The current Flight Management System, CMA-9000, from CMC Electronics -Esterline, does not include a cruise optimization. In the presence of winds, the aircraft fuel consumption is highly affected. If the aircraft experiments head winds, the consumption will increase, and the consumption will decrease in the case of tail winds. The cruise phase is analyzed using genetic algorithms to obtain the maximal optimization possible in the least calculation time. In this article, an algorithm will be defined, that will be capable of selecting an alternative trajectory to take advantage of tail winds in the flight path, and to avoid as much as possible the presence of head winds, to reduce fuel burn. NomenclatureATC = Air Traffic Control FMS = Flight Management System GA = genetic algorithm IAS = indicated airspeed PDB = performance database TOC = top of climb TOD = top of descent

Researchers have been attempting to reduce aircraft fuel consumption for decades to minimize aviation’s emissions to the atmosphere. This article presents an algorithm which improves the trajectories created by a commercial flight management system. A complete analysis of the climb, cruise, and descent was performed and a genetic algorithm has been implemented to evaluate the effects of the possible changes to aircraft speeds and altitudes, as well as the influence of the wind vector on the lateral and vertical profiles, all to obtain the flight trajectory that most reduces the global flight fuel consumption.

For long flights, the cruise is the longest phase and is where the largest proportion of fuel is consumed. A new flight trajectory calculation method utilizing genetic algorithms is proposed here. The lateral and vertical navigation profiles are analyzed to obtain the optimal cruise trajectory in terms of fuel consumption. With a complete analysis of the wind currents, a 3D grid is created for all along the cruise phase, including latitudes, longitudes and altitudes. Different flight trajectories are calculated using genetic algorithms. To improve calculation time and precision, the flight trajectories are calculated using the performance databases for commercial aircraft, databases which are used in actual flight management system platforms. This optimization process indicates that fuel cost savings of up to 5.6% can be achieved.

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