of the Impact of an All-Electric Aircraft on European Air Traffic

The consequences of new airspace entrants, such as novel aircraft concepts with innovative propulsion systems, on air traffic management operations need to be carefully identified. This paper aims to assess the impact of future aircraft with different performance envelopes on the European air traffic network from a flow-based perspective. The underlying approach assumes that all certification-related questions concerning airworthiness have been resolved and do not take into account any economic factors related to airline operations. For example, for an innovative propulsion system, a short range all-electric aircraft is considered in this study. Aircraft trajectory calculations are based on the dataset of base of aircraft data (BADA), which are developed and maintained by EUROCONTROL. The new design concept is integrated into BADA as well, resulting in a new set of coefficients for the all-electric aircraft. In addition to the adjusted parameters which affect airborne performances, ground-related aspects are also taken into account. This includes assumptions on operational procedures, charging capacities and adaptions in infrastructure. Investigations are carried out at the trajectory level as well as at the airport and the entire network.

Cruise altitude patterns for minimizing fuel consumption and emission: A detailed analysis of five prominent aircraft

This study conducts a comprehensive analysis of fuel consumption and emissions associated with the installation of the most commonly used engine combinations currently available on five distinct types of BADA 4 (Base of Aircraft Data), ANP (Aircraft Noise and Performance), and AEM (Advanced Emissions Model) aircraft supplied by two distinct aircraft manufacturers to the civil air transport sector. The comparison spans a total of 18 flight scenarios (90 flights) for each aircraft, ranging in altitude from FL300 to FL385. To achieve this, the research employs a comprehensive approach encompassing data acquisition from EUROCONTROL's Integrated Aircraft Noise and Emissions Modelling Platform (IMPACT), robust data analysis, and advanced statistical techniques. The goal of this study is to investigate variations in fuel consumption and emissions at different cruising altitudes for various commercial aircraft types, assessing the veracity of the commonly assumed decrease in fuel consumption and associated emissions with altitude, and exploring the impact of individual aircraft assessments on the precision and comprehensiveness of environmental impact assessments in civil aviation flight operations. The work seeks to answer the following the main research question: Does every aircraft's fuel consumption and related emissions truly decrease with increasing altitude, according to conventional methodologies and general assumptions?

A probabilistic model based on the peak-over-threshold approach for risk assessment of airport controllers' performance

Airport tower control plays an instrumental role in ensuring airport safety. However, obtaining objective, quantitative safety evaluations is challenging due to the unavailability of pertinent human operation data. This study introduces a probabilistic model that combines aircraft dynamics and the peak-over-threshold (POT) approach to assess the safety performance of airport controllers. We applied the POT approach to model reaction times extracted from a radiotelephony dataset via a voice event detection algorithm. The model couples the risks of tower control and aircraft operation to analyze the influence of human factors. Using data from radiotelephony communications and the Base of Aircraft Data (BADA) database, we compared risk levels across scenarios. Our findings revealed heightened airport control risks under low demand (0.374) compared to typical conditions (0.197). Furthermore, the risks associated with coupling under low demand exceeded those under typical demand, with the final approach stage presenting the highest risk (4.929×10−7). Our model underscores the significance of human factors and the implications of mental disconnects between pilots and controllers for safety risks. Collectively, these consistent findings affirm the reliability of our probabilistic model as an evaluative tool for evaluating the safety performance of airport tower controllers. The results also illuminate the path toward quantitative real-time safety evaluations for airport controllers within the industry. We recommend that airport regulators focus on the performance of airport controllers, particularly during the final approach stage.

Learning Generative Models for Climbing Aircraft from Radar Data

Accurate trajectory prediction for climbing aircraft is hampered by the presence of epistemic uncertainties concerning aircraft operation, which can lead to significant misspecification between predicted and observed trajectories. This paper proposes a generative model for climbing aircraft in which the standard Base of Aircraft Data (BADA) model is enriched by a functional correction to the thrust that is learned from the data. The method offers three features: predictions of the arrival time with 66.3% less error when compared to BADA; generated trajectories that are realistic when compared to test data; and a means of computing confidence bounds for minimal computational cost.

