Multiple-Phase Trajectory Optimization for Formation Flight in Civil Aviation

Hartjes, S.; Hubar, Marco E. G. van Hellenberg; Visser, H.G.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-65283-2_21

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The optimal control formulation of the problem allows accurate dynamic models of aircraft and meteorological forecast to be included in the problem formulation in order to improve the predictability of the trajectories and the estimation of the fuel savings. This represents a first improvement with respect to previous approaches [19], [20], [21], [22], and [23]. Indeed, in the latter, which is based on optimal control, the meteorological forecast has not been taken into account.…”

Section: B Contributions Of the Papermentioning

confidence: 90%

“…In [23] the mission design problem has been studied for two-aircraft formations using a multi-phase optimal control approach. In this case, the number of phases and the structure of the formation missions is unique and known in advance.…”

Section: A Previous Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this case, a solution is found using multi-phase optimal control techniques and compared with the solution of a solo flight mission to establish which gives rise to minimum DOC. The same framework used in [23] is extended in [24] to design three-aircraft formation missions. However, only in the latter a wind field model, obtained from a weather database using a polynomial regression, has been taken into account.…”

Section: A Previous Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Modeling the formation mission as a switched dynamical systems allows the multiphase approach adopted in [23] and [24] to be avoided. This represents another improvement of the method presented in this paper with respect to these previous approaches, since the embedding method employed to solve the resulting optimal control problem of a switched dynamical system is able to deal with both the switching dynamics of the system and the logical constraints in disjunctive form in an efficient way.…”

Section: B Contributions Of the Papermentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Formation Mission Design for Commercial Aircraft Using Switched Optimal Control Techniques

Cerezo-Magana

Olivares

Staffetti

2021

IEEE Trans. Aerosp. Electron. Syst.

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In this paper, the formation mission design problem for commercial aircraft is studied. Given the departure times and the departure and arrival locations of several commercial flights, the relevant weather forecast, and the expected fuel savings during formation flight, the problem consists in establishing how to organize them in formation or solo flights and in finding the trajectories that minimize the overall direct operating cost of the flights. Since each aircraft can fly solo or in different positions inside a formation, the mission is modeled as a switched dynamical system, in which the discrete state describes the combination of flight modes of the individual aircraft and logical constraints in disjunctive form establish the switching logic among the discrete states of the system. The formation mission design problem has been formulated as an optimal control problem of a switched dynamical system and solved using an embedding approach, which allows switching decision among discrete states to be modeled without relying on binary variables. The resulting problem is a classical optimal control problem which has been solved using a knotting pseudospectral method. Several numerical experiments have been conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach. The obtained results show that formation flight has great potential to reduce fuel consumption and emissions.

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Section: B Contributions Of the Papermentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: A Previous Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Previous Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: B Contributions Of the Papermentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Formation Mission Design for Commercial Aircraft Using Switched Optimal Control Techniques

Cerezo-Magana

Olivares

Staffetti

2021

IEEE Trans. Aerosp. Electron. Syst.

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A decentralized approach to formation flight routing of long-haul commercial flights

Verhagen

Visser

Santos

2018

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G:

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This paper describes the development of an optimization-based cooperative planning system for the efficient routing and scheduling of extended flight formations. This study considers the use of formation flight as a means to reduce the overall fuel consumption in long-haul airline operations. It elaborates on the operational implementation of formation flight, particularly focusing on the formation flight routing. A completely decentralized approach is presented, in the sense that formation flight is not planned pre-flight and is not subjected to any predefined routing restrictions. A greedy communication scheme is defined through which all participating aircraft are allowed to communicate with neighboring aircraft in order to establish flight formations in flight. A constraint on the formation-flight-induced additional flight time is introduced in order to suppress the occurrence of large detours in the assembly of flight formations. A transatlantic case study is presented that considers 347 eastbound flights. Assuming a 10% fuel flow reduction for any trailing aircraft in a formation, the overall network-wide fuel savings were estimated at 4.3% at the expense of an additional flight time of 10.3 min per flight on average. In this transatlantic long-haul scenario, a formation flight usage rate of 73% was realized.

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Multiple-Phase Trajectory Optimization for Formation Flight in Civil Aviation

Abstract: Important note To cite this publication, please use the final published version (if applicable). Please check the document version above.

Cited by 2 publications

References 12 publications

Formation Mission Design for Commercial Aircraft Using Switched Optimal Control Techniques

Formation Mission Design for Commercial Aircraft Using Switched Optimal Control Techniques

A decentralized approach to formation flight routing of long-haul commercial flights

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