From Takeoff to Touchdown: A Decade’s Review of Carbon Emissions from Civil Aviation in China’s Expanding Megacities

The rapid growth of urbanization in China has led to a substantial escalation in the demand for civil aviation services, consequently propelling China to the third-largest contributor of carbon emissions within the aviation sector. Using the 2012–2021 data on takeoffs and landings of civil aviation aircraft in China, the aircraft engine emission factor database of the Base of Aircraft Data (BADA) from EUROCONTROL, this paper investigates the spatial-temporal distribution characteristics of atmospheric pollutants, primarily carbon emissions from Chinese civil aviation aircraft in 19 megacities. The results indicate that (1) China’s aviation CO2 emissions equivalent between 2012 and 2022 has been on an upward trajectory, peaking at 186.53 MT in 2019 with an average annual growth of 12.52%. The trend, albeit momentarily interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, appears to persist. (2) CO2 constitutes the highest proportion of aircraft emissions at 83.87%, with Cruise Climb Descent (CCD) cycle emissions accounting for 96.24%. CO2 and NOX, with the highest increase rates in the CCD and Landing and Takeoff (LTO) phases, respectively, are identified as the chief culprits in aviation-related greenhouse effects. (3) There is a marked spatial imbalance, with 19 megacities contributing 62.08% of total CO2 emissions, compared to the 207 least-emitting cities contributing just 9.29%. (4) The pattern of city carbon emissions is changing, with rapid growth rates in the western cities of Xinjiang, Tibet, Shaanxi, and Guizhou, and varied growth rates among megacities. The implications of this study emphasize the urgency for advancements in aviation fuel technology, rigorous management of CCD phase pollutants, strategic carbon emission controls in populous cities, fostering green aviation initiatives in western regions, diverse carbon mitigation tactics, and strengthening the precision and surveillance of aviation carbon accounting systems. Collectively, this study paints a grand picture of the complexities and challenges associated with China’s urban sprawl and aviation carbon emissions.

Fuel-saving and emission accounting: An airliner case study for green engine selection

In this research, differences in the quantities of hazardous emissions induced by equipping the first composite constructed narrow body aircraft, which is commonly used in commercial aviation today, with the most common engine combinations are examined. Each engine combination that is the subject of this research is actively deployed by a number of airlines and serves the majority of passenger transportation demands. The objective is to clearly depict the variation in the quantities of emissions generated by the various engine types employed in this commonly used passenger aircraft. The instability in the amounts of emissions in various flight phases of the same aircraft, performed with various engine specifications on the same trajectory and route, is determined using EUROCONTROL's Integrated Aircraft Noise and Emissions Modelling Platform (IMPACT), which is founded on the Base of Aircraft Data, Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA), and International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) Helicopter and Aircraft Engine Emission Database. The research seeks to answer the following question: Considering that airlines serve many destinations throughout the year, how much fuel saving and, indirectly, emissions mitigation are achieved per sortie as a result of replacing the engines used by airlines in their existing fleets with the most environmentally friendly equivalents?

Performance and Weight Parameters Calculation for Hydrogen- and Battery-Powered Aircraft Concepts

This article describes the creation of a program that would be useful for calculating mathematical models in order to estimate the weight of aircraft components. Using several parameters, it can calculate other parameters of civil transport aircraft powered by batteries or fuel cells. The main goals of this research were to add the missing dimensions and parameters to the aircraft database, create a simple but effective program for creating mathematical models, and use this program to find technological barriers to battery or hydrogen fuel-cell-powered aircraft concepts. The article introduces the reader to the problem of calculating OEW (operating empty weight) using Breguet–Leduc equations. A calculation model was created for OEW calculation. The result of this work is the verification of a mathematical model for battery-powered electric aircraft of the CS-23 (European Aviation Safety Agency Certification Specification for Normal, Utility, Aerobatic, and Commuter Category Aeroplanes) category by comparing the program’s outputs with real aircraft. Subsequently, the results of mathematical models are shown in graphs that specify the space of possible concepts of aircraft powered by batteries or fuel cells, sorted by the number of passengers and the range of the aircraft, delimited by two or three criteria, respectively.

Development of a medium/long-haul reference aircraft

For the evaluation of future aircraft architectures or novel technologies, a well-understood and sound reference to compare to is essential to prove the impact of intended changes. A reference aircraft serves as a basis for calibration of the aircraft and is used as a starting point for subsequent investigations, sensitivity studies or optimizations. The prime need for such a reference arose from the European Clean-Sky-2 project HLFC-Win (Hybrid Laminar Flow Control—Wing), where no industrial reference data for a conventional aircraft were available. The project investigates a HLFC system integrated into the wing aiming to reduce the wing drag and consequently reducing the fuel consumption. Therefore, this paper presents the D300-XRF1 designed by DLR, which is based on the AIRBUS research aircraft XRF1 (eXternal Research Forum). It is intended to be used as a reference aircraft database representing aircraft for medium- and long-range missions. A variable fidelity multidisciplinary design analysis and optimization (MDAO) aircraft design environment is set up to provide a consistent estimate of the geometry, mass breakdown, propulsion system, aerodynamics and aircraft performance. A conceptual aircraft design tool is utilized in the aircraft design environment to initialize the process, and higher-fidelity modules are used to enhance the results. The presented results describe the overall aircraft characteristics of the D300-XRF1 based on 2010 entry into service technology level and is offered to be used as a reference within the aviation research community, hopefully reducing similar design efforts in other research projects.The aircraft operates at a design cruise Mach number of 0.83, has a design range of 5500 NM and transports a payload of 31.5 t (300 PAX at 105 kg/PAX). The D300-XRF1 serves as a consistent reference aircraft database and provides a holistic overview of the aircraft’s performance that has been presented to and approved by AIRBUS. Therefore, this reference aircraft design can be used for future studies and to assess new technologies on a sophisticated level.

A probabilistic model for aircraft in climb using monotonic functional Gaussian process emulators

Ensuring vertical separation is a key means of maintaining safe separation between aircraft in congested airspace. Aircraft trajectories are modelled in the presence of significant epistemic uncertainty, leading to discrepancies between observed trajectories and the predictions of deterministic models, hampering the task of planning to ensure safe separation. In this paper, a probabilistic model is presented, for the purpose of emulating the trajectories of aircraft in climb and bounding the uncertainty of the predicted trajectory. A monotonic, functional representation exploits the spatio-temporal correlations in the radar observations. Through the use of Gaussian process emulators, features that parameterize the climb are mapped directly to functional outputs, providing a fast approximation, while ensuring that the resulting trajectory is monotonic. The model was applied as a probabilistic digital twin for aircraft in climb and baselined against the base of aircraft data, a deterministic model widely used in industry. When applied to an unseen test dataset, the probabilistic model was found to provide a mean prediction that was 20.56% more accurate, as measured by the mean absolute error, with data-driven credible intervals that were9.54% sharper.

Detailed Analysis of Aircraft Fuel Flow Using Data from Flight Data Recorder

This paper aims to perform accurate prediction of fuel flow (FF) by employing various models: deep learning (DL), random forest (RF), generalized linear model (GLM), and the Eurocontrol Base of Aircraft Data (BADA) model, and to examine the link between FF and different aircraft performance parameters. The flight data set used in this study is obtained from real turbofan engine narrow-body aircraft performing short-distance domestic subsonic flights, containing a total of 2,674 cruise flights between 31 city pairs. Several statistical error analyses are conducted to compare the performance of the models. Root mean square error, mean absolute error, and mean squared error values for DL are calculated to be 0.01, 0.008, and 0.0001, respectively. On the coefficient of determination ( [Formula: see text]) test for validation, the DL model has the highest value of 0.94. Results of the analysis in this paper show that the DL model offers the best ability to predict FF in all statistical tests, which makes it the best-suited model to estimate FF. These findings can provide the means to make more efficient trajectory planning and forecasts in air traffic management, and more accurately predict fuel consumption of aircraft, thereby decreasing emission levels of carbon gases and of various pollutants and airline operating expenses from fuel costs.

Performance based analysis for the Ankara-London route in terms of emissions and fuel consumption of different combinations of aircraft/engine: An IMPACT application

This study analyzes two types of aircraft offered to the industry by two different manufacturers on an identical route and trajectory for commercial aviation and the noxious emissions resulting from equipping these aircraft with the most frequently used engine combinations today. The research covers the most recent Base of Aircraft Data (BADA v4.2_1), the Aircraft Noise and Performance (ANP v2.3), and the ICAO Engine Emission Database (254-ICAO EDDB25/FOCA) based integrated aircraft noise and emissions modelling platform (IMPACT) developed by EUROCONTROL. The striking findings in fuel consumption and emissions of four different scenarios during identical flight operations are detailed. The research presents the application of a systematic aircraft-engine pair decision mechanism for investigators, scientists, airline operators, policy analysts and legislators, in accordance with a comprehensive computer simulation method that consistently acknowledges the fuel consumption and emissions analysis of aircraft-engine parings.

Environmental Noise Assessment of Holding Approach Procedures Using a Multi-Level Simulation Framework

Computational models of sufficient quality are indispensable to quantitatively assess aircraft noise reduction measures. Within this study, a multi-level simulation framework is established in order to predict the environmental noise of holding approach procedures by coupling simulation models from three different domains: flight performance calculation employing the base of aircraft data (BADA), jet engine performance using the software Gasturb and aircraft noise simulations based on the software sonAIR. Two different concepts of holding approach procedures are investigated, namely, the vertical holding stack and the linear hold point merge. The study is conducted considering generic air traffic scenarios at a single-runway airport. Thereby, the investigated air traffic is based on a statistical analysis of traffic data at existing airports and thus assumed to be representative. As the aircraft’s noise emission depends on both the aircraft and the engine performance, reliable results can be expected only if all individual challenges and interdependencies are accounted for simultaneously. Addressing this challenge is the main contribution of the presented work. The presented results show the plausibility of the proposed multi-level simulation framework, thus supporting its use to investigate the environmental noise impact of air traffic scenarios.

A Safety-Aware Real-Time Air Traffic Flow Management Model Under Demand and Capacity Uncertainties

Inherent uncertainties of the air transportation system (ATS) can induce unexpected anomalies in its operations such as deviations in flight schedules, sudden imbalances of demands and capacities, etc.. Current air traffic flow management (ATFM) models rarely consider both demand and capacity uncertainties in their algorithms, and generally focus on minimizing the flight delays under deterministic constraints. Thus, to bridge this gap, we propose a framework for en-route ATFM while scrutinizing uncertainties in en-route capacity and demand and their imbalance, via a chance constraint based probabilistic approach. The proposed framework plays a key role in ensuring the safety of the overall ATS in terms of maintaining the safety separation between flights and constraining the capacity of the sectors as well. Moreover, flight level assignments scheme is proposed based on the Base of Aircraft Data (BADA) of the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL) with the objective of minimizing the fuel consumption. The model further minimizes the overall expected delay of the system using the control actions of ground holding, speed control, rerouting, and flight cancellations. At the implementation stage, two phases of ATFM as pre-tactical and tactical are considered, in which the former focuses on generating optimal trajectories and the latter focuses on real-time updates of flight plans. The computational complexity is reduced by shrinking the feasibility region and decomposing the problem into maximum weighted independent sets. The experimental results of realistic large-scale problems demonstrate the effectiveness and computational feasibility of our ATFM framework.

Global Civil Aviation Emissions Estimates for 2017–2020 Using ADS-B Data

Aviation is a growing source of atmospheric emissions impacting the Earth’s climate and air quality. Comprehensive assessments of the environmental impact of this industry require up-to-date, spatially resolved, and speciated emissions inventories. We develop and evaluate the first such estimate of global emissions from aircraft operations for the years 2017–2020. Aircraft activity data, based on flights registered by networks of aircraft Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) telemetry receivers, are used together with the Base of Aircraft Data (BADA) 3.15 aircraft performance model and the International Civil Aviation Organization Engine Emissions Databank to estimate spatially resolved fuel burn and emissions of , , (), (), CO, unburnt hydrocarbons (HC), and nonvolatile particulate matter (nvPM). We calculate that 937 Tg of and 4.62 Tg of were emitted by aircraft in 2019, and quantify the evolution of the fleet average emission indices over time. Owing to impacts from COVID-19, we estimate a 48% lower fuel burn, resulting in 463 Tg less and 2.29 Tg less emitted in 2020 than what would be otherwise expected. We conclude that ADS-B is a viable source of data to generate global emissions estimates in a timely and transparent manner for monitoring and assessing aviation’s atmospheric impacts.

Determination of Way Points Position on Sequencing Leg for Point Merge System

This paper aims to propose a novel approach to determination of way points position on sequencing leg for point merge system. This research uses the Base of Aircraft Data to analyze the flight efficiency. Although it is not a general rule, it can be said that there is a tendency in practice to design the waypoints in the sequencing leg at equal distances from each other. In general, essentially equidistant waypoints are designed to facilitate the adaptation of airspace users (both pilots and air traffic controllers). However, it does not seem possible to say that this tendency always gives the most appropriate and optimal results in terms of flight efficiency. A scenario that includes four different cases was ideated and was resolved to discover the potential benefits and/or drawbacks of equidistant and non-equidistant interspace of waypoints. The comparison results of equidistant and non-equidistant interspace show that the average reduction of 9,5 percent of total flight time; 12,5 percent of total flight distance in favor one of a non-equidistant interspace, which is Case-4. Moreover, the Case-4 could be a promising solution for sequencing aircraft conveniently in terms of a first come first service (FCFS) rule.

Approach for Cost Functions for the Use in Trade-Off Investigations Assessing the Environmental Impact of a Future Energy Efficient European Aviation

Aircraft emissions represent a relevant amount of human induced CO2. Globally, up to 2.5 per cent of such emissions stem from the aviation industry. In order to investigate the effects within the atmosphere, realistic flight profiles are necessary to provide quantitatively tangible values of emissions. The flight profiles and the according fuel consumption can be calculated by using waypoints from flight plans and Base of Aircraft Data (BADA). This paper presents an approach to refine the fuel consumption by integrating the passenger load into the calculation. Since effects of emissions have to be assessed on a greater scale, such as on the European air traffic network, the presented approach provides cost functions for CO2 emissions for different aircraft types and load factors. The cost functions were derived by means of regression analyses of BADA based calculated flight profiles with a step size of one second. The calculations are based on real historic traffic scenarios over several days. The derived aircraft specific fuel burn coefficients enable a simple and efficient integration of CO2 estimations depending on the flight distance, load factor and aircraft type. This can be applied to large traffic scenarios to also study different set-ups such as travel restrictions, other disruptions or an alteration in the traffic system as a whole. In order to enable the assessment of further aspects of such changes to the European air traffic system at large and to foster reproducibility and comparability of related studies, we provide further general-purpose cost estimation functions for several important key characteristics. Besides fuel consumption, we develop cost estimations for air navigation fees and maintenance for conventional aircraft. Those functions are also provided for the design concept of a short-range all-electric aircraft. This propeller aircraft features game-changing technologies such as active laminar flow control, active load alleviation and advanced materials and structure concepts. The approaches discussed in this paper will focus on the generic aspects of aircraft related costs, which can be derived from general available data. For the sake of reproducibility, the results will be made publicly available.

Importance sampling for probabilistic prognosis of sector-wide flight separation safety

This study develops a probabilistic simulation methodology for the en-route safety assessment of multiple aircraft flying within an airspace sector. This assessment is affected by multiple sources of uncertainty, such as external inputs such as wind gust, internal factors such as aircraft component failure, and model errors (e.g., in the aircraft dynamics model) and variability in observed trajectories. The concern is to evaluate whether any pair of aircraft fail to maintain a minimum required lateral separation, and the safety assessment problem involves the prognosis of separation violations between all possible aircraft pairs within the sector, over a duration of interest. Some of the uncertainty sources are modeled as random variables and others as random processes. We combine two deterministic trajectory prediction models – the kinematics-based Generalized National Airspace Trajectory-Prediction System (GNATS), and the dynamics-based Base of Aircraft Data (BADA) – to formulate a probabilistic aircraft dynamic model which also includes model errors as additional external inputs. A computationally efficient importance sampling-based scheme is developed for this safety assessment problem involving a large number of aircraft. This approach is demonstrated using historical flight data, for aircraft operating in the Houston air traffic sector.

Multiobjective Four-Dimensional Trajectory Synergetic Optimization Based on Congestion Prediction and NSGA3-SA

Synergetic trajectory planning of flights is one of the important goals of trajectory-based operation (TBO), and it is also a method to further improve the utilization of airspace resources with the increasing number of flights in recent years. In order to plan the four-dimensional trajectory (4DT) pre-tactically and comprehensively, match the flight traffic with airspace capacity, reduce congestion, potential conflicts, and fuel consumption thus improving the efficiency of flights, this paper conducts a method for synergetic trajectory planning in the en-route phase from the perspective of airlines. Firstly, the aircraft performance model, aircraft fuel consumption model, and atmospheric model are constructed according to the base of aircraft data (BADA3.11), and an airspace congestion prediction model is constructed based on the historical flow data of airspace. Secondly, a multi-objective synergetic trajectory planning model is established, and a solution method based on the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm and simulated annealing algorithm (NSGA3-SA) for the problem of synergetic trajectory planning is designed. The simulation shows that the optimization model and the solution algorithm of NSGA3-SA can reduce fuel consumption by about 4.5% compared to the original flight plans and has a good effect on reducing congestion and avoiding conflicts. The running time of the NSGA3-SA can meet the operational requirements of the pre-tactical trajectory planning. The multi-objective optimization model and the solution algorithm proposed in this paper have great value for the research of flight plan optimization.

Parametric optimization of aircraft arrival trajectories for aviation noise mitigation using BADA4 performance model

Successful mitigation of aviation noise is a key enabler for sustainable aviation growth. A key focus of this effort is the noise arising from aircraft arrival operations. Arrival operations are characterized by the use of high-lift devices, deployment of landing gear, and low thrust levels, which results in the airframe being the major component of noise. In order to optimize for arrival noise, management of the flap schedule and gear deployment is crucial. This research aims to create an optimization framework for evaluating various aircraft trajectories in terms of their noise impact. A parametric representation of the aircraft arrival trajectory will be created to allow for the variation of aircraft's flap schedule. The Federal Aviation Administration's Aviation Environmental Design Tool will be used to simulate the aircraft trajectory and performance, and to compute the noise metrics. Specifically, the latest performance model from EUROCONTROL called "Base of Aircraft Data - Family 4" will be used. This performance model contains higher fidelity modeling of aircraft aerodynamics and other characteristics which allows for better parametric variation.

Impacts of COVID-19 on aircraft usage and fuel consumption: A case study on four Chinese international airports

COVID-19 pandemic starting in early 2020 has greatly impacted human and industrial activities. Air transport in China shrank abruptly in February 2020, following a year-long gradual recovery. The airline companies reacted to this unprecedented event by dramatically reducing the flight volume and rearranging the aircraft types. As the first major economy that successfully controls the spread of COVID-19, China can provide a unique opportunity to quantify the medium-long impacts on the air transport industry. To quantify the corresponding changes and to elucidate the effects of COVID-19 in the wake of two major outbreaks centered in Wuhan and Beijing, we analyze twelve flight routes formed by four selected airports, using the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data in 2019 and 2020. Our results show that the total flight volume in 2020 reduced to 67.8% of 2019 in China. The recovering time of flight volume was about 2–6 months, dependent on the severity. In order to unwind the severe challenge, airlines mainly relied on aircraft B738 and A321 between February and June in 2020 because the fuel consumption per seat of these two aircraft types is the lowest. Besides, fuel consumption and aircraft emissions are calculated according to the Base of Aircraft Data (BADA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization's Engine Emissions Databank (ICAO's EEDB). At the end of 2020, the ratios of daily fuel consumption and aircraft emissions of 2020 to 2019 rebounded to about 0.875, suggesting the domestic commercial flights were nearly fully recovered. Our results may provide practical guidance and meaningful expectation for commercial aircraft management for other countries